Sorcha Dallas

Love showcases the work of three artistic partnerships. The first section contains pieces by married but independent artists Rita Donagh and Richard Hamilton, linked in concept by their response to Northern Ireland’s Troubles, and visually in the way they alter a photographic prototype through collage.

In the other room are recently married ‘living sculptures’ Gilbert and George’s video pieces from 1972, ‘A Portrait of the Artists as Young Men’ and ‘In the Bush’. Two screens, two certificates, two men dressed in their uniformed suits – standing together standing in space, George smoking a cigarette, moving ever so slightly over the duration of 16 minutes.

It is the sculptural pieces by Glasgow-based duo Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan that join the rooms together. Two solid pieces of plywood in the form of the letter ‘O’ are titled ‘This has reached the limit conditions of its own rhetoric’. One is dated 2005, the other ‘updated’ in 2008 by adding totemic-like geometric elements in their signature pyramid-style with pink and black painted patterned motifs. We are invited to walk around these monumental totem poles to view the other works in the show. Two artists working together with a common concern, multiplied by two others, and again two more. The result is an amplified web of meaning and visual effectiveness, pulsating with a bit of love.