Calum Colvin, Mundus Subterraneous I, 1996

 

The centrepiece of Calum Colvin's digitally-created Pseudologica Fantastica is a 17-metre continuous ribbon-like panoramic tableau, presented as a series of four triptychs, in which snapshots of tourist beaches mutate through a variety of surreal subterranean environments. David Alan Mellor's essay discusses the ways in which the work is inspired by the writings of the 17th century Jesuit polymath, Athanasius Kircher, to construct an imaginary future intertwined with elements of collective memory.

 

Susan Trangmar, Exposures projection installation

 

In Susan Trangmar's projected installation, Exposures, subterranean landscapes of a more industrial nature are created. Taken within tunnels and at the cliff face of a Nottingham mine, in proximity to the miners and their machinery, Trangmar's photographs are hand-held and shot on long exposures. On the occasion of the publication of Willie Doherty's new book, No Smoke Without Fire, we reproduce three works with an essay by David Green. John Goto's The Framer's Collection is a striking series of six large electronically created photoworks within a virtual space. Here we publish three, accompanied by a narrative by the artist in which he reflects upon his fictional collection of artworks, and their role within the history of this century. In Ray's A Laugh, Richard Billingham presents his photographs of the domestic chaos of his parents' home - the disorder, the empty isolation, the alcoholism, the violence and the rare moments of tenderness. Mark Durden's essay explores the work and the conflicting relationship it creates with the viewer.

Sunil Gupta considers how the meaning of Robert Mapplethorpe's homo-erotic work can be seen to have changed over time, particularly in relation to the rise of gay political ideologies in North America and Europe. We feature the work of Jim Mooney and Annette Heyer, two artists for whom photography emanates from other media. Stella Santacatterina discusses the ways in which Mooney deals with the internal mechanism of painting in the construction of the pictorial image.

 

John Goto, detail from The Framer's Collection, 1996

features

Calum Colvin Pseudologica Fantastica
A Package Flight to the Land of the Dead
Essay by David Alan Mellor

Gabriel Orozco New Work
Memos for the Present Moment - Essay by David Ward

John Goto The Framer's Collection
images and text by John Goto

Susan Trangmar Exposures
Multiple Darkness - Essay by Christopher Want

Willie Doherty No Smoke Without Fire
Thwarted Vision - Essay by David Green

Richard Billingham Ray's a Laugh
Family Photographs - Essay by Mark Durden

Jim Mooney Where Absence Glows Visible
Maps of Melancholy - Essay Stella Santacatterina

Robert Mapplethorpe Photographs
Cocks and Other Contradictions - Essay by Sunil Gupta

Annette Heyer Photographs

 

Annette Hyer, Corner, 1996

reviews

Sherrie Levine South London Gallery
by Joanna Lowry

The Visible and the Invisible: re-presenting the body in contemporary art and society, locations throughout London
by Ruth Charity

Edwin Blumenfeld: A Fetish for Beauty
Barbican Gallery, London
by Amanda Hopkinson

Mark Lewis: A Sense of the End, Two Impossible Films
Tramway, Glasgow
by Rebecca Coggins