Written by trainee gallery assistants Sophie N, William T, with assistance from staff member Megan.
The two artists made the artwork separately, working in parallel which means at the same time but not together. We think that the title disarray means disorganised or jumbled up.
In the gallery there are collages by Olivia and sculptures by Emma. It’s not pretty art but it’s interesting, there are all sorts of shapes that are a bit weird. It’s nice to see art that is different.
The collages are stuck together like in school and are made of images torn from magazines, books, newspapers, leaflets and posters – Art can be messy and still be good. Collage is fun and it doesn’t matter if you can’t draw.
The sculptures are made of clay, bits of old rubbish, glass and felt. ‘Scramble’ reminds Sophie of a teapot, ‘Palate’ reminds William of a lemon and ‘Leftovers’ reminds Megan of a banana skin.
Sophie’s favourite is the piece by Olivia called ‘offcuts’. She says “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle, jumbled up but all together. I can see a tennis ball and a globe. There are vibrant pops of colour next to muted colours”
William favourite is called ‘red drips’ which is also by Olivia “The red drips are like blood but the colours of the collage are spring like. It reminds of sweet corn, sunburn, barbeques and I think that the blue might improve your mood”.
Megan’s favourite is ‘Palate’ by Emma, because of the colours. “it makes me think about a sunny day that I spent at a gallery called Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge because of the piece that looks like a lemon”.
It’s hard to understand what its all about, maybe it’s from dream? Sophie says “the space feels claustrophobic, there are too many things for your mind and it’s too jumbled up for me”.
If the artists were here, William would say “its lovely and exciting. It’s unusual”.
Sophie would say “your art is unusual, but maybe you are thinking of lots of different things and not telling us the story”
Sophie gives the exhibition 7/10, William gives the exhibition 9/10 and Megan gives the exhibition 8/10
DIS-ARRAY by Emma Barrow and Olivia Browne is showing at Level Best Gallery until Thursday 30th January 2025
