'No Fun II' @ One Thoresby Street, Nottingham

No Fun II is a exhibition of work from Artists Sean Cummins, Jo Mitchell and Mark Pearson. I found the exhibition as a small yet, thought provoking show that showed themes of subculture and a believable tribute to anarchic attitude of punk, with a balance of youth with the experienced. It was great to see the work of one of my tutors at university Sean Cummins, whose work i found to be really impressive when viewed in the flesh. No Fun is described as:

'NO FUN II IS AN INSTALLATION OF WORK BY 3 ARTISTS WHO DISLOCATE STRATEGIES TAKEN FROM GRAPHIC DESIGN. THEY ARE INTERESTED IN ITS WIDER CULTURAL CONTEXT OR SUB-CULTURAL REFERENCES AND ENJOY SUBVERTING ITS COMMUNICATIVE POSSIBILITIES THROUGH FRUSTRATION, REPETITION AND CONFRONTATION.

NO FUN II WILL PRESENT PAINTINGS, TAPESTRIES AND ENLARGED PHOTOCOPIED IMAGERY, BECOMING AN IMMERSIVE, OVERWHELMING AND COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT OF GRAPHIC IMAGERY. THEY INTEND THIS INSTALLATION TO BE A CREATIVE EXAGGERATION OF THE LANGUAGE AND PROPERTIES OF GRAPHIC DESIGN, USING ITS CONVENTIONS AS A VEHICLE FOR ENHANCING THE ABERRANT URGES AND INTENTIONS OF THE ARTISTS THEMSELVES.

ON THE SURFACE MOST GRAPHIC DESIGN WILL SUGGEST EXPRESSIVE POSSIBILITIES THAT ARE OPEN ENDED … BUT DESIGN BEING DESIGN… IT IS ULTIMATELY LOCKED INTO THE FUNCTIONAL AND RATIONAL OBJECTIVES OF COMMUNICATING AND ADVERTISING. NO FUN II READILY EMPLOYS METHODOLOGIES OF GRAPHIC DESIGN BUT THEIR OUTPUT IS JOYOUS, HUMOROUS AND A LITTLE BIT FREAKY WHICH ULTIMATELY DOES MEAN FUN.'

Sean Cummins 

Mark Pearson

Work from a different exhibition downstairs

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