Temoins Oculaires, Isabelle Cornaro at Spike Island

Temoins Oculaires is an immaculate show. Walking into the huge central space in Spike always feels good for the soul, it is bright and feels lifting somehow, both to the work it holds and the visitor. Isabelle Cornaro makes great use of this space. She fills it with four works which serve as backgrounds and foregrounds to each other as you move through the room.

Installation view of Reproductions (#3, red) (2010/15), acrylic spray paint on wall, 290x435cm and Scenes #2 (2015) varnished birch plywood, gold mirror Perspex, stainless steel, acrylic paint on glass, 227.5x127x120cm

Two paintings on opposite walls are titled Reproductions (#3, red) and Reproductions (#1 purple). According to the guide 'they are reproductions of enlarged stills from the artist's film Floues et colourees (2010)' This film is shown in another room, it is quite mesmerising, showing paint being sprayed onto a surface. The Reproductions hold the viewer in the same way, they are textured rich surfaces you could stare into for hours.

Detail of Scenes #1 (2015) varnished birch plywood, gold mirror Perspex, acrylic paint on glass, 220x96x70.5cm

 In the middle of the room are two satisfying, slick sculptures which are like totems with bare, painted or covered surfaces. This room, with it's hinting sculptures and paintings referencing other works and other surfaces, seems like an exploded version of Cornaro's three other Scenes works, which are spread throughout the wide corridors circulating the central gallery.

Reproductions (#1, purple) (2010/15), acrylic spray paint on wall, 290x435cm

The Scenes read like 3D paintings, they are obviously supposed to be seen head on and are placed with their 'backs' hovering just off walls. You feel the need to walk around them, see around the objects and view them from the side just because they are objects. But the works themselves reject this, giving you nothing but what you can see from the 'front'.

Scenes #5 (2015) acrylic paint and varnish on MDF, Fabric Bakelite, miscellaneous objects,  200x320x200cm

According to the guide the Scenes 'could be described as physical representations of the act of watching'. They have a very particular aesthetic, deep colours, shiny surfaces which look like they could be furniture veneers, and domestic objects. They put me in mind of a 70's home, they also speak of film sets, stages and pop-up books somehow.

Scenes #3 (2015), acrylic paint and varnish on MDF, plastic laminate, miscellaneous objects, 150x320x238cm

I lingered in the final room for a while. Here three films play out, all using the objects or materials seen throughout the show and all mesmerising. They 'investigate concepts of accumulation, symmetry and entropy' and do seem to be concerned with the act of looking and watching. I get that from these films more than from the sculptural works. 

The works are beautifully made and ask you to linger around them, they have such strong personality and presence (especially the Scenes) that they seem to be looking back at you. If you can get to see the show this weekend I highly recommend it. 

Temoins oculaires, Isabelle Cornaro is at Spike Island until the 29th March.