Bondage at South Place Hotel

The James Bond-themed exhibition Bondage showcases works by ten UK artists inspired by the infamous spy. A glamorous launch party took place at the South Place Hotel’s speakeasy bar Le Chiffre, which shares its name with the villain from Casino Royale. Curated by Ben Moore, the exhibition was kickstarted by live performances (featuring the best music from the James Bond movie soundtracks) and a selection of cocktails fitting the theme.

The artworks exhibited are different in style but they all share the sleek touch that one would expect to find in Bond-inspired creations. James Vaulkhard’s contribution, The Lovers Who Spy, is a mixed-media collage depicting the modern Bond, gun in hand, staring boldly ahead. A powerful portrait made up of black-and-white cutouts of erotic photographs, the double dimension of the work stays true to Bond’s essence: a mixture of the sensual and the daring. Nasser Azam pays homage to Ursula Andress and her famous Dr No beach scene with a large collage where a monochrome image of the actress is partly covered with patches of vibrant colour, creating a funky, cartoonish effect. Artist Matt Farina presents the amusingly named Pixels Are Forever, in which he places a selection of Pantone colour chips in an apparently random order against a white background. A little distance from the artwork, however, reveals an image from the iconic gun barrel sequence that serves as an opening scene to every Bond film.

While the concept of Bondage is exciting and bursting with potential, the collection of works is very limited and could have been boosted with the inclusion of other related material so as to create an immersive experience. The artworks are intriguing and a great effort was made to set the right atmosphere at the launch, but taking away the live performances and buzzing vibe of the opening night, the exhibition itself lacks substance and falls short of meeting the expectations that such a huge name in popular culture inevitably arouses.

Mersa Auda

Bondage is on at South Place Hotel from 3^rd March until 13^th April 2016, for further information visit here.