The third of Nick Crowe’s galleries contains to of his most striking works The Campaign for Rural England and The Beheaded. Both of the pieces run with a connotation of violence and yet are very beautiful in their appearance. The former was the most interesting piece in this section as it was a very striking image with a very ironic undertone. Gone is the cold steel frame of an average urban bus shelter, replaced here by traditional English oak which gives the piece a very warm feeling. The smashed glass we would normally associate with teen vandals changes to a far more beautiful representation within the oak frame.
A more unsettling piece would be The Beheaded, consisting of 68 decapitated glass figures (a memorial to the people who lost their lives in this barbaric act of butchery). The unnerving aspect of this work is the causal pose the figures are situated in and the way it is lit in an almost 60s psychedelic type fashion. A stark contrast to the severity of beheading another human being.
Altogether the works of Nick Crowe in this gallery operate well with both the mind and the eyes, you can look at the pieces and leave with a definitive statement on what that piece in particular is saying or is trying to convey.
Written review by LiveWire Critic, Greg Jones
Video review by LiveWire Critics Georgina Amica-Carpenter, Ben Addlestone, Rebecca Allen and Greg Jones
Jan ’07
Nick Crowe’s work will be on at Cornerhouse until Jan 28 2007
ADMISSION IS FREE