Richard Forster, copyright the artist, courtesy Spike Island

Working Things Out is the first group exhibition to take place at Bristol’s Spike Island since the re-launch of the galleries in February this year.

Sadly however it is the new cathedral like space and the staggering dimensions of the former tea-packing factory that outshines the art.

The exhibition brings together seven British artists working in the field of contemporary sculpture and though the press release suggests that they are united by attitude and a commitment to reworking the everyday it is hard to make such affiliations on walking around the installation.

Jonathan Owen has handcrafted a drainpipe from papier-mâché, so that it becomes a filigreed useless form that looks like a member of the Arts and Craft Movement could have created it. It sits awkwardly within the vast space that instills it with the absurd and renders it cute inside the white Modern interior.

In what could be a deliberate contrast to the unsullied white setting is Haroon Mirza work, Nightlight FM, which consists of an old metal dustbin supporting a replica 1950s radio and from which strange and unfathomable sounds emerge. Steam flows out from the bin and a light flashes through the mist, a warning sign perhaps but one that leaves you feeling all at sea.

There are highlights which include work from two of Sara MacKillop’s recent series' which respond wittily to the language of Modernism and so feel more at ease in the space. McKillop's subject matter certainly positions her work within the realm of the everyday – the patterns seen through the windows of envelops and jigsaw puzzles – but the 'not quite there' aesthetic instills the work with an otherworldliness. Using found jigsaws presented on the floor of the gallery the artist removes their images which are hidden by muted flat tones, the jigsaw's placed in accordance to size or shape so that our attention is refocused towards their formal qualities. Like the building MacKillop highlights the objects design rather than original function.

Richard Forster diverts your attention to the floor with splashes of what looks like paint in large circular forms. You are reminded of Bristol based artist Richard Long’s outdoor circles in nature but these appear to be of chemical origin in bright blue and stark contrast to the gallery floor. There is nothing temporary about these splatters however, they are in fact solid and made from resin. Also included is one of Forster's photorealistic graphite pencil drawings, a marvelously detailed copy of a found picture of what looks like large scale religious congregation at a possible Evangalist meeting.

Other artists include Sophie Macpherson, Andy Wake and Milo Brennan.