HAROLD OFFEH; Mmm. GOTTA TRY A LITTLE HARDER, IT COULD BE SWEET KETTLES YARD
Photographs by Jo Underhill
Mmm - the sound to greet you in Harold Offeh’s imaginative world It resonates round the gallery . He repeats it throughout this ‘sonic installation’ . At first you laugh, then you resist and finally agree, Mmm is such a supple, subtle time filler/question/ disapproval/appreciation -all in one meme.
This exhibition, Harold’s first solo, is a brilliant steer through his career - his life passions, his roles , queer ,rebellious,skeptical academic and also intellectual..The exhibits are exciting. Grace Jones (clearly a lifelong icon) sings on video whilst expertly doing the hula hoop. It’s mesmeric. Ribboned tents conceal and reveal in turn whilst on a far wall, handsome Harold performs a dance routine on the beach in Brazil. A woman appears as a partner but soon leaves Harold as he salsas solo into the sand.
At first frivolous, soon you sink into the colourful world of this extraordinary artist. A few words with him dispels any suspicion of pretension. Harold is warm approachable and wants very much to meet his public.
And he has a lot to communicate. An exciting collage protests against the ‘well being ‘ culture’ making millions for its exponents all over the globe. Only adopt some perilous pilates, Aveidic yoga or juice regime and your problems will melt away .As Harold explains ‘ This is clearly absurd. When it gets problematic is when it ignores inequity and ascribes life problems solely to the individual with no reference to their lifestyle or resources”
Eclectic and wild as his work first appears, Harold emerges from an education at Brighton College of Art where French post structuralism was a large part of critical theory. Philosophy ,linguistics ( hence the Mm theme) drew the students towards the role of language in art and the perspective of semiotics in artistic expression.
A long way from what appears the eclectic spontaneity of this exhibition s whirl around a bright exuberant world .There is something for everyone in this show.
Photograph by Eloise Calandre
`Jo Underhill
Photograph by Jo Underhill
Jo Underhill
Jo Underhill
Jo Underhill
