A modernist's paradise

Nicola Wermer's observations on the corporate machine
Fisun Guner|Metro5 April 2012
The Weekender

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Wrestling with the dog-eared Utopian ideals of Modernism, this intelligently curated show couldn't be further from your run-of-the-mill summer offering. Four young international artists are represented here, each of whom has been awarded a year-long residency at Bermondsey's sought-after Delfina Studios.

Playing perceptively with High Modernist forms, the pieces seem to cleverly undermine the sleek minimalist aesthetic with a distinctly contemporary DIY feel.

Haluk Akake paints soaring modular forms straight onto the gallery walls, creating a coolly elegant backdrop against which the smaller works on display present a coherent interplay.

Nicola Wermer's series of tall ashtrays address the corporate world of slickly functional but bland design. But look closer and you'll find they possess something of the homemade. Similarly, Wermer's small abstract collage works resemble dynamic Vorticist forms, but are executed from flimsy magazine cut-outs.

Perhaps Gareth Jones best represents this ambivalence. Tape Loops is a series of three works in which the tape of a cassette is wound round a number of wall brackets in a taut cat's cradle, underscoring the tension between obsolescence and modernity. It's a theme echoed in Katja Strunz's towering construction of rusty braziers.

Finally, the cool minimalism of the art space infiltrates the world of the home makeover in Jones's series of plywood plinths. Fitted with wooden pegs, the modular units lie scattered on the floor, as if inviting you to construct your own variations in the finished piece.

  • Renderings is showing until Sept 7, at the Delfina Studio Trust, 50 Bermondsey Street SE1, Mon to Fri 10am to 5pm, Sat and Sun midday to 5pm, free. Tel: 020 7407 3596. Tube: London Bridge

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