RHYS FULLERTON REVIEWS
Species of Space is a solo exhibition by Edinburgh-based artist Robert Powell. This curious collection of works contains some wonderful, colourful and occasionally very unpleasant characters.
I’d like to start with the longest title that I’ve ever come across, and probably one of the best for an artwork: ‘Super-Mega-Dooper or Huge Maxi Savings at Abundia Cockaigne Ltd as Wise King Solomon Wisely Slashes Infants to Give You Unprecedented Extra £££s and Two Babies for the Price of Just One or the Amazing Dichotomy of Value in the Land Where He Who Sleeps Most Earns Most’.
I’m hoping that the editor has allowed me the space to reproduce it once in full because it is as much about the work as the work itself. I’m convinced that the artist has been to the same supermarket as me on a busy Sunday afternoon.
This is a fantastic piece and every time I look at it I notice a different character and scenario.
For me, the stand-out works in this exhibition are the mixed-media sculptures ‘Species of Space or The Amazing Visible City’…
and ‘High Rise’.
Both look incredibly fragile but they are full of imaginative detail. Both works reminded me of the film Rear Window, where you can peer into the neighbours’ homes and observe their strange and sometimes disturbing world.
I very much enjoyed the uphill struggle depicted in ‘The Angry Street’. I liked its wonky lamppost, which almost looks straight from that angle.
Finally, I’ll leave you with ‘The Arcadians’, which I’d like to think is the artist’s impression of a gallery private view. Judging from everything else that’s on display, it wouldn’t surprise me.
For me, Robert Powell is all about colourful and comical chaos, and bizarre and surreal characters. I’m very tempted to go back for more.
Robert Powell’s Species of Space continues at Edinburgh Printmakers (23 Union Street) until 16 July 2016. Admission free.
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Paul Henni Great stuff, must get along.