Stuart Sherman: Spectacles

Stuart Sherman: Spectacles

Stuart Sherman's work spanned video, performance and theatre. He is best known for his series of performative 'Spectacles', of which nine are shown in this exhibition.

Often produced just for camera, these inventive performances took their cues from Sherman's other outputs such as writing poems and plays. The work combines these other activities into the work in surprising ways; through the poetic substitution of words for objects and the sculptural, aesthetic and narrative possibilities of the live arrangements of things.

Sometimes the objects appear to be used simply because they make a sense visually : the box fits through the hole, in others the organisation of the objects creates mini scenarios : toy car crashes into a chair, the chair falls over. These little narratives move on rhythmically through the length of each work, with the objects, people and Sherman himself in constant movement, adjustment and re-arrangement.

Stuart Sherman's work is rarely exhibited on this scale and this exhibition is the first of its kind in the UK, offering an overview of the Spectacle series.