Sixth form art grows up
Making the transition from art college to art gallery can take years of modest exposure, something Martin Maloney knows only too well, having curated exhibitions out of his Brixton home for the last decade. But by seizing on a window of opportunity as the Anthony d'Offay Gallery's Haunch Of Venison yard premises await renovation and readiness for bigger names, he has managed something of an artistic fast-track - letting his fledgling wards bypass the pub circuit and plunging them straight into the artistic equivalent of Wembley (well, Stamford Bridge anyway).
Smacking of unbridled energy and sixth-form college creativity, the young collaborators are all united by a concern with art history, which they set upon with sharp scalpels, 'tugging it apart and making it into something that describes their lives now', says Maloney.
Visitors are greeted by a tepid baptism in the floundering fine art of German collective Hobbypopmuseum before progressing finally to the molten lava that is Elizabeth Neal's confrontational collages at the building's crest. The gradual immersion is intentional, shocking viewers by degrees.
Certainly the work of Michael Ashcroft, Martin McGinn and Dan Perfect are good primers, paying their scholarly dues to historical landscapes by reupholstering them in refreshing, modern styles, while neighbour Nicholas Barker's brilliant billboards take a swipe at the Rubinesque paintings of the past by superimposing 1970s soft-core Playboy models over the identical stances.
Neal's, however, is the work set to get the chattering classes chattering. A whole room devoted to the angst, anger and sexual voracity of the single girl is unleashed on the walls in collage, paint, graffiti and pornography with witty, overpainted slogans and logos.
Maloney has released an impish monster on the art of the past, reinterpreting it without the soft focus of saccharine retrospect. 'No soft focus,' he says mock-apologetically. 'Plenty of soft porn, however.'
Martin Maloney Presents Death To The Fascist Insect That Preys On The Life Of The People is on from tomorrow until May 5, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, at Haunch Of Venison Yard, Brook Street W1, Mon to Fri 11am to 5pm, Sat 10am to 1pm, free.
Tel: 020 7499 4100.
Tube: Bond Street
