WHAT

Group show at Trinity Buoy Wharf

WHAT was an exhibition that took place in 1997, at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London. It featured the work of ten artists, Machiko Edmondson, Mark Fairnington, Sally Heard, Yvonne Hindle, Katrine Hjelde, David Leapman, Peter Lloyd Lewis, Henry Rogers Stefan Sehler, and Yinka Shonibare MBE. The precise dates of the exhibition are not given in the catalogue, in preference to ‘April/May 1997’. The catalogue featured an essay by art critic Mark Gisbourne, who offered the view:

“If ‘reality’ is a word that has any substance left in it, then the disparate, dissonant, and distinct diversity of this present painting exhibition may be said to be nearer to that reality. It is open and honest like the WHAT of its title with no sense of an ideological interrogative or pre-determined direction. That is perhaps its only sense of overt provocation, presenting a whole set of open-ended and mind-teasing opportunities. Thus, maybe it is the disparate case as a fact, where the King’s Fool was right ‘tis a naughty night to swim in’, or conversely, like the open-minded and gullible Pangloss, ‘tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des modes possibles’, - all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. These opposed or as we have called them disparate scenarios only go to prove, perhaps, that painting is ever ready to make some mischief.”

»  WHAT

Catalogue relating to an exhibition, 1997