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Duck Hunt at Rhubaba Gallery

(originally published by The Student)

     There's a real air of nostalgia in Rhubaba's tiny warehouse-gallery in Leith. Corrugated iron doors and white-washed walls are made homely by the sheer amount of sound coming from the installations and the street outside. Art made from tin cans and magazine collage provides a hopeful, home-made feeling and something every visitor can recognise.
     The launch last Saturday of Rhubaba's latest occupation by InterCity MainLine (ICML) was nearly rained off. Co-director Rachel Adams explained that “turn-out wasn't as good as we were hoping because of the weather. But it turned into more of a fun experiment this way” , and the Watercolour Challenge paintings made by members of the public will be put into ICML's next Edinburgh-based zine publication.
     ICML's five artists, each originating from Bristol, like to explore, share ideas and experiences of different cities, then collaborate to form art like the zine and Duck Hunt.
Rhys Coren's OO shows two TV screens showing flickering, brightly-coloured drawings to an energetic soundtrack which makes it seem like we're watching the opening credits of a Saturday morning cartoon. From across the gallery comes the cacophonous sounds of Myles Donaldson's work which has to be reached by climbing a set of wooden stairs. At the top we don't find some kind of monster making the noise, but a nine-framed video of children playing with hoovers, a surprising instalment which verges on the whimsical. These two pieces in particular bring back memories of home videos, lazy weekends as a child with nothing to watch, and the eighties childhoods of all five artists.
     From the flourescent light made of Red Stripe cans that makes Jamie Bracken Lobb's Not Just Wizards Carry Staffs to Tom Hobson's cut-and-stick Towards the Great Untrodden Summit, Duck Hunt shows us an exploration of the near-past which is referential, adaptive, and most importantly, understandable to the viewing public. Don't let the corrugated iron doors fool you- this is a whole-heartedly friendly gallery.

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