No Letters (Group Show) @ Nettie Horn
This show tackled the dissemination of public informatio, on a local and global scale, through various forms of reportage. The work at No Letters seeks to change the way we read and recieve the news. It attemps to reveal the truth that is so often obscured by the medias tactics of distraction and deception.
LEIGH CLARKE's paintings communicate news. He paints mock-ups of the "Hackney Gazette" reporting on good news such as "COUPLE CUDDLE ON SOFA" and "BABY LAUGHS AT FUNNY NOISE". Attempting to twist the media tactic of scare mongering, the work is funny and pokes fun of the tabloid newspapers we see every day.
DICK JEWELL confronts the viewer with investigations of found imagery by exhibiting an Evening Standard scribbled over by his young daughter. In "Cosmo/Babies" Jewell proves his point that Cosmopolitan magazine never published images of babies by combining Cosmo front covers with bright glossy pictures of infants.
BOB AND ROBERTA SMITH's familiar handwritten slogans give a quick and funny truth about the image underneath. He scrawls over media icons Gordon Ramsay, Janet Street-Porter and more. They're all available to buy at £10 which is to be put in an "Honesty Box". These works peel back and poke fun at the layers of tabloid journalism. They also reveal Bob and Roberta Smiths own take of the unrealistic, exaggerations of daily journalism.
Simon Linke @ One in the Other
Well known for his paintings of the Ed Ruscha designed advertisement pages of Artforum, Linke has continued painting these adverts - exploring editorial content and other publications as source material. His trademark style is still visible and remains an icon of the work. On a one-to-one (Artforum page) size they draw the viewer in for more. The intense technicality of the work has developed throughout the years and the nature of the work has evolved with the complexity of the image. Through the work you can see themes of fashion, relationships and commodities, as manifested in the art world and by extension, society in general.
