Hell's Half Acre @ Old Vic Tunnels

The collaboration between the Lazarides Gallery and the Old Vic Tunnels brings the extraordinary Hell’s Half Acre, a group exhibition inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy. The show takes place in the abandoned railway tunnels beneath the Waterloo Station. As we enter the vaults we are greeted by the looped video of a madly barking pit-bull, which like Cerberus guards the entrance to the underworld.

The Heretics’ Gate

One of the first rooms hosts Doug Foster’s The Heretics’ Gate, a video installation, which is one of the highlights of the exhibition. The crowd of people gathered in front of it seems to be hypnotised by the Rorschach-like flame explosions. The animation doubled by its reflection on the greased floor and surrounded by complete darkness looks like suspended in space. It gives an impression of a portal to a different dimension or a gate to hell indeed. It is visually very powerful and impressive piece.

For What We are [...]

Jonathan Yeo, known for his porn collage portrait of Gorge W. Bush, displays a three-dimensional collage For What We are About to Receive portraying two naked women kneeling in prayer. The image is made from adult mag’s cut-outs spread across six Perspex sheets, and hung the way that it can be seen entirely only from a certain angle. The execution of the piece reminds plastinated cadavers and animals cut into slices by demonic German anatomist Gunter von Hagens for his Body Worlds exhibitions. ‘Things are often more beautiful if they’re disturbing and they’re more disturbing if they’re beautiful.’ – says Yeo about his piece.

Zac Ové The Time Thief

Among all the sculptures in the show the most eye-catching are the voodoo statues by Zac Ové. These dramatically lit life-size figures made from found material, strangely terrifying when approached on short distance, seem that at any moment may break the stillness and attack the viewers gathered around them.

Each artwork is more intriguing than the previous one as we move through the space. Beginning with mad hound and finishing with Tokujin Yoshioka’s ambiguous vision of Heaven as the Swarovski incrusted disco ball. Hell’s Half Acre is definitely one of the most exciting art shows that I had pleasure to attend.