Kate Davis @ Sorcha Dallas

A series of framed drawings runs across the two rooms of Sorcha Dallas gallery. In the first, a magazine page ground into gravel by a passing tyre, the words “I want” outlined upon the top, backwards. On the other side of the room stands a glass-fronted box in which lie certain objects belonging to the artist.

Walking into the other room, three more drawings, similarly pencil drawn and framed, accumulate to form the artist’s statement. The prior “I want” and now “everything I make”, “to reflect my”, “whole life”. In these reversed statements of drawing-text-drawing Davis succinctly encapsulates the latent narcissism of the artistic endeavour, and throws open a dialogue on the inclusion and reflection of self (intellectual and corporeal) in her own work, and, by extension, in that of all artists. It is teasing to come upon this statement of intent latterly, after an inspection of the first vitrine has caused the unconscious mental analysis of her belongings – clothes, utensils, books, CDs – all acting as signifiers to be automatically assessed and judged to deduce personality, character and, ultimately, essentially, compatibility with the observer. A life in this consumer age becomes the accumulation of stuff, the assumed intellectual choices behind the selection of possessions now standing for as much as did previously a personal philosophy, moral code or indeed faith. We see a hand blender – she makes her own soup? Second hand books – she values the content over the caché? Multivitamins, but not a known brand – she buys into the legend of healthy living, yet is unswayed by brand advertising? I see her, I see her now...

In all, Davis creates an intriguing, meditative show, complemented by the Gi-commissioned publication of a dialogue between her and the grande dame of feminist art, Faith Wilding. She aims to ask more questions than she answers, and this she does, challenging in ways which last long after you've exited the gallery doors.