Max Hooper Schneider

Twilight at the Earth’s Crust

★★☆☆☆

On until 17 December 2023

Mad Max meets Waterworld in a crossover sequel conceived by a film studio’s marketing department. Hooper Schneider’s dioramas are scenes of bleak undersea struggle. What is left of human civilisation – an old master painting and a bad ‘80s sitcom – persists only at the mercy of nature that’s out of control. Sea creatures have evolved into hybrids which the artist bestows with intelligence and purpose. The ocean floor looks like the Garden of Eden, but this environment is hostile, and all humans are banished. The capsules that once saved life have turned into museums.

The end is nigh, it always is. But Hooper Schneider makes it difficult to take this story seriously, despite his scientific and research credentials. The spectre of SpongeBob SquarePants hangs over this apocalypse. If this is intentional, it isn’t funny. If not, as with much eco-art today, tiresome.


notes and notices are short and curt exhibition reviews. Read more:

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Adriano Costa

ax-d. us. t

★★★☆☆

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RE/SISTERS at Barbican ★★☆☆☆

RE/SISTERS

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Gray Wielebinski, The Red Sun is High, the Blue Low at ICA ★☆☆☆☆

Gray Wielebinski

The Red Sun is High, the Blue Low

★☆☆☆☆

I knew that it was possible to understand art and life less after seeing an exhibition. I didn’t, however, imagine that experiencing Wielebinski’s work twice would only compound such damage.

Oisín Byrne, Not Marble at Amanda Wilkinson ★★☆☆☆

Oisín Byrne

Not Marble

★★☆☆☆

Byrne has a type. Or rather, he’ll paint you into one.

Hany Armanious, Circle Square at Phillipa Reid ★★☆☆☆

Hany Armanious

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★★☆☆☆

The lightness of being can turn unbearable.

Victor Man: The Absence That We Are at David Zwirner ★★★☆☆

Victor Man

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★★★☆☆

Man’s colours are only a small nudge of the wheel from Tretchikoff’s infamous portrait of the Chinese girl.

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