Thom Isom: Pieces of You
When visiting an exhibition one expects a degree of diversity to set it aside from other exhibitions – in theme, aesthetics, and curatorial elements; a sign that the exhibition is unique. This and the need for the artworks to vary in approach, style, execution, concept, etc. seems paramount to the success of the reception of the show. It is within this context, that of the ever growing and expanding forms in which art takes, the Open Eye Gallery presents the work of Thom Isom: Pieces of You.
Thom Isom is an artist and graphic designer based in Liverpool, and a common theme of his practice involves exploring/experimenting with new ways the audience can experience the exhibition/artwork/event. It is this interest that has given Isom the inspiration leading to the creation of his work in this show; a publication – a book of images and materials reflecting the exhibition on a whole.
Artist’s books are no new concept, however, and exhibition guides aren’t either. But Isom has delivered something comparably different to both of these things. Acting as a piece of metanarrative, the exhibition’s namesake (Isom’s piece) is a deconstructed book composed of images from the exhibition; documenting the exhibition while simultaneously contributing to it.
The piece is compiled of photographs and other materials; acetate, metal, and reflective card, all neatly formatted in A5 and contained within a slick, clean-cut black box. And across the front of the black box in white text, like a precious photo-album or an overly sentimental shoebox of memories, reads ‘Pieces of You’.
In the gallery, two copies of the work are presented in two very clean and almost museum like display cabinets, giving an untouchable glimpse at the work. Each page overlaying the next, the piece is seen as a whole but not in its entirety. Perhaps paradoxically, as the piece is to be held, shuffled through, and mixed up – the viewer as curator. To fulfill this extra dynamic, the artwork, the publication, is in fact a purchasable object for sale at the gallery for £15. Yet another example of the expanded (and expanding) field of exhibitions and curatorship, the work can be reordered, re-appropriated in relation to the images of other works in the show. This piece, to me, is an exploration of the boundaries of the art exhibition and an exercise in audience involvement; all bound up in a neat little publication.
