Art: Private View

Catherine Yass Central Club Hotel, London WC1

James Hall
Saturday 06 February 1999 00:02 GMT
Comments

Catherine Yass's photographs are like abstract watercolours turned into stained glass: they exude a luminous liquid glow.

Her subject matter could hardly be more banal - she photographs the unpopulated interiors of old and disused buildings and takes head-and-shoulder portraits. But this unpromising material is energised by technical ingenuity. She lays a blue negative transparency on top of a positive of the same image. These are then enlarged into a Cibachrome transparency mounted in a lightbox. As a result, the colours go haywire, and otherwise deadpan people and places catch fire, freeze, and bleed.

Her latest project comprises eight lightbox images taken inside the thermal baths at Baden-Baden, Germany. These elegant baths are suffering from sick building syndrome. Walls that were formerly white are fetid yellow; blue water is slime green. It's an earthly paradise gone bad.

The Pool, Central Club Hotel, 16 Great Russell Street, London WC1 (0171- 287 7675) to 27 Feb, Tue-Sat, 12noon-6pm

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in