Mark Leckey: O' Magic Power of Bleakness, Tate Britain - ★★★★ - Until January 5, 2020


This exhibition is dominated by life-size replica of a portion of the M53. We find ourselves under a motorway flyover close to Mark Leckey's home, a place where he played with his friends and created a safe space that was childhood. In this environment we are invited to experience three video projections which are largely autobiographical in nature: Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999), Dream English Kid, 1964-1999 AD (2015), and Under Under In (2019). Life as a child under the bridge is a world of camaraderie and imagination, whereas life looking back on the bridge is a much more complex reality. As the world expands the issues of sex, class, and social bonding are explored. The sense of the expansive universe beyond the closed society under the bridge breaks through the bravado and fantasy that were the protections of youth and create darker images. The three works we experience are presented in the chronology of this growing awareness and in reverse order to their creation. Leckey shows us the journey in a linear fashion although for him it was a mining of memory and a discovery of the magic buried beneath an apparent bleakness.

Reviewed by J.C.

 Our Score:  ☆☆☆☆ 

 WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Until January 5, 2019
Mon - Sun: 10 am - 6 pm
Open until 10 pm each first Friday of the month (except January)
Tate Britain
Nearest tube: Pimlico
https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/mark-leckey
Map & Location: Millbank, Westminster, London SW1P 4RG, UK

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