"I think it's, like, meant to be a monster." A whiny nine-year-old steps gingerly on the pink tendrils of Smash Guru & The Crystal Mind Fortress, a giant figure planted in the centre of Brighton’s Phoenix Gallery like a great man-made tree. Maybe the boy's right – it's certainly monstrous.
Matt Robinson's site-specific "supreme being" has around 20 legs, covered by trousers and clod in various shoes. Its huge papier-mâché arms morph into tawdry pop culture sculptures by Sam Haggarty, Strapper, Debs Wrekon and Denise Felkin.
They drip with what looks like fleshy candle wax, on to clumps of spray-painted action figures, wire, sticks and haberdashery, all clambering for attention. Elsewhere, a model crocodile lays half-submerged under pink gloop, like a child’s model of Pompeii. I even think I saw a Star Wars Walker vehicle buried in there.
It's obvious that Robinson has taken note of the Chapman brothers' apocalyptic installation, Hell. But this work, an "effigy of his sweetheart", seems rather misguided up against Jake and Dinos' triumph.
He claims that the installation reflects and addresses the issues of the utopian ideal, consumerism and religion, but all I see is a waste of perfectly good materials.
In adjoining rooms, related print works contain elaborate digital doodles, and chalk working boards piece together nonsensical junk and limb replacements. Outside stands something far more interesting – a grotesque pair of braying horse torsos with animal skulls strapped to their necks.
Set into the façade of a studio complex, Phoenix Gallery constantly renews its exhibitions, with little regard to genre or spatial constraints. The organisers are more than capable of generating a buzz around its exhibitors, and Robinson is no exception.
Considering the recent spell of thoughtful, evocative work at this gallery, Smash Guru has the distinctive whiff of a sixth form art project. In his promotional blurb, Robinson is happy to be defined as an "artist/adolescent". Judging by Smash Guru, I would not negate that.
