I’d already managed to overcommit myself when Alex Hyde’s Exhibition appeared on NetGalley. It ticked so many boxes for me, I had to have it. Spanning several decades, it follows the musings of photographer Rabble Stone on her relationship with the unnamed artist whose work is about to be the subject of a major retrospective.
It was a chemistry, something we had, something we made between ourselves, both of us being used.
Rab meets Duncan in the college bar, in need of a place to stay. She’s from a working-class background where art counts for nothing; he’s living with his grandfather in Marylebone, privileged and wealthy. Duncan suggests she takes a room in a Brixton house rented by the artist who he’s known since they were fourteen. All three are at the same college, Duncan and the artist, so close they’re almost family into which they envelop Rab, amused at the many references and cultural codes she fails to understand. Rab’s favourite form is portraiture, waiting so long to photograph her subjects they lose their self-consciousness. The artist is her own subject, constantly drawing herself naked, often dishevelled and grubby. There’s an underlying, unspoken desire in the way that Rab looks at her, something she takes advantage of. By the time the course is over, the artist’s work is already meeting with acclaim, much of it around the self-portraits which incorporate Rab’s unattributed work; Duncan’s dangerous vulnerability has become apparent, and Rab’s responsibilities draw her home. After years of estrangement, the artist and Rab become close once again, this time in New York.
Even though we felt it by then, all three of us, the distance that was already there. We could see you up front, pushing ahead, like a mare straining at the bit, all spittle and hooves digging in.
In a narrative which frames the retrospective, Rab unfolds their relationship, both artistic and personal, in fragmented chapters addressed to the artist. Art is the overarching theme of this brief novel which asks questions about authenticity while taking a few swipes at the art world with greedy gallerists, exploitation and the damaging brouhaha surrounding success. Hyde’s research is impressive; many readers will notice a similarity between the artist and Tracey Emin’s work but as she makes clear in her author’s note, this is a work of fiction. The relationship between Rab and the artist is subtly drawn. Rab’s desire is never articulated yet we, and the artist, know it’s there and the artist makes use of it, manipulating her into taking part in work that she would prefer not to engage with. The ending felt a little overly dramatic, but the last few lines saved it. I didn’t get around to Hyde’s much acclaimed debut, The Two Violets, but Exhibition has made me want to read it.
Granta Books: London 9781803514130 256 pages Hardback (Read via NetGalley)
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