gallery
I almost had a sense of resentment as I struggled through narrow country lanes to find this out-of-the-way gallery in Stalbridge, The Milking Parlour. "Peg It", "The Iceman's Clearance Sale", or "Creaimting Spaimce" didn't sound over-promising to me. But I persevered because he always surprises me. My average speed behind numerous tractors was 20mph.But what a joy t0 enter the gallery, finally. Guggleton Farm Arts, or The Gugg for short, is a wonderfully distinctive and idiosyncratic art and community centre that suits aim down to a tee[cube]. For a moment I felt overwhelmed by the share number of exhibits[1000+]. Then I had a sense of being under the surface of an Iceman ocean and whales were singing his new Melt It! song. Because so many of the paintings were pegged with clothes-pegs above head height on blue rope, this submersive/immersive effect made one experience the paintings in a novel way. One looked up both to the heavens and to the surface of another world. One looked down and saw numerous paintings along the floor walls. One looked sideways and was suddenly in direct contact with that iconic image of The Iceman figure and Block. It was like I was a fish in an icy aquarium. There were so many Icemen and Blocks that I couldn't focus on one alone. There was joy and sadness and all human life. There was humour and absurdity. The sense of the original live performances was vivid. Also a feeling of an interactive audience. The Iceman's extensive de-icing/melting equipment was in full evidence. To just look at all his 'paraphernalia, reminded me of the prodigious effort The Iceman went to to melt or rather not to melt, immediately, his blocks. There was the full spectrum here. All sorts of items, from chipboard to slate. But on all of them were the bright and textured strokes that aim employs to recapture the performance art that he is famed for. Even though it was billed as a clearance sale, there was no false modesty here. Just a humble outpouring of creative endeavour. A desire for transcendent experience jostled with cool detachment. Was this romanticism for a digital age? The existent imagery creates a 'presence'. I felt I was grasping a vista to the future, even as I was frozen into The Iceman's frozen landscape of the past. The notion of aim's invention conveys the power of the associative block image. aim is caught between a process of construction and deconstruction at the same time. But the use of a regular block motif gives a certain stability. The portraits of The Iceman himself suggest inner emotional states, seeping up from profound disturbing psyches, soft but hard facial skins. Is there a sense of The Iceman's backstory? As Susan Sontag said, “Interpretation is the revenge of the intellectual upon art.” So I better stop. I felt in need of a drink. So I went to the local pub, The Swan. Who was there but The Iceman himself!? Yes, aim the artist, chatting naturally to the locals, with drink in hand. He was quoting Marcel Duchamp re the spectator's contribution to the creative act to a bemused trio. I dared not disturb this living legend,even though I wanted to listen in. Instead,I scarpered into the extensive garden, to reflect on the whole experience. But in that brief moment of observation, I sensed The Iceman observing life acutely, even as he communicated. Kafe Smictiric [art critic]
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