Object Recognition: Mishka Henner and David Oates @ Sale Waterside Arts Centre

‘There is no truth,’ Gustave Flaubert once wrote, ‘only perception.’ Exploring David Oates and Mishka Henner’s intriguing exhibition Object Recognition, this notion seems apt. You could question, even, the validity of a review such as this. After all, if a writer is merely sharing their own subjective perceptions of an exhibit that is all about the inherent difference of observation, what value does that hold? Object Recognition explores this question. A varied showcase of seven ‘tests’ designed and conducted by Oates and Henner as assessment of their own personal vision.

Thirty Seconds Looking at the Mona Lisa is arguably the highlight of the room. Here, two identical portraits of the icon hang side by side, both dimmed beyond their familiar appearance with only surface pockets of light truly representing the Da Vinci original. These ‘gaze points’ were measured while each artist stared at the painting, a process made possible by the utilisation of eye-tracking software at the School of Health Sciences at the University of Salford. The absorbing splashes of illumination seen on the artwork reflective of Oates and Henner’s visual exploration during their 30-second viewing time.

It is not only the personal differences that are interesting; Mishka spending more time on the famed soft cornered eyes while Oates explores the obscure inky backdrop. There are further implications of seeing something so familiar now partly obscured, forcing a backwards retreat into the fragility of long-term memory.

This work as well as its companion Thirty Seconds Staring at the Moon forge a richly compelling synthesis between the experimental thought behind the tests and the art they explore and consequently create. The latter, a complex plotting of expanding dots across duplicate moons, demonstrates not only Henner and Oates’ optical investigations, but also forms an oddly captivating thatch work of harsh shapes, one that appears aggressively modern against the tender lunar flesh.

Where Object Recognition falls down, then, is when the duo’s experiments are displayed with no introspection. Attempting to Strike a Target from Varying Distances, for example, presents sets of small bulls-eye targets that have been shot at from varying distances claiming to explore ‘the primal and predatory origins of seeing.’ Elsewhere, Correctives ‘presents the spectacles and prescription lenses recommended for each artist by the University’s (Salford) Optometry Department’ – but that’s it. Amid such thought-provoking work, it seems disappointing.

Matching Colours to Objects and Concepts finds the artists’ attempts ‘to match colours from a set of British Standard swatches to familiar items and ideas.’ While pea soup evokes no surprise in the slight incongruity of tonal choice (green to slightly less green), the process becomes interesting when the artists match colours to more abstract concepts such as ‘pain remedy’ or the ‘Soviet Union’, essentially asking viewers to imagine our own tonal definitions. This work really works because it feels interactive - something the exhibition, as a whole, lacks. Points of clarity are made but, ultimately, ‘Object Recognition’, suffers from myopia of form and vision.