Changing Scenery IV: Arena

Geoff Molyneux - Arena Studios
On until 24th July

Reviewed by Colin Serjent

Joint award winner of the inaugural Liverpool Open Competition held at Arena Gallery last year, Geoff Molyneux has returned to the space with a project containing new work consisting of a series of installation pieces, large scale drawings on paper, digital projection and lightboxes..

Included within it are different types of furniture including chairs.

"I consider the furniture shown here to be a metaphor for human presence or the lack of it," said Molyneux."The chairs, for example, all have a type of hierarchy attached to them- they all have a status symbol

"The way I have positioned the chairs creates a possible sense of conflct or dialogue," he added.

Another key element of the exhibition, complementing the furniture itself, are the six large scale images of chairs drawn with either Indian or Chinese ink on paper, but sometimes with the inclusion of watercolour paints.

A third key part of the project are the use of lightboxes containing mysterious and otherworldly abstract images of woodland, which have been deconstructed and made as one again to produce more complex and enriching pictures.

A large projected piece, showing a series of 35 images of nature - "The personal commection that each of us has with our surroundings is undeniable, those views or perceptions being moulded by one's life experiences," added Molyneux - is accompanied by recorded ambient music by Liverpool based Colin Heaney.