Five-Star Review: Tom Burr | Spike Art Magazine

Five Star

7 October 2022

Tom Burr at Galerie Neu

Tom Burr, Atlas II, 2022, plywood and aluminium panel, black and white photographs, safety orange fabric, plastic sleeves, steel push pins, tacks. Installation view, “Compressions,” Galerie Neu, 2022, Berlin. Courtesy: Tom Burr; Galerie Neu, Berlin. Photo: Stefan Korte

Tom Burr’s new solo exhibition at Galerie Neu disperses wooden surfaces hosting pinned 1980s black and white photographs by Charles Atlas layered with plastic sleeves and orange safety fabric. A new large sculpture of four matte black identical wooden cubicles, each suggesting a partially open room, arranges camp beds, DVDs and books chosen for their subject matter based on the artist’s concern with issues surrounding psychology and control, sexuality and politics.

“On a visceral level, I’m very intellectually and emotionally attracted to acknowledging how space functions in our lives, both in terms of pleasure and in terms of control, and in terms of all those factors that form a life. I’m also very anxious and maybe repulsed by how superficial that whole dialogue can become.” Tom Burr

Title: ★★★☆☆
Looks: ★★★★★
Curatorial concept: n/a
Press text : ★★☆☆☆
Printed matter: n/a
Installation: ★★★★★
Lightning: ★★☆☆☆
Color story: ★★★★★
Execution: ★★★★★
Relevance: ★★★☆☆
Boldness: ★★★☆☆
Discourse-friendliness: ★★★★☆
Viewer-friendliness: ★★★★☆
Market-friendliness: ★★☆☆☆
Pleasure factor: ★★★★☆
Surprisingness: ★★☆☆☆
Thought fodder: ★★★☆☆
Hopefulness: ★★★★★

This show gets 3.6 out of 5 cubicles!

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“Compressions”
Galerie N eu, Berlin
10 September – 22 October, 2022

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