Miscellaneous

Cardboard messengers from another world – they are so instantly recognisable and infinitely variable, it’s not surprising that an exhibition made up of over 1000 individual postcard-sized art works is an intriguing idea. 

 The Postcard Show at Nottingham’s Surface Gallery cleverly plays with an utterly familiar format, offering artists the opportunity to work within this small canvas in whatever medium, style or fashion they choose. Providing such limited boundaries has created an amazing array of work.

The intention behind the exhibition is to “open the doors for artists of all backgrounds and training to make artwork to an open brief and present in a formal gallery space.” With the standard postcard size the only boundary, the ideas are endless. 

Postcard enthusiast's dream

The subterranean environment of the Surface gallery is well suited to this type of informal exhibition. With postcards neatly but flowingly arranged along all the walls, the space resembles the fetish room of a postcard enthusiast who didn’t know where to stop. With works in pencil, paint, collage, embroidery, clay and paper, the exhibition creates a mosaic effect of endless variety, colour and shape. 

One series of works running throughout the exhibition is created from health service appointment cards daubed with bright spots. The same artist has made another postcard from the remains of a get-well card – what’s the tale of trouble behind these postcards from the edge? 

Miniature creations

The Postcard Show communicates semi-abstract messages, smug comments, curious questions and mournful observations. The walls reveal fragments of dreams, the collective unconscious of over 250 artists from all parts of the world.

At first thought, the idea of a postcard-sized art seems slightly absurd, but these works suggest pleasingly detailed miniature creations like Haiku poems or Russian dolls, with each little piece of cardboard a small world in itself.

The accessible nature of the exhibition extends to its affordability. Each of the artworks is available to own at a very modest price. It’s good to see a local gallery promoting affordable art in this way. Of course the open nature of the exhibition means that the quality varies, but this is part of its fun too.

There are also some works that are perhaps overly self-conscious or attempting too hard to make a statement. Again, this is part of the nature of the medium and the experience of providing or producing something for a specifically themed exhibition.