Shedding light on artistic wordplay
Ian Hamilton Finlay's 'word sculptures' are dense with meaning and rich with ambiguity. They can conjure up a trail of visually startling images, yet can also leave you stumped.
Take Poverty Pitted With Larks, one brightly coloured, elegantly scrawled neon work. What startling images can be conjured up here? What layers of meaning? It might be fair to say that it's not always easy, or even possible, to rise to the challenge of Finlay's work.
Diamond-Studded Fishnet, on the other hand, conjures up a rush of glitteringly scaly associations and exudes a warm, neon glow of gold.
This exhibition marks the first anniversary of the Scottish artist's death and focuses on his rarely seen neon works. These one-line 'concrete poems' - monostiches, to give them their proper name - are packed with delightful wordplay.
A second series of works focuses on another of Finlay's obsessions: the French Revolution. A trompe-l'oeil wall painting in sandstone beige resembles etched masonry, with the words Cor Day Lux offering punning references to daylight, the enlightenment and to Charlotte Corday, the assassin of revolutionary hero Marat.
As with all of Finlay's work there is much to cogitate, frustrate and delight.
Until May 19, Victoria Miro, 16 Wharf Road N1, Tue to Sat 10am to 6pm, free. Tel: 020 7336 8109. Tube: Old Street
Ian Hamilton Finlay: The Sonnet Is A Sewing Machine For The Monostitch
Victoria Miro
Wharf Road, N1 7RW
