Jack Brindley, Ellipsis (Paper) I, 2013

Regular readers will know that when it comes to art, I do like white things. Maybe it’s the visual simplicity. Maybe it’s that I’ve made quite a lot of white things myself. Maybe it’s the enjoyment of trying to figure out what’s going on in the work when there’s so little to actually look at in terms of colour and form. Who knows? Whatever the reason, I often do find myself prepared to put in the time to look again if at first the work seems empty.

It’s unsurprising then that when I visited Jack Brindley’s show Sweat at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery it wasn’t the more colourful works that really held my attention, it was the sheets of (sort of) plain white paper.

Ellipsis (Paper) I, 2013

The Ellipsis (Paper) works, each essentially a sheet of handmade paper with little but the odd trace of type, are in fact made from waste paper from the gallery office, in this case left over press releases from previous exhibitions. There’s a system in there that I rather like. Brindley has used the detritus from the gallery’s admin processes as the material from which to make the work. In a way each of these works are a sign saying ‘move along, nothing to see here’, well nothing to see of the previous shows anyway, except this weird empty trace now devoid of the art speak that characterises gallery press releases.

Partition I, 2013 installed at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery

The works are shown installed on other works (each a Partition) adding a layer of corporate display in to the mix. I have a vague feeling I could easily not have liked this work but the combination of the minimalism of the white, the precision of the pieces and the nature of the paper used to make them wins me round. And best of all they make me think again about BANK’s Fax-Bak Service doctored press releases which is always high on my list of favourites.