Life, death, nature and glamour all play a part in the work Gemma Compton.
Exhibition: The Beautiful and the Damned, Mooch N4, Manchester, until October 2 2010
Ambitious new contemporary Manchester gallery Mooch has scoured the country to find three of the most promising emerging talents in the country for this eye-catching show.
The Beautiful and the Damned features work by Liverpool Graphic Arts graduate Danny O’Connor, country lass Gemma Compton (who is confined to the more urban climes of Bristol for her takes on “life, death, nature and glamour”) and Ben Slow, a Canterbury prodigy who will be starring in the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Street Art show next month.
Compton’s upbringing in a sleepy corner of the Cotswolds is played out in a particularly striking half-human, tattooed rabbit, drawing on her infatuation with pop culture, the perils of the fashion industry and the airbrushed perfection of glossy magazines. O’Connor creates whirling, multi-layered works in acrylics, spray paint, ink, gloss and emulsion.
Slow says he sees every surface as a canvas, obsessively building up textures before scratching through them to craft iconic figures with graffiti-style pop undertones.
“I try not to limit myself,” he adds, summing up the ethos of this diverse debut for all three artists. “I keep on pushing my boundaries, exploring colour, depth and texture.”
Mooch N4, 88 Oldham Street (next to Ning), Manchester. Open 11am – 6pm Wednesday – Saturday. Admission free.
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