Jeremy Deller

Jeremy Dellers “Joy in People” at the Hayward Gallery feels very much like a retrospective. It embraces it hole heartedly and makes no apologies. You start off in his teenage bedroom with his paintings and photographs on the walls. Cuttings from newspapers and little things he's made (like post cards and beer mats) in cupboards in draws. There's even little toy stereoscopes with a skylight like a true 80's bedroom in an attic. The rest of the show continues in what I assume is the chronological order.

Some of his text and image pieces are quite interesting. Especially the screen printed posters for galleries and pop events. Deller felt the need to make more interesting posters than those already in use and stick them where they might not normally be placed. These prints have a distinct visual style compared to much of his other work. The colours for example are a lot bolder then anything else he's done (bar the clown at the worlds fair but I'm not sure that counts).

As strange as it is to say of a 3 minute video made in 2 days, “Exodus” is probably the best experience of 3D I have ever had. When I first heard of him making a 3D video of bats (on the culture show Feb 2012) I was sceptical as to if it would work and if the 3D would add anything special. I redact my scepticism. I can't imagine watching this in flat 2D. When the front plane is full of racing bats and you can look through them to see a swarm on the rear plane swirling and warping around the sky is quite simply magical.