The most pretentious artist in London?

Fisun Gner|Metro5 April 2012

What's Cerith Wyn Evans on about? Talvinder, You'll Never Guess, It's The Pacific Ocean Again! is the title of a tangle of white neon tubes suspended from the gallery ceiling, like a complicated cat's cradle of light drawn in space. There is no clue as to what the title might mean, but you can read that the work invokes 'the interstitial spaces of the temporal "fourth dimension".' (Obviously.)

But in case you remain unilluminated, then you can also read that the work 'reflects the artist's interest in composer John Cage's chance operations and Brion Gysin's "cut-up" techniques, as well as particle physics, Albert Hoffmann's chemical formula for LSD, neural synthesis diagrams and astrological constellations.' (To which, only an exclamation mark need be added.)

On the wall are words in neon, which turn out to be an excerpt from Chris Marker's brilliant and deeply poignant 1962 stills film La Jetée. But what is the artist trying to get at by plundering these cryptic lines? Or, for that matter, making all these references without producing anything remotely interesting in its own right? You can ask many questions of Wyn Evans's work. But the most pertinent of all must surely be: 'Is Cerith Wyn Evans the most pretentious artist in London?'

Until Jan 12, White Cube, 48 Hoxton Square N1, Tue to Sat 10am to 6pm, free.
Tel: 020 7930 5373. www.whitecube.com Tube: Old Street

Cerith Wyn Evans: Signatures Of The Invisible
White Cube
Hoxton Square, N1 6PB

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