Collab with me

​

isthisit?’s 28th exhibition was called ‘Collab with me’, referencing the famous scene from the 1971 film ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’ where Gene Wilder (Willy Wonka) sings ‘Pure Imagination’ whilst showing the golden ticket holders the first area of the factory; the chocolate room. The tour group are astonished by what is presented to them, almost immediately running off to gorge on every piece of confectionary that the room has to offer. Each of the works presented in this weeks show have a very excitable, childlike wonderment to them, as if the artists have only just begun working with the ideas that they’re presenting within the work, as if they have only just started their journey into the factory, with far more enticing delights awaiting them. D'arcy Darilmaz’s ‘Finger Painting Argument’ harnesses found footage alongside conversations collated from social media websites to question how contemporary art is perceived on the internet. Is Darilmaz looking down on these people, as someone who clearly knows about art, or simply presenting to the viewer how modern art is viewed on social media today? Another work, created by Tom Stockley titled ‘A Hideous Trend’, harnesses low quality aesthetics in order to critique their common usage in art today, becoming the problem that he seems to detest. Does Stockley not understand why this visual trend, a utopian time machine that allows people to reminisce about the beauty of the 90s, has become prominent in the 21st century, or is he simply bored of seeing films that look like they’ve been filmed on a potato? Tyler Robarge's short film '...potential to do good?' physically links all of the pieces together, considering the ethics and relationships that artists have with their subjects. The work manifests itself as a piece of found footage, a hand held experience that shows a figure moving a tortoise off of a deserted road, simply moving the animal onto the verge of the road, still in harm’s way. Is this a metaphor for how artists treat their subjects? Or more specifically, how artists treat their subject matter, with reference to the two earlier, arguably misguided, works.

​

​Curated by Bob Bicknell-Knight