Debut XXI - BLINDSIDE

Not to be a hater, but hearing that the artists for Blindside’s current Debut XXI exhibition were drawn from recent art school graduates, I didn’t have particularly high expectations. Maybe that’s just me being jaded from my own experience at art school, especially with our grad show that never really was (2020 lockdown grad here 😬). BUT! I wasn’t just pleasantly surprised by Debut XXI, but I was actually incredibly taken with the whole show. Curators Emeline Robinson-Shaw and Veronica Charmont have brought together work by seven artists and created an exhibition that not only works seamlessly, but even reflects back glowingly on art schools for shaping these emerging artists.

Once you’ve ventured up to floor 7 of the Nicholas building, in the elevator that always feels like it may kill you, the first thing you see is Celline Mercado’s Breathing Room. The suspended bed and desk set meticulously wrapped in wool is full of hours upon hours of labour. This labour is reflected in the futile effort of making something hard into something soft. It’s difficult to put a bed in a gallery space without people making connections to all the beds that have been in galleries before, but Celline does something new here. And I can’t help but think that Celline achieves what Yona Lee was trying to do in Upper Floor Composition which was shown at Buxton Contemporary in The Same Crowd Never Gathers Twice last year. Opposite Breathing Room sits Georgia Naughton’s dirty tiled floor, making the gallery space almost feel kinda like a deconstructed house of sorts. Naughton’s installation features soft blurry paintings Cake and Gravy. The decadent gravy is soft and folded in the spoon and acts almost like silky brushed hair tumbling down into the gravy boat. Very nostalgic of soft childhood memories. I love the recent painting trend of this blurry, out of focus, soft look, it takes incredible skill to be able to make a piece look finished when painted this way.

I am so glad that painting is back in a big way at the moment and that THREE painters have been chosen for this exhibition. In the next room Mythra Schwartz is painting in a similarly nostalgic yet liminal way to Naughton. Reflections and forgotten corners full of repeating lines and patterns make these paintings such tangible pieces. I could legit smell the chlorine when standing in front of The distance of blue. La’la Zarei’s FRAGMENTS OF MEMORY feels texturally similar in a very tactile way to Scwartz’s paintings. Cut out holes in the vessels with glossy solid ceramic lace draped delicately overtop. These two artists are very well placed next to one another, it feels like their work is having a lil chat honestly. In this second room also sit Aliza Nickle’s Inheritance – strong, bold, textural, but not over-powering. I can imagine it would either be very fun (or maybe a bit scary) to sit in front of these three when high.

Back in the first room: Dylan Marriot rounds out the feelings of being in a deconstructed home with Yellow Chair and Red Chandelier. Two soft, dark, moody photographic prints that do a lot to balance the other more whimsical and untethered work in the show. Finally, I spent some time with Amelia Gill’s paintings on the way out. While these were the last thing I saw, they certainly weren’t least. They’re understated yet so textural. I thought both were painted on wooden board until looking closer and seeing the wood texture was the painting itself. You’ve gotta have serious skills to paint everyday stuff so well it looks real. I wanted to find some more information about Gill’s work but couldn’t find any anywhere. These feel like a glimpse into something more, and while sometimes I love a lack of context, I think a little could’ve gone a long way with these.

It’s not surprising that when looking at these artists’ profiles on their respective uni websites that many of them were also the recipients of prizes and awards for their grad show hangs or their studies. This show is a representation of the crème de la crème of the 2024 graduates. The thing about grad shows is that they’re not curated, and there are so many pieces that the spaces can often become overwhelming as you move through. Debut XXI is like the grad show that could’ve been. It’s also just such an excellently curated show. All the work speaks to each other, and it all comes together texturally and thematically to show off each artist while still remaining cohesive as an exhibition. Debut XXI is full of the shining stars of the class of 24’ and these artists are the ones to watch. Catch the show at Blindside until April 26th.