Jenny Beard and Connor Shields present two new commissions currently on view at Leeds Arts University in an exhibition titled Middle of The Road. The show uses a collaborative approach to tie together their practices, highlighting commonalities in textures, materials and colours. Together, the works offer a critique of class and gender prejudices brought to life with humour, stimulating use of colour, rawness of shape, and the adoption and adaptation of road signs and construction materials. Language is important to both artists, and text acts as a mode through which to discuss working class identity and gender whilst uncovering tensions inherent to toxic masculinity.
Both Beard and Shields live in Leeds and are alumni of Leeds Arts University. They have common interests in class, gender, queerness, Northern identity and dialect. Shields’ work takes inspiration from construction sites and the objects and materials found there. Placed in new combinations and assemblages, Shields is interested in material tensions in the work physically, but also within concepts of masculinity. Beard is a painter whose creative process is grounded in automatic drawing. This is an artistic practice in which the artist clears their mind of conscious thought and makes a drawing, engaging their unconscious mind in the process. The artist will often distract themselves to do this or enter into a trance-like state. Beard employs digital tools in the creation and manipulation of sketches, however, the paintings are always finished traditionally and with meticulous precision.
In this exhibition Beard’s text-based works seem deeply introspective, as during the Covid-19 lockdowns Beard became more acutely aware of her position in the world as a working-class Northern woman. This reflection on identity is imparted through the use of text in her paintings. Beard’s words sit alongside marks which look like spontaneous sketches or traces of movement. At times these marks resemble elements of text, mimicking the shapes of dashes, commas and parts of letters. The paintings use this abstract imagery to explore and examine optical space, depth and flatness. It is explorative, open-ended work, in which abstract marks are appropriated for abstract paintings.
An example of this is Beard’s work ‘Stray’ (2022), in which white, dark blue and yellow marks appear on a lighter blue background. The colours are cheerful and vibrant. The marks form thick lines with slight curves and overlapping areas. There is no regularity to the spacing and position of the marks, and the composition instils a strong impression that the painting is a fragment of something on a much larger scale. This plays into the artist’s exploration of perspective and flatness. The curved lines suggest forms or shapes found in nature – they give a sense of the organic and seem to curl into the imagined depth of the two-dimensional canvas.
Beard’s text-based pieces more overtly explore the themes of gender and class. There is an aesthetic continuity with the use of vibrant, abstract marks, but with writing at the edges of the canvases. In ‘Disingenuous’ (2022), with a yellow background with green and orange abstract marks, a statement around the edge reads: ‘Actually I care about it a lot but going on about it seems very disingenuous and I just don’t like the sound of my own voice at the end of the day’. This can be read as self-deprecating humour, but also suggests humility owing to a lack of power and privilege. The sentence presents the artist’s introspective examination of her position as a Northern, working-class woman, focusing on her voice and accent. The way in which the text is written around the edge might suggest that the voice is marginalised – literally pushed to the margin. These text-based works succeed in eliciting empathy in others lacking in privilege, building a quiet sense of solidarity and connection.
Shields’ work examines constructed notions of masculinity and queerness through the use of materials such as steel, concrete and knitted wool. Shields puts crafting techniques in conversation with industrial materials. Whilst knitting is traditionally associated with a feminine domesticity, the industrial materials evoke notions of ‘working-class masculinity’. The artist’s work is often inspired by his experience of growing up in post-industrial Middlesbrough, in this exhibition the works combine these memories and references with building materials seen on construction and demolition sites in and around Leeds.
Shields’ ‘Can’t You Hear the Thunder’ (2021), a photographic print on aluminium, powerfully imparts the artist’s concerns. The photograph shows a ruined urban site with a wall in the background and blue sky above. A wire mesh fence with a construction sign in bold yellow, black and white warns: ‘Danger: Men at Work’. Beyond the fence, viewers’ attention is drawn to a large public artwork which reads: ‘I MISS YOU’. This text-based message challenges stereotypes of masculinity with perceived contradictions between the two signs. The sign on the fence is prefabricated – a print on plastic – and the lettering is an official and formal font with hard edges and corners warning of the danger that comes with a demolition site. The boldness of the colouring and severity of the font speaks of the physicality of the work. By contrast, the ‘font’ of the graffito is rounded and stretched, which seems to reinforce the tenderness of the message. The image complicates assumptions made about heterosexuality and masculinity in these work environments, introducing a tenderness, emotion and longing.
Shields’ sculptural work employs materials that, on the whole, connote binary concepts of masculinity. ‘Kiss Me Again’ (2021) is made using a long scaffolding pole and a large cushion made from jersey fabric filled with duvet stuffing. The pole leans against the wall, pinning the cushion in place with its weight. The scaffolding pole, a building material associated with the construction industry, might stereotypically be associated with working class masculinity. The titular connotation, taken with the contrasting materials, implies a bodily intimacy and closeness. The softness of the pillow and the severity of the pole simply touching at this angle suggests tenderness. Taken as a whole, the piece explores the subtle complexities of gender and sexuality.
Middle of the Road ties together the practices of Beard and Shields, highlighting the commonalities in colours, textures and materials. The title of the exhibition implies that the show is a meeting ground between two different perspectives. The phrase can also describe something ordinary or unexciting, but the points of connection between the works here are complex and intriguing. In both practices, industrial materials are reappropriated and abstract notions and shapes characterised by rawness and immediacy are used to impart a, sometimes humorous, critique of class and gender prejudice. Language is used by both artists to begin conversations on working class identity, sexuality and gender. Neither has an overt or didactic message to impart, but instead they concurrently explore the nuances of identity.
Middle of the Road continues at Vernon Street Gallery, Leeds Arts University, until 15 December 2022.
This review is supported by Leeds Arts University.
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Published 28.11.2022 by Eloise Bennett in Reviews
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