Art Seems strange to think that in just over two weeks the Biennial will be over. Will there be a party? I can but hint. Having reached all of the main venues, there's just time to try and locate some of the smaller shows, at least those which are still open. The Liverpool School of Art and Design MA Fine Art Exhibition sits in an exhibition space at the back of the building, its mostly glass walls looking out onto Brownlow Hill, somewhat resembling one of the living rooms Kevin McCloud gets excited about. Another venue I didn't know existed until someone put an exhibition there.
In one corner are the results of a twelve month research project by Jane Fairhurst and Tim Fielding into the now not so new town of Skelmesdale in collaboration with Lancashire Museums and the North West Film Archive. There are original planning models for the houses and shops, and though a contemporary video shows the area after forty years of rot, it's impossible not to feel the sense of hope seeping out of the contemporary promo films with their vibrant editing and excited, if not entirely convincing voice over which includes such lines as "residents can enjoy the fresh air blown in from the sea ... just twelve miles away ..." (my emphasis).
But aesthetically, my favourites in this show are David Hancock's numerous illustrations or to list their titles in full, Crash #2, Crash #3, Raw, Hero, Auto and Crash #1. These are a series of near monochrome watercolours of various youngsters playing Playstation games (judging by the controllers) against white backgrounds. Beautifully detailed each retains the intensity of play in each pair of eyes as well as the blank face of concentration, accentuated by that blank background which suggests that the only world that now exists for them is on the screen. I would invite gamers to visit and see if Hancock is holding a mirror up to them.
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