334. GOODBYE by MATTHEW HUMPHREYS

BLOOMBERG NEW CONTEMPORARIES 

at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)

Matthew Humphreys    mjhumphreys.co.uk      @mjhumphreysArt

I got no further than the first artwork I saw when I visited the New Contemporaries Exhibition, sponsored by Bloomberg, and now in its 65th year - a  video lasting 4 minutes on a small screen with a soundtrack as ephemeral as a cloud and a few fragments of typescript on the wall. At first glance the images looked chaotic: slanted, inverted, close ups mixed in with longish scanning shots. Hands clasped or waving; security locks and keys; feet in slippers or boots; ceilings and floors; lawns, red tulips, pink hyacinths and spears of grass.It made no sense, but it did better than that.

It set up a web of associations and emotions which meant I had to stop just there, be patient, and open to the possibility of constructing links which would not produce  a static message or narrative, but something richer.I sensed the ebb and flow of repeated visits to the couple in the image above - what the artist (their son) calls the 'rhythms of language and social routines that occurred from this moment of saying goodbye'. And the poignancy of the exchanges was moving: an ambivalent mother saying both 'come down more often' and 'don't overdo it'. And a caring  ' be quick or you'll get cold' accompanied by repeated warnings about missing the bus.

' Goodbye' is what everyone says throughout a lifetime- be it in a state of grief or relief or indifference. We experience it as a necessary punctuation mark, both in daily rituals and times of great feeling. It is a rare artwork which can capture these tender and fraught transactions, let alone stir us to a new appreciation of the fragility and richness of our closest relationships

You Never Said Goodbye 2014, Embroidered calico 210 x 251 cm; 232.5 x 270 x 8.5 cm (framed)
© Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS 2014 Photo: Jack Hems,  Courtesy White Cube)

Tracey Emin's beautiful, powerful You never Said Goodbye  (Blog 322), recently on show at White Cube Bermondsey, reminds us that the absence of words can be as meaningful as their presence. 

I suppose for me I was looking deeper into the video that I had created, I started to transcribe the material and found rhythms of language and social routines that occurred from this moment of saying goodbye.   I am concerned with technology and its interaction with experience, I form relationships with cameras and using the iPhone I allowed an element of chance when I was shooting the video, but with a knowing of what I was creating.  Matthew Humphreys

New Contemporaries is the leading UK organisation supporting emergent art practice from British Art Schools.

Since 1949 New Contemporaries has consistently provided a critical platform for new and recent fine art graduates primarily by means of an annual, nationally touring exhibition.

Independent of place and democratic to the core, New Contemporaries is open to all. - See more at: http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/#sthash.gwZzf1t9.dpuf

New Contemporaries is the leading UK organisation supporting emergent art practice from British Art Schools.

Since 1949 New Contemporaries has consistently provided a critical platform for new and recent fine art graduates primarily by means of an annual, nationally touring exhibition.

Independent of place and democratic to the core, New Contemporaries is open to all. - See more at: http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/#sthash.gwZzf1t9.dpuf

New Contemporaries is the leading UK organisation supporting emergent art practice from British Art Schools.

Since 1949 New Contemporaries has consistently provided a critical platform for new and recent fine art graduates primarily by means of an annual, nationally touring exhibition.

Independent of place and democratic to the core, New Contemporaries is open to all. - See more at: http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/#sthash.gwZzf1t9.dpuf

P.S. The results of the latest Bloomberg New Contemporaries competition were on show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. (Anyone attending UK arts schools or who left in the last year can enter, and this year there were more than 1,400 entries). I visit the ICA on a Tuesday to keep faith with my rule to show art which is available  for the public to view free of charge. (On other days you need a £1 Day Pass).The ICA supports radical art and culture through a lively programme of exhibitions, films, events, talks and debates.

www.mjhumphreys.co.uk/
www.ica.org.uk/
www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/
www.whitecube.com/exhibitions/

New Contemporaries is the leading UK organisation supporting emergent art practice from British Art Schools.

Since 1949 New Contemporaries has consistently provided a critical platform for new and recent fine art graduates primarily by means of an annual, nationally touring exhibition.

Independent of place and democratic to the core, New Contemporaries is open to all. - See more at: http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/#sthash.gwZzf1t9.dpufwhitecube.com/exhibitions/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mutualart/selectors-and-selectees-w_b_6306846.html

ICA welcome Bloomberg New Contemporaries with 55 participants - See more at: http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/exhibitions-and-events#sthash.gRn1nuJn.dpuf

ICA welcome Bloomberg New Contemporaries with 55 participants - See more at: http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/exhibitions-and-events#sthash.gRn1nuJn.dpuf