I guess it's pretty unprofessional to write a review of a show that you were participating in, so let's just call this a report and get on with it. Hell Yeah, a show conceived and birthed by Christian Nerf and Douglas Gimberg, took place on Friday 13th, in a cleaned up studio. The night started badly, when I arrived a little early, and they were still installing work in the lifts, meaning I had to climb ten flights of stairs. Then my work (which I couldn't print myself, owing to an unfortunate incident involving a storm and a collapsing roof and a vulnerable printer) turned out to be virtually illegible. Things brightened up however, when Baylon from SMAC gallery in a surprise attack donated 100 free beers. The show was opened by Ed Young in a faggy devil costume with a speech decidedly reminiscent of a 60's happening (some nonsense about a detachable penis). While he was rambling on, Henning Ludeke performed his work Hate Speech, in which an image of a skull was scraped into a window which had been painted white. As the scraping and chipping got more aggressive, more of the artist, in a full wrestling outfit including skull mask, was revealed through the window. The obvious interpretation of 'what you say reveals who you are' didn't stop it from being the scariest work I have ever seen, and my favourite on the show. The sound of metal screeching against glass will be with me for a long time.

Kathryn Smith's portrait of Seung-Hui Cho, rendered in ink visible only under UV, was chilling, especially if you have ever watched Medical Detectives (you know the scenes where they spray luminol all over a room, turn on the UV's and suddenly all these bloody handprints appear)(or, for that matter, the scene in the Da Vinci Code, where the curator writes all his secret codes and riddles in invisible ink). Another portrait, by Charles Maggs this time, took a more humorous look at hellishness. A large print of what seemed to be a demonic face, on a closer look was a puddle of bath foam, a work strongly reminiscent of the religious apophenia and paranoia shown by those who see Jesus on a toasted cheese.

A braai was prepared and fun was had by all.

There were a whole load of other works which deserve a mention but I'll save it till Friday when, as a special feature, the ArtHeat ProjectSpace will be hosting a digitised version of the show.

Labels: Hell Yeah