ICA openings often engender a flurry of excitement in visitors, but 'Surprise Surprise' had people talking way in advance, due to the fact that no one had any idea quite what they were going to find when they arrived. Yes, there would be the big name artists usually featured in crowd-pulling summer shows, but bearing in mind that ICA director Jens Hoffmann (soon to move on to the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco) and curator Rob Bowman had asked the artists to present one or several works they regarded as atypical of their practice, the question was, would their work even be recognisable?
The answer of course varied depending on the artist and the work they selected. Some delved into their past such as Dinos Chapman who displayed a papier-mache pink pig that he'd assembled age nine years; and his brother Jake showed off a paper penguin that he'd made age five. Those expecting to be appalled and revolted went home disappointed - there wasn't even a whiff of bad taste and there was nothing to identify the work as recognisably Chapman.
Those expecting gore from Damien Hirst were instead confronted by a Braque-like untitled collage he'd made when he was 20, which consisted of the 1914 book by Anglo-Indian novelist Alice Perrin, A Free Solitude, some scraps of wood pieces of driftwood and a faux cricket bat.
Talking later at the bar, art critic and senior editor for Contemporary magazine, Michele Robecchi confessed to being 'taken aback' by this and other exhibits in the exhibition. His drinking partner Max Reinerds nodded in agreement, adding that he thought the whole concept was 'cool'; and writer and editor Craig Garrett clearly felt he ought to neck a quick pint before he saw the show as the uncomfortably high temperature in the ICA's lower gallery was literally driving its visitors to drink in droves.
Art writer and award-winning documentary maker, Ben Lewis was managing to remain decidedly cool in his sleeveless t-shirt which showed off one of his fine tattoos. Clearly impressed by Matthew Barney's 2004 piece A Cuhna de Ogum, an elephant-like mask created from mahogany veneer, plastic and iron, he marvelled at the finely wrought details, and 'the exquisite campness of it all'. He then moved on to the intriguing Lustmord by Jenny Holzer - a table of 312 bones, 33 of which are circled with engraved silver rings.
Some artists' offerings were less surprising than others. While Holzer had taken to bones, Barbara Kruger stuck with the words for which she is renowned - although coming from her what they had to say was indeed surprising: And God Said It/I Believe It/And That Settles It.
And that finishes it.
Jane Neal
Jane Neal is an Oxford-based freelance journalist and critic. Her special focus over the past year has been the developing art scene in Central and Eastern Europe. She contributes to a wide variety of international art publications.
'Surprise Surprise'
Until 10 September
ICA
The Mall
London
Tel: +44 (0)207 930 3647
Nathaniel Mellors
Ben Lewis
Jake Miller and Laura K Jones
Ilona Rich and Kenny Schachter
Craig Garrett, Michele Robecchi, Max Reinerds
Jake Nava
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