The subtitle to Mike Ballard’s largest work yet, ‘art will eat itself’, is fittingly commemorative of the Arts Gallery’s final exhibition before the building’s demolition at the end of next month.
On entering the room, you are immediately struck by a sense of disorientation as the mixture of optical and linear art becomes all-encompassing. The room’s exciting, ephemeral quality makes you feel as if you are contributing to the artwork by just standing there. Dirty footprints cover the floor and parts of the roof are beginning to deteriorate: an allusion to the building’s impending destruction. It is interesting that Ballard chose the site knowing that his work would only exist temporarily.

Painted monochrome images adorn the floor and walls, including a giant pharaoh’s head complete with eyes projecting coloured images and audio on to a succession of imagery from the history of art. The walls melt into the ceiling’s printed reproductions which include Renaissance paintings and Pop Art, as well as depictions of ancient Egyptians and the jazz musician Sun Ra.
While strictly painted edges contrast with roughly applied graphic shapes, dried drips of black paint are visible running down the walls. The exhibition is intoxicating in its entirety. I was surprised by the effectiveness of the collage-like style, it would have been nice to see some smaller, more accessible pieces.

Ballard commented that he intended to give the gallery ‘a good send off’, by using every surface to prepare the space before it goes into ‘the other world’. In the centre of the room on the floor lies a continuous circle of text that reads ‘the beginning of the end of the beginning’, a poetic line that is both apocalyptic and hopeful in relation to the space.

Until Feb 20

NADINE LOACH