▽ MORRISROE/YOSHIYUKI @ OPEN EYE GALLERY

Today I took my first ever visit to the new Liverpool Open eye gallery. Here I saw the two main exhibitions at present – Mark Morrisroe and Kohei Yoshiyuki’s The Park.  My initial impression of the gallery being a first time visitor was very positive; I appreciated the smallness of the gallery, as consequently, I felt it made it easier to engage with the pieces on a more personal and intimate level.  I also admired the innovative architectural design of the gallery, which currently has one its façades adorned with the work of Sinta Tantra, as part of the Biennial. With its lurid colours and sharp geometrical design this work provides a bold aesthetic welcome to visitors of the gallery.

When first arriving my initial intention was to visit the Mark Morrisroe exhibition, but as I proceeded to walk through the gallery I was greeted by a gallery invigilator who prompted me to see the work of Kohei Yoshiyuki. Having not known anything about Yoshiyuki’s exhibition I was certainly surprised when I was informed that it was in the dark. Subsequently handed a torch, I walked into the exhibition space and immediately felt, if anything, rather apprehensive – the whole room was pitch black! Nevertheless, the purpose and effectiveness of this curatorial feature would later be recognised.

All of the images displayed in the exhibition take place in dark, ominous scenes and capture both heterosexual and homosexual couples engaging in sexual activities whilst voyeurs watch on. The exhibition space, being in complete darkness, mimics the lighting within the photographs and therefore prompts the viewer to feel as though they inhabit the work themselves. Viewers are invited to illuminate the images, which involve some sort of voyeuristic scenario, and this makes them feel as though they have made some sort of unwelcome intrusion themselves.  The viewer has the choice to either reveal the images or to leave them unseen in the darkness, therefore their sense of curiosity and intrigue is challenged.  I personally believe that the piece centralises around the idea of wanting to intrude into the personal circumstances of others. I believe that this is a very engaging subject matter, as we are after all, living in an age when the likes of the internet and social networking have stripped us of our privacy and allow us to virtually obtrude into the lives of others. The transition from the Yoshiyuki exhibition to the Morrisroe exhibition was quite a vivid contrast – I had quite literally stepped out of complete and utter darkness into an colourful, brightly lit exhibition space with various photograms produced from x-rays of Morrisroe’s own body and other ephemera adorning the walls.

I particularly appreciated how the expressionistic nature and rawness encapsulated within Morrisroe’s work was juxtaposed with an orderly and systematic curatorial approach.  At the same time, the brightly painted walls of the exhibition space really reflected and complimented the bright palette that had been incorporated into a majority of the pieces.  Despite contrasting exhibition spaces I did draw in some contextual parallels between this exhibition and Yoshiuki’s. Just as Yoshiyuki’s Exhibition, there was a significant emphasis on sexuality, as quite a lot of Morrisroe’s photograms incorporated cuttings from pornographic magazines. Similarly, homoerotic imagery was yet another distinct thematic parallel. Thus, we come to the inevitable understanding that it is the raw, animalistic nature of unrepressed sexual desire that powerfully correlates these aesthetically divergent artists.