Review - Bad Behaviour

Here's an extract from the review of the recent Bad Behaviour exhibition at Brixton East by Paul Luckraft (who is the curator at Modern Art Oxford).


Paul Stanley’s two works on display are highly personal and autobiographical, centring around memories linked to his own family.  Past Tense (2012) comprises three small frames, with the middle one containing a 35mm slide subtly backlit by an embedded light.  The frames on the left and the right of this contain photographs of the artist as a young child with his mother and father, presented alongside short texts.  These texts, written by Stanley, are succinct and moving.  They universalise emotional memories of childhood, and carry just enough information without revealing too much.  In the upstairs space Stanley shows a projected slide show of further photos, these being found by the artist under his mother’s bed after her death.  Simply projected onto a low white screen, the images are shown deliberately blurred, adding a Richter-esque separation.  This blurring works to give the viewer permission to look at the images, without the sense of encroachment on something too personal to be shared.


Thanks Paul! I thought the review was very good, clear and balanced, and not just because you said nice things about my work (although that helps)