The Way Forward: Derek Boshier and the Sixties - Gazelli Art House - Review

 

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆       

Remaining in Mayfair for the moment, I chance upon the Gazelli Art House. I’ve brought gifts for some London-based friends and – wearing my hiking backpack and wading through the warm weather – I feel like an out of season Father Christmas.

The Gallery is empty, save for a gallerist who is on the phone, mid-conversation with – from what I can gather - some sort of historian. He ignores me. His pocket square is vibrant, stark against his navy suit. It is only upon leaving that he offers a wave in my direction, revealing that he had, all along, been aware of my backpacked presence. This space is demonstrably not for me, not in my current get up at least.

‘The Way Forward: Derek Boshier and the Sixties’ spans both floors of the Gazelli Art House, and runs from April 25  - June 28. It is a posthumous exhibition, Boshier – a key figure in British Pop Art – passed in 2024. For someone unschooled in Art History, I have not encountered Boshier before, but recognise the Pop Art tendencies in the works displayed.

Curated alongside Art Historian Marco Livingstone, the exhibition contextualises the few works of Boshier on display with other RCA artists. Mostly a boys club, with the exception of a Pauline Boty work.The Exhibition purports to show a shift in Boshier’s work from ‘pop figuration to geometric abstraction, catalysed by his travels to India in 1962’. Indeed, there is a distinct difference between the geometric work and the more traditional pop work – such as one of his Special K paintings. However, one wonders how much of a shift is demonstrated. Perhaps placing Special K on the stairwell was a shortcut to suggest this shift. To me, it feels more of a switch. The presence of other artists alongside Boshier muddy the waters of this trajectory.

I’ve never really been a fan of pop art. I find its commentary too obvious and its commercial evocations too gimmicky. As if asking a viewer to spot familiarities, before patting them on the back. I understand and praise its challenge to the fine art establishment, but its symbiotic relation with consumerism often leaves it – for me, at least – as very watered down irony, with little substance behind it. Please challenge or inform me on the nature and merit of pop art, for without any real knowledge of the movement, I find it somewhat banal, superficial and unengaging past the point of initial recognition.

It will come as no surprise that I wasn’t taken by the pop-art sensibilities of the majority of the gallery. The Geometric abstraction, however, was more to my liking. I was especially fond of R. Smith’s ‘A Whole Year a Half a Day’, with its playful experimentation with space, form and colour. The sculptural aspect of the work really stood out. Likewise, Boshier’s geometric works, and their challenge of the rectangular frame, made their mark. These works, quite understandably, made up the majority of the marketing material.

The Gallerist appears to be irritated by my presence. I have ducked into a library room on the first floor. In here sit multiple books published by Gazelli. Many, indeed, on Boshier, who appears to have had a handful of shows at the site, since the gallery opened in 2020. The gallerist enters, picks up a book and exits, all the while on the phone. He is trying to trace a painting titled ‘rethink re-entry’. He calls Boshier by his first name: ‘Derek’.

I am warm, overly warm, and in the way, despite being the only visitor at that moment. Coupled with my apathy towards pop-art – for the time being at least – I decide to make my exit. I am glad to have seen the abstracted works on the ground floor, but found nothing much of interest beyond this. Perhaps for a fan or a scholar of pop art and its practitioners, this would be an insightful and exciting exhibition. For myself, I take no shame in admitting that I was not the target audience.

‘The Way Forward: Derek Boshier and the Sixties’ is on display at Gazelli Art House, Mayfair, between April 25 – June 28, and is free to enter.  

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆       

 

         

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Whitworth - Women in Revolt! - Review

Image
After touring London and Edinburgh since 2023, Women in Revolt! – curated by Lindsey Young - arrives in Manchester at the Whitworth. This is the first time the exhibition has been free of charge.     Originally I had planned to visit Women in Revolt! with a friend, but the plans fell through, so here I am, camera in hand, back in the Whitworth. Living so close to the venue, I walk through Whitworth Park – it is a beautiful day – and take the back entrance into the gallery. I only mention this because one of the first things I encounter is a slice of text informing me that this is room 5 of 7, and that I should instead start from the entrance in the Special Collection’s Gallery. So, rather than interrupt the pre-determined flow, I track round and begin the exhibition again. By indicating a correct path, the gallery signals that this is – counter to my expectations – a social history exhibition through the lens of artists and their artworks. And this is indeed the case....
Read more

People's History Museum - Gallery One - Review

Image
It is snowing. I spend the morning baking a loaf of bread. Leaving it to cool I decide to spend the day visiting some Manchester museums I have not yet visited. The walk over is cold, the closer I get to the city centre, the less snow there is on the ground until, walking through Spinningfields, there is little more than a trace of slush. Image via People's History Museum Weather notwithstanding, the first port of call is the People’s History Museum. I am writing this from their café. The entrance hall is oddly municipal, and the flat grey light from outside makes the space feel rather sparse. There were, however, plenty of people within the museum itself. I plan to split this review into two posts. The entire museum is split into three gallery spaces – the third of which being a collaborative make space. Leaving two galleries to explore. This post considers the first. The floors are split chronologically, Gallery One focussing on pre-1945. Now, the People’s History Museum expl...
Read more

People's History Museum - Gallery Two - Review

Image
Last week we explored the first floor of the People’s History Museum in Manchester. This week, the second floor. It is still cold outside, and I am still writing from the Museum’s café. My coffee has grown cold, and I am wondering if I am going to make it to my second potential visit, or whether I best call it quits and head back home. It is supposed to snow again tonight, and I’m quite tempted by the loaf of bread, freshly baked this morning, waiting for me back home – that is, unless my housemates have already devoured it. Who’s to say.    Image via Manchester Evening News  However, for now, I am still in the People’s History Museum. After being thoroughly impressed by their first gallery, I now turn to their second. Walking further up the stairs – which look out on a rather glum, albeit contemplative, view of the River Irwell – the  entranceway is much the same. The same explanation of colour is printed here, again alongside a list of th...
Read more