Peace Camp - The Brick Lane Gallery 2 Dec - 31 Dec. Party tonight 1 Dec 6pm

Come!

Now or Neverland

Now or Neverland was an exhibition in September I took part in at The Residence Gallery. Artist and curator Ingrid Z gathered a selection of artists, gave them a bunch of "stuff" (mostly rubbish) and 24 hours later had everything hung for the opening party for the exhibition.
This year's theme was rococo.



The first (and most obvious) image I conjure up when I hear the word is Fragonard's "The Swing", a painting of a lady swinging above a man with her shoe flying off. I remember studying this period of art at college, I think it's really interesting not too mention so funny. I want to call it absurd, but it's really not... wait, maybe it is absurd because it's true? "It is an eminent aristocratic art, an art for the upper middle class fond of a fashionable style, intimate and delicate." Minus the "delicate" I think the subject matter of rococo painting is the equivocal of the contents of Hello magazine. Maybe?

The material I picked from the pile for the exhibition was an empty box of washing detergent, flourescent pink tempura, and some mdf. I had to make a swing! I cut the detergent box up and made it into doves and flowers, I had Phil tie up some rope to balance the swing, then I had cut up a grass skirt from a Hawaiian party I had three years ago (never throw anything away) and strung the plastic pieces down the side of the rope and attached the decorations. Lastly I made the seat a home for two miniature doll house gnomes where they could comfortably watch tv (this was Phil's idea, of course).



The opening party was great fun, and I was glad to see all the modern day rococo pieces made out of trash. With 24 hours to create you couldn't expect any super fine art, but you can appreciate the ideas and experimentation even if some are more exciting than others. But isn't that what art is all about?!

24 hours to create an exhibition is such a brilliant idea, I had a lot of fun making the piece, and I'm definitely going to keep my eye on the Residence Gallery for other great opportunities to arise in the future.
www.residence-gallery.com