3/5 stars
The Bowery rightly deserves the title of Headingley’s ‘hidden creative gem’. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve only ever been to Headingley as part of an Otley run in the past, and on my way to review this latest exhibition –with an unreliable 3G signal – I spent much of my time lost. Discovering a lush coffee bar on the ground floor of the independent gallery was therefore the perfect welcome. Only after (purely investigative) sampling of their menu did I venture upstairs to the gallery proper, to the sound of a children’s art workshop taking place on the first floor.
Expectations for Rebecca Lowe’s quiet, considered canvases were high after reading the blurb offered by the gallery – Intervals, aims to explore different levels of materiality through translucent glazes of oil paint and wax, a process initiated by studied contemplation of light falling on Chinese pottery.
On immediate entry to the single room housing the works however, the modest-sized canvases invite an unflattering comparison to Dulux colour cards. This isn’t helped by the regimented hang of the works and the division of the ensemble into a wall of off-white works and a wall of ostensibly green ones.
But this initial impression is deceptive. If you take time to look beyond this unfavourable similarity you’ll begin to notice subtle imperfections in the glazes. Take in the room as a whole and you’ll start to notice similar echoes in the surrounding room – the patina of the exposed wooden floor beams, some barely-there grey scuffs on the walls… I won’t lie, there is a lack of content.
Nevertheless such heightened sensitivity to surroundings provoked by contemplation of these paintings is interesting and refers me back to their starting point – oriental pottery, making me think not only of calm, Zen-like transcendentalism but also of traditional Japanese aesthetics which emphasise the transient and imperfect. Rebecca Lowe’s work as such prompts a profound consideration of the physical compressions of time that all surfaces ultimately come to be. Just don’t approach the invigilator asking how much a pot of ‘Celadon Bowl’ is, whatever you do.
Tom McGinn