David Sue

THE trouble with pop music-nostalgia, unlike what constitutes good art in fact, is that it's a useless idea under preservation. It's this conflict between the ephemeral and legacy that makes the Cornerhouse's current Air Guitar exhibition as hit and miss as it sounds.

The idea is simple enough; three floors of work, three evolutions of theme, exploring the relationship between contemporary art and music from the perspective of the artist as a music fan. And while we're warned from the start that this is an apologetic, wilfully coloured view of rock history, what does make Air Guitar a success is the sense of savagery coursing through the nostalgia here.

So the first floor is littered with the kind of quiet accoutrements which make up the pickings of rock teen obsession; scribbled on post-it notes with popstar confessions, Bob Dylan lyrics and home video footage of a Clash tribute band.

It climaxes on the third floor with affecting photo collages of angst-rock pillars Kurt Cobain and Richey James and, most affecting of all, an eerie George Shaw pencil sketch homage to Joy Division. It all amounts to the fine art equivalent of a disaffected suburban teen sat in his bedroom with Meat Is Murder on permanent rotation, but much too often a work that leans towards the arena of popart kitsch. Which, depending on your take, might be the very reason you may or may not want to attend this.

Air Guitar is at Cornerhouse Gallery from Saturday, September 21 until Sunday, November 3.

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