Alice Kettle, Telling Fortunes

Alice Kettle, Telling Fortunes 15th September to 31st December, @ Gallery of Costume Platt Hall

A small stack of bricks at the side of Platt Fields Park houses a selection of costumes from various points in history. The costume plays an important role in social history and the everyday life of the human, a tool used to express oneself visually. Artists tend to express themselves visually through various mediums, and their work is displayed within the classic gallery space for visitors to admire. It seems clear that the Gallery of Costume Platt Hall, may be strange to those used to the classic ideas of what’s expected in an art gallery, but it in fact, costume is no different to any other form of visual expression.

Like any other gallery, the work here inspires artists, such as Alice Kettle’s new exhibit, Telling Fortunes. A huge white glove dress, a flower of gloves exploding from a plant pot, withered gloves tied to a thin wooden structure, these are the sculptural pieces dominating the room, suggesting Kettle has homed in one specific item of clothing to explore. The glove dress, is extremely beautiful, but only on closer inspection did I realise that it could actually be worn. Of course I tried it on, but I had a lot of trouble doing up the buttons and none of the staff seemed in any mood to help me. Weightless, brisk sketches adorn the walls, like ink scratches, others are large textural, figurative, thick and painterly, but all made from stitch work, digital or hand. Vivid, dreamy and fantastical.

From the titles of the pieces, the impression given is that the work concerns the memory of the costume. What did these gloves mean to the people who wore them? One of the displayed pairs in the glass box were owned by a woman called Mrs Maud Heath, maybe she was a big deal in 1920 but I have no idea who she is. I bet she never expected a pair of her gloves to be used as a source of inspiration for an art exhibit. Maybe she remembers removing these slender, chamois leather gloves delicately as she attempted to arouse Mr Heath after one too many ports. Gloves in the present day aren’t as sexy as they used to be, predominantly their use is now functional; Gardening, Winter, Dishwashing, Driving. The memory of my thick, woollen winter gloves begins on a rack of old FHM magazines in Empire Exchange where I found them, and that is almost as un-sexy as you could get.

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