Boys are sew cool

Shirts by Ben Cooke
Fisun Guner|Metro5 April 2012
The Weekender

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The seven artists here aren't a collective nor do they all strictly sew, but they do all use materials traditionally associated with the 'gentler sex'.

This might put them in the slightly transgressive mould, and they do indeed explore that hoary old theme of gender roles. But if the underlying themes are serious, this exhibition is also about having as much fun with a needle as it's legally possible to have.

Gordon Leong makes elaborate hybrid costumes that refer to his mixed parentage. Chinese dresses are adapted with some telling detail, adding a Latino flavour here or a cowboy theme there.

On one, he has stitched the words 'Yellow on the outside, black on the inside', referring both to the dress and, presumably, to his attitude to racial identity: one can wear it or discard it as one pleases, just like one of his fancy costumes.

Similarly, Brett Alexander uses dress to explore identity. On rows of grey school kilts he has stitched pejorative words for 'homosexual'.

A lighter note is provided by Hew Locke's Voodoo Dolls. Feather boas, pom-poms and crocheted patchwork squares are knitted together in one exuberant confection. Amid the colourful confusion, one detects beady eyes, plucked from broken dolls in whose hands are toy machine guns.

Much more resonant is Fernando Marques Penteado's work with male prisoners, each of whom, not surprisingly, address life inside. Here, disembodied eyes become a favourite motif to describe the crushing lack of privacy.

Until April 4, Crafts Council, 44a Pentonville Road N1, Tue to Sat 11am to 6pm, Sun 2pm to 6pm, free. Tel: 020 7278 7700. Tube: Angel

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