ART: PRIVATE VIEW

Etienne Clement to 5 Mar Photofusion, London SW9

Young children have no problem in imagining the personalities of their toys - they bounce them up and down to "suggest" different moods. For the photographer Etienne Clement, the memories of childhood games have returned to haunt his work, only now the toys find themselves all alone, stranded in strange, sometimes forbidding, places.

In his new exhibition, Toy Stories, a hand-painted geisha girl emerges from a dark doorway into a tiled room covered with graffiti. Is this an assignation? Or a stroll gone wrong? The geisha's costumed gentility seems under threat from as yet unseen powers. Other photographs feature blue cowboys and red Indians, a one- armed astronaut and a selection of madly staring dolls.

Like actors down on their luck, these battered toys look as they have decided to give the big time one last go: it's easy to read an ebbing vitality into their inflexible poses. The credit, of course, should to go Clement, who has managed to turn mass-produced figures and a series of scaled-down "environments" into something both comic and disturbing.

Photofusion, 17a Electric Lane, London SW9 (020-7738 5774) to 5 Mar, Tue to Sat 10am-6pm, Thur 10am-8pm

Register for free to continue reading

Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism

By registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists

Please enter a valid email
Please enter a valid email
Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number
Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number
Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number
Please enter your first name
Special characters aren’t allowed
Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters
Please enter your last name
Special characters aren’t allowed
Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters
You must be over 18 years old to register
You must be over 18 years old to register
Opt-out-policy
You can opt-out at any time by signing in to your account to manage your preferences. Each email has a link to unsubscribe.

By clicking ‘Create my account’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

Already have an account? sign in

By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

Register for free to continue reading

Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism

By registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists

Already have an account? sign in

By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

Join our new 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