Seaside Surrealism @ Bobinska Brownlee New River
I don’t normally begin reviews with a spoiler disclaimer, but the show I’m about to describe is impossible to discuss without revealing the curatorial sleight of hand you’ll encounter. You’ve been warned.
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For anyone that’s never visited Bobinska Brownlee New River it’s relevant to this review to know that the exhibition space is a single room that’s been converted from an underground parking bay located in the back garden of a private residence. To get to it you first enter and pass through a long open-plan kitchen/living area before exiting onto a terrace, and then walk down a short flight of steps.
My visit to this exhibit also happened to be my very first visit to this venue, so I was understandably distracted by my innate curiosity (e.g. nosiness) as I was politely escorted to the gallery. Once I’d finally “arrived” it took exactly 3 seconds between the door closing behind me and my anxiety to set in, because that’s how long it took to notice there wasn’t anything on the walls in the small, low-ceilinged, windowless room except bits of tape, protruding screws and some hanging chains.
This is how horror movies begin.
After five deep breaths my heart rate returned to a reasonable pace and I was able to calmly study the index cards that I hadn’t noticed when I’d first entered. Titled “OBJECT TEMPORARILY REMOVED”, the cards are a playful subversion of something you commonly see in museums when items get taken away for research or cleaning. It’s a #IYKYK inside joke for the art world, but the cards contain enough clues to help any visitor understand that artworks had indeed been moved out of the gallery and into the main building. Though I’m told one confused visitor did storm back and complain there was nothing to see.
After returning to the house the gallerist gives you the full list of works and invites you to explore two floors of their home, with instructions to look for stickers that identify the pieces from the show. At this point in my visit I was enthralled. I had arrived expecting a modest show of emerging artist works, but the way in which they were not displayed completely upended my expectations. The surprise immersive experience was quite possibly the cleverest exhibit I’d seen all year. At the very least it was one the most memorable, but the problem with that accolade is that it’s entirely due to the experience, not the artwork. In fact, later that afternoon I could only recall one single piece, and that’s because it was a fish & chip fork jammed into a wall as if a slasher movie killer has just narrowly missed their intended victim.
Anyone’s who’s ever visited private housing during the annual Open House weekend knows the most pleasure comes not from the architecture but from studying what’s on the owner’s bookshelves. And so it went as I navigated my way around two floors of cosy living rooms looking for the telltale stickers that indicated where my focus should be. I kept getting distracted by the permanent decor: colourful light sconces, 1970s LPs, decorative throw pillows and many artworks from the homeowner’s private collection vied for my attention. The more I explored the more worried I became that I was losing my critical focus until I remembered that scavenger hunts aren’t about the objects you’re trying to find, they’re about exposing you to the environment in which they’ve been hidden.
I don’t think it was the curator’s intention to actively lure visitors away from the artworks they had curated for the show. It’s possible that my level of distraction was an extreme. Then again, the first handful of works that I’d located didn’t hold my interest, at least not compared to some of the much more engaging pieces in the host’s permanent collection. Would they have kept my attention longer had they been isolated on a white wall? Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll never know, but one thing I’ll never forget is this show.
Plan your visit
‘Seaside Surrealism’ runs 10 October 2025 - 31 January 2026
By appointment November & December 2025
Open Thurs - Sat 2-6pm 15-31 January 2026
Visit bbnrgallery.com and follow @bobinskabrownlee on Instagram for more info about the venue.
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