A scurrilous old art-world rumour tells of the bosses at Tate Modern casting about for a loss-making exhibition. The object was to never appear to be too successful when applying for more government funding. Eventually they hit upon the Canadian artist Jeff Wall (b.1946), calculating that only a very select audience would buy tickets for his show. How wrong they were. Visitors came in droves.
So it is at White Cube Bermondsey, where crowds circle among galleries hung with more than 40 years of huge backlit photographs, looking and talking and pondering the famous riddles. A cleaner mops the floor of a deserted mansion, as if something has spilled across the floor (but what?). A dignified woman contemplates the darning of a sock in a venerable library (but why?). A toddler lies on the ground, resisting her exhausted father: everyday cliche, until you notice a bypasser shooting the photographer a questioning glance.
