The Other Side

By Andrew Frost

Appearances may be deceptive but then again, they are what they are – appearances. Alex Gawronski’s installations have explored space, time and perception using the frame and shape of galleries as his starting point. One memorable piece ANTI-Chamber [2005] created a waiting room for a fake gallery within the gallery, complete with chairs, tables, inner door and reading matter. For his installation at Alaska Projects, Gawronski is working on a much smaller scale, but one no less dazzling for its subtlety and humour.

There is a kind of punchline to The Other Side, and to reveal it here would probably spoil it, so rather than simply explain what the artist has set up in the gallery, space let’s just say that given that Alaska Projects is in a car park, it is an entirely plausible fiction made all the more strange for the stunning verisimilitude Gawronski brings to the work. It is uncanny and unsettling and brimming with possibility – we know it’s a theatrical set up, but given the audience’s willing suspension of disbelief, what lies beyond the door is all in our minds – just like the importance and meaning we ascribe to the gallery room itself.

Until October 28

Alaska Projects. Kings Cross

www.home.alaskaprojects.com