Fewer and farther between
If conceptual art usually leaves you cold, you might be more than pleasantly surprised by this excellent exhibition of contemporary conceptualists, for here there is wit not purely of the obscure and self-reverential kind.
On Kawara, who has spent a lifetime affirming his daily existence by painting the passing days (by day, month and year) and sending greetings to curators and gallery owners, doesn't deviate from his usual dogged message of 'I am still alive' which he writes in a fax to Lisson Gallery's director Nicholas Logsdail. The medium might be ephemeral but, then, so is life.
The simple fact of physical persistence is complicated by matters of the heart for Liv Pennington. A photograph shows a smiling woman across a restaurant table. She looks happy enough, but something isn't right: the pupil of one eye is hugely dilated, the other a pinprick. 'I don't know if I still love you', reads the title, but even involuntary actions speak louder than words, though there are plenty of the latter here, and used to powerful effect.
Gary Rough's ongoing project, The State I am In, occupies a whole wall with enlarged photocopied text of hand-written letters.
With names Tippexed out, these are from respondents to a lonely hearts ad that, one presumes, Rough himself has placed. All speak of heart-rending loneliness and of the desire to connect with another human being.
Leaving aside the ethics of pursuing this as an art project, many might say that such a desire is what art should, in fact, be all about.
Until Sept 6, Lisson Gallery, 29 and 52-54 Bell Street, NW1, Mon to Fri 10am to 6pm, Sat 11am to 5pm, free. Tel: 020 7724 2739. Tube: Edgware Road
