HELEN STATHAM The Gift Oxford Central Library April 2008
Unpublished

Artists are in a generous mood in Oxford right now ! Eleven of them are currently showing at OVADA in an exhibition called Gift. Meanwhile, just up the road at Oxford Central Library, Helen Statham has an artwork on show called ‘The Gift’.

Ideas once named may be regarded as being up for grabs and creative coincidences do occur and make for fascinating comparisons and conversations. Here’s to more of it I say !

Intriguingly, despite looking very different, both exhibitions invite us as audience to be active participants in the artworks and that makes for a really fascinating viewing experience.
 
I recommend a visit to the library before the end of the month to view and take part in the work made by Helen Statham. It combines the visual with the literary and ideas around the gift, and what it can be and also raises interesting questions for us about what our role as viewer of art can be, indeed what art itself can be.

Easy to find, as it is sited in the middle of the main lending library, the display Helen has made is simple and yet visually compelling even at a distance. A white screen holds a series of jewel coloured books arranged in rows like tiles. Getting up close one can see the books are small and beautiful and although date stamped as library books, unusually are also very empty. Each has a title printed in gold on it’s cover. These are intriguing and quite mysterious. Some are literary or filmic references, such as ‘Go ahead punk make my day’. Others such as ‘I was much older then,’ ‘I will enrich’, ‘Little daily miracles’ prompt thought and seem to invite response. The artist hopes that they will do just that and asks us, the viewers to bring the life to work by signing out one of these little empty books and putting something into it before returning it to the library for others to enjoy and contribute to. This feels fun and challenging and quite different to passively looking at a painting or a sculpture. I will return not only to see how this thought provoking and sensitive work grows and changes but also because I have a gorgeous purple book in my bag bearing the title ‘Mind, like space has no foundation’ that I need to add to and then return.

Helen is not prescriptive about what we do. This work suggests that we can all find the author or artist within us, we can all change thinking and contribute our imagination to this creative dialogue. That is a big idea and really rather wonderful and is happening right here and now. Get down to the Central Library before 30th April and join in!

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