Ian Beesley - 'Street
Corners'
Smith Art Gallery, Brighouse (continued)
Some of the urban landscape photographs also intrigued me; for example, the half-painted house with accompanying pithy comment daubed in white emulsion and the gable end in Marsden sporting political graffiti.
But while many individual aspects of the collection entertained me, I couldn't help thinking the overall exhibition lacked cohesion.
Photographs taken in Bradford in the 1980s are mixed and muddled with more recent work from other parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Spontaneous shots, such as a blurred boy glancing at the camera as he passes a gable end, jostle awkwardly with what appear to be posed profile shots of a young Asian man in Oldham.
The creases and dirt evident on some of the white mounts and the occasional lack of date information fuelled my dissatisfaction.
What's more, the theme of street corners and gable ends is hard to detect in a number of photographs and you can't help wondering whether some barrel scraping has occurred to make up the necessary numbers.
One certainly doesn't need to allow much time to view 'Street Corners'. I put aside one hour but after 30 minutes and three laps I was ready to leave.
When I did, I felt
slightly cheated and short-changed - even though admission was free.
Copyright
2005. For syndication rights, please email.
Information
Ian Beesley's 'Street Corners' runs at the Smith Art Gallery, Brighouse, West Yorkshire until 19th March 2005. Admission is free.
Ian Beesley's web site can be found at http://www.ianbeesley.co.uk
