Walsall Art Gallery July 2009

On the 22nd July 2009, the arty fartys went to Walsall to see what exciting things they had on exhibition. But as it turned out, they were in the middle of an exhibition changeover.

However, an exhibition that was still on was 'Crash' by Johnathan Shaw. This exhibition explored creating a sense of claustrophobia and chaos within today's club culture. Johnathan Shaw created this larger than life installation by using digital photography with a high resolution to distort the images at the club 'Crash' in London, and create the movement between the subjects in his work as a result of the lighting and high resolution. It is quite a surreal experience whilst viewing the work as I was immersed in an environment that can made me feel distorted and in a way uncomfortable. Similar to when you go to a club which is really busy and there is not much room to move around. However, due to the size of the installation, I think that this is what the artist was looking to achieve from his work i.e. the size of the work and the position that this puts the viewer in when engaging with the work and its content.