The exhibition Space is Deep at Daniel Blau Gallery offers an intense journey into the puzzling work and imagination of Le Gun collective. Founded in 2004, Le Gun is a London-based group comprising five artist illustrators (Bill Bragg, Chris Bianchi, Neal Fox, Robert Rubbish, and Steph von Reiswitz), and two designers (Alex Wright and Matt Appleton) who met at London’s Royal College. Since that first encounter, the original style of this collective has constantly evolved, as shown by their most recent enigmatic installations and art shows, as well as by their cult self-titled magazine.
The title of this new exhibition is Space is Deep and borrows that of a song of one of the earliest space-rock bands, the Hawkwind. And it could not be more fitting: at Daniel Blau Gallery one finds himself in a vortex of occult, surreal, almost psychedelic art works, and feels projected into the spirit of this 1970s progressive, experimental group.
“It does not feel, it does not die, space is neither true nor lie, into the void we have to travel, to find the clue which will unravel, is this the reason deep in our mind”: those are the lyrics, and they seem to echo in the whole gallery. To begin with, Le Gun’s artwork hangs everywhere, from the very top to the very bottom of each wall, leaving visitors silent, almost breathless in this ‘space’ without rules and chronological order.
Wandering around, it becomes clear how the drawings move through different styles, themes and concepts. By gathering together black and white, almost minimal paintings, parodies of political scenes, technicolour war scenarios, as well as perturbing and provocative human portraits, the exhibition creates a detailed picture of a strange, but somehow very familiar society.
Because of this subversion of rules and conventions, the show, along with Le Gun group’s aesthetic, remains powerful, engaging, and not for everyone. Perhaps not by chance, one finds immediately- even before entering the main room- a black skull and a gun into a drawer: instead, they should be taken as a warning for those who don’t wish, or rather don’t dare to travel into a exhibition/’void’ which fully explores ‘the reason deep in our minds’.
Space is Deep runs from 13 December – 8 February at Daniel Blau Gallery, 51 Hoxton Square, London N1 6PB
