A Good Evening Ulster report from an exhibition of art by
Enniskillen Collegiate teacher Gordon Johnson. His unusual art is created from
bits old machinery, dummies and dolls and have a strong theme of empowered
women striking back against male dominance.
Many of the weird and wonderful moving machines he has
created have a Heath Robinson flavour with complicated inventions for doing
something simple like painting nails, but while also having your hair washed.
It pre-empted the world of invention seen in Aardman's Wallace and Gromit
films.
The centrepiece is a
work called Mantrap, in which two schoolgirl dummies attempt to lure a date for
the prom with an industrial machine which entraps a man and then grabs him and
won't let go. The reporter gets a little too close to the trap for comfort.