The main physical feature of Brian Kennedy's installation is an arrangement of five "trees" placed carefully through the middle of Gallery 1. Each of these is masked with gold leaf and tenuously balanced on the floor, which in turn has also been treated by an even covering of salt crystals.
Moving around the exhibition space is analogous to walking over a snow-covered scene, but more immediately, this action incises further the veil of salt previously marked by other visitors. Complementing this is an eerie light which casts winter-like shadows along the floor and walls, establishing evocative sensations which interchange between the atmospheric "landscape" created by the artist, and the personal landscape of the mind.
Underpinning this, the work is loaded with sub-texts which make connections with historical, mythical and religious iconography or motifs. And while the rather beautiful physical components of the installation have their own multi-faceted resonance, the precise thematic nature of the work is far from explicit.
The use of Wagner's Parsifal on the PA provides some ammunition for content analysis, where the Arthurian narrative of Le Conte du Graal relates to, and echoes, the un-revealed mysticism hidden within Kennedy's exegesis. That said, the extravagance of a full-blown Romantic opera somehow seems to impinge upon the subtleties of the work, with the installation as a whole seeming to make deeper connections when the sound of your footsteps is the only soundtrack.
Both run until November 27th
