Bloomberg New Contemporaries
Various Artists
ICA - Institute of Contemporary Arts
23 NOVEMBER 2016 - 22 JANUARY 2017
£1
Having never been to the ICA before, I went there with the intention of attending their Garage Sale which had unfortunately ended the day before.
Determined not to waste the visit I bought a day membership for all the galleries open, showing the Bloomberg New Contemporaries: an exhibition of work by upcoming young fine art graduates. £1?! I thought - what a bargain... I spoke too soon.
Now I'm all for modern art and thinking outside the box, trying new things, going against the conventional etc etc but there was honestly not a single piece of work in this exhibition which I thought 'yeah... that's really great', I think I would actually struggle to even find something to pass as 'good'.
The works ranged from a simple outline of what looked like a lego brick, to a blobby human-like sculpture which looked like it was melting and whose arm occasionally moved. There were also some glass sculptures which I think were supposed to resemble penises... why oh why oh WHY do people think they have to include a penis when trying to be 'cool' or 'different' or 'edgy'. The amount of penises, or phallic shapes in the modern art world is so overwhelming now that artists wishing to be different should do themselves a favour and steer clear from the cliché cock.
The exhibition included a few video installations too, all of which baffled me to oblivion until I was in a state of mild anger and disbelief at how someone could actually view these videos as work of art... and more importantly as works of FINE art. One of the videos lasted a couple of minutes and showed two women sitting side by side on a sofa taking it in turns to kiss their teeth until one of them giggles and a phone rings...... sorry what?! Another was honestly one of the most boring things I've ever watched in my life - a 10 minute video of a male and female talking about some kind of project and deliberating different ideas (all the ideas dull, the characters even duller).
The last video I saw there was totally different to the previous two. Instead of pretty much nothing happening, there was far too much. I don't remember his name and don't particularly want to remind myself but this mullet-headed man had made 3 videos, all very similar to document his 'rebellion against the establishment'. Set to jarring and frankly unbearable music (if one can call it that) there is an explosion of colour whilst he shouts at you all the things he hates and all the rules he doesn't abide by. Great mate. Well done to you.
I'm sure that some poor souls out there will find some artistic relief and creative license amongst these works, however, for me this was a bleak experience and left me feeling robbed of my £1.
OVERALL RATING: *
https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/season/bloomberg-new-contemporaries-2016
http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/
