The Passing of Time
Some thoughts on art I’ve seen this week
A few days ago I went to the Arnolfini, one of Bristol’s big public galleries, to see a show by Elias Sime, a leading contemporary artist from Ethiopia. It was a really engaging exhibition, partly I think because his art looks so lovely and it’s not hard work to find relatable meanings.
There’s something I really love about the communal experience of seeing art, and there was a definite buzz in the room. I enjoyed overhearing what gallery-goers were saying to each other about his work and I had a great conversation with one visitor who was flying solo like me. She was bubbling over with excitement.
Elias Sime is a collector of curious old objects, useless things that don’t seem to have purpose anymore, and he has been collecting this stuff since he was a kid. In particular, he is known for the redundant electronic materials — computer keys, circuit boards, electrical wires — that he has incorporated into his art since 2009 in an ongoing series called Tightrope. He attaches these materials onto panels, and creates semi-abstract images that look like landscapes viewed from above, a bird’s eye perspective. Some works are more abstract than others, but they all share a materiality that draws you into them:
