224. STREET LIGHT by JOHN SEXTON

13 cms x 9 cms
224 STREET LIGHT by JOHN SEXTON
 

I noticed this tiny print when walking around  the annual exhibition of students' work at Morley College Art Gallery in King Edward Walk. One of the pleasures of this evocative scene is trying to find a perceptual foothold in this compelling but tight-lipped little world. 

From across the room it looked like a telephone kiosk in the corner of a deserted street. Close up it feels as claustrophobic as a lift. It's a stripped out, deserted corner - and corners, as we all know, are where people get trapped and sometimes  things happen to them which on the whole  they wish hadn't. 

Perhaps that's a steady stream of light - or could it be a flashing alarm signal?

But corners can be good news. We 'turn a corner' when recovering from illness. Or get into a tight vorner and  discover that what seemed to be a blank wall can expose a new direction. When I look closer still  I can make out half-closed blinds on the left, which suggests domesticity. And the matt surface has a beguiling softness. 

This print originated in a photograph taken by the artist on a sunny day. It's of a room in his  house, a space waiting for something to happen, Perhaps there'll be a lovers' assignation?  A space to hide or  somewhere to find peace and quiet?That pattern on the wall could be a flag. What is a cross doing there? The mind's eye  is constantly roving across the surface. It wants answers. There are none. It is what it is, meditative, open yet contained..

www.morleycollege.ac.uk/morley_gallery