Concrete Playground

12 artists are united by the word for this exhibition, all differing in their use of language and text. Watch Grant Stevens’ video work Really Really a few times and you realise the order of words doesn’t so much matter. His message is clear, and the rhythm and spacing of the text totally evokes that scrambling feeling of a bubbling love you can’t keep a lid on. Each word is part of a greater whole: the whispered sweet-nothing.

In contrast, there is Jenny Watson’s Objectification; in the small but powerful canvas the words ‘My mother is ill again’ appear. Imagine substituting or emphasising any of these words and you understand just how charged each element of the sentence is. With several big artists alongside newer names, overall the delicacy of the written word succeeds here in drawing your attention from the cavernous space of the gallery to the artworks before you.


Image: WORD, installation detail, Anna Schwartz Gallery Sydney, courtesy the artists and Anna Schwartz Gallery, photograph by Paul Green.