BUZZ: ART REVIEW | ONE-ZERO PRESENTS “DE-FEET-ED”

BY SUSIE WILD ⋅ MARCH 10, 2011 ⋅ POST A COMMENT

DAN MCCABE & JACK KIRTLEY

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Monkey’s downstairs private party bar has become a lo-fi gallery for local creative enterprise One-Zero. First up, a humorous joint exhibition between young local artists Dan McCabe (Framework) and Jack Kirtley. The exhibition features new drawings by the pair whilst the well-attended opening blessed revellers with old whiskey, fresh cake, desirable buyables and sweet piano by M.M.B.K.

Jack Kirtley’s work, which can be seen on his blog, offers an amusing slant on modern life. His simple, Shrigley-esque (but much funnier) pen drawings taking aim at the media (The Sun* [*Don’t look at it]) and society in general from sinister happenings in the playground: ‘The slide is quieter since the arrival of the hole’ to glimmers of hope as a drawing of a lighthouse proclaims: ‘A shining beacon of hope guides us in and saves our lives.’ Kirtley had a sample book mocked up and for sale. I’d be surprised if a publishers weren’t fighting to publish it themselves pretty damn soon.

Dan McCabe drew a marvellous world in miniature, cubic metropolises rising up out of the hillsides, or lying in triptych with mathematical equations and terraced streets. The latter snapped up on opening night. More of this sort of thing.

One Zero also hosted a table tennis tournament in Uplands on Sunday. I was unable to attend but from the photos it looks top banana. This one day event was an opportunity to initiate a creative exchange between organizer Tom o’Sullivan, Dave Philips, Dan McCabe and the public. . .

They played table tennis, and then played with cardboard boxes. See for yourselves:

The exhibition runs until 21 March 2011 at Monkey Café, Swansea. Entrance is free.