Kaleidoscope, Saatchi Gallery review ★★★★★

There is one clear attraction at Saatchi Gallery’s latest exhibition and that is the psychedelic work of installation artist Laura Buckley. She has created a piece that is effectively a giant walk-in Kaleidoscope with mirrored walls that reflect the constantly shifting images projected onto the interior. The experience is heightened by sound, mixed to combine ambient noises, the human voice and synthetic tones.

After the interactive light show of Buckley’s installation it takes some adjusting to engage with the rest of the exhibition. Walking into a room of sea-themed works that are pleasant enough, but lack the sensation-driven experience of the first gallery, is an anti-climax. It is a shame because in any other environment Pierre Carreau’s photographs of glassy waves, or Benedetto Pietromarchi’s mischievous ceramic pelicans would be perfectly engaging.

From the sea we move to domestic settings. Florence Hutching’s colourful paintings of vases and windows are cheerful enough and painter Tom Howse’s interiors have surreal twists within them – such as a smiling teapot – but it is almost impossible to see how they relate to the previous rooms. Mia Feuer’s sledge, which she constructed from petroleum waste collected from the shores of arctic fjords, feels as though it should be in another exhibition entirely. Her work is strongly political and regularly deals with the environment, but does not connect to anything else here. Only in the last room, does the show’s title start to make sense again.


Tillman Kaiser. City of the Weak Heart, 2007. © Tillman Kaiser, 2007. Image courtesy of Saatchi Gallery, London

Austrian artist Tillman Kaiser’s mixed media drawings play with geometry and collage. They are subtly coloured and prioritise balance and a sense of symmetry and are complemented which sculptures that appear to be strong, metallic structures, but are, in fact made of cardboard and wood.

As a whole this exhibition doesn’t hold together. Some of the works are loosely connected by an interest in pattern, but on the whole, the show falls short of its remit to ‘examine the distortion of human perception.’ The beginning is promising, but the momentum drops away instantly and there are the kernels for four separate shows here. Although this exhibition doesn't quite work, audiences will be understandably attracted by Buckley's installation. Take some shots for Instagram (they will look fantastic) but also take a moment to appreciate the experience, as you lose yourself in the swirling movement and sound.