ARTISTS
Speak, Clown!
Alastair MacKinven Aly Helyer Ansel Krut Cecilia Bonilla Dan Coombs Edward Lipski Emilia Holt Kate Lyddon Lilli Hartmann Maria Bajt Marianne Basualdo Matthew John Atkinson Max Gimson Mel Brimfield Pearl C. Hsiung Renata Hegyi Tim Stoner Valentin Ruhry Willem Weismann
The Bonzo pre-surrealist visionary circus is in town 鈥� as FOLD Gallery | London opens for the latest in a line of thoughtfully produced shows 鈥� Speak, Clown!
The exhibition, conceived and curated by Hotel Swirly-Whirly, attempts to satirically traverse the often 鈥榥ot especially鈥� amusing terrain between contemporary artist, curator and commercial gallery in a bid to find the comic within.
Following the model of the satyr play, it represents the fourth and final exhibition; the comic relief after a trilogy of somewhat darker and obscure exhibitions curated at Neue Froth Kunsthalle (Brighton) earlier this year, and includes many of those artists shown in those first shows.
In this final show however, as much fitting to the Ancient Greek satyr as to the contemporary clown, both subtle and brash gestures of the curatorial hand are employed to provide insightful and ludicrous posturing into the nature of the comic in contemporary art.
Appropriately perhaps, and through a variety of historical conceits of both materials and language, much of the gallery and its materials have been tampered with. The language of the 鈥楶ress Release鈥�, the hay on the floor, and references to the four humours (sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic), might, for instance, lead one into a 鈥榤edieval interpretation鈥�. Yet an equally large historical stride onto the 鈥楢rtist Bios鈥� sheet transports one into the world of contemporary clowning. There, we are presented with 19 eggs to represent the 19 artists that make up the show. A direct reference to the egg collection at The Clown鈥檚 Gallery 鈥� each egg representing the make up and brand of each clown, and, unlike the wikipedia page or website, crushed when the clown dies.
Egg-citingly, Speak, Clown! presents a rare opportunity to view two egg-samples of the eggs outside of The Clown鈥檚 Gallery. Courtesy of 鈥楳attie The Clown鈥� and Clowns International.
Clearly the artists selected here to exhibit have each been chosen for their particular and unique brands of humour. Whether it is sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic, or indeed, just plain 鈥楤onzo鈥� is something we will alone have to contemplate amongst the hay.
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Alastair MacKinven Aly Helyer Ansel Krut Cecilia Bonilla Dan Coombs Edward Lipski Emilia Holt Kate Lyddon Lilli Hartmann Maria Bajt Marianne Basualdo Matthew John Atkinson Max Gimson Mel Brimfield Pearl C. Hsiung Renata Hegyi Tim Stoner Valentin Ruhry Willem Weismann
The Bonzo pre-surrealist visionary circus is in town 鈥� as FOLD Gallery | London opens for the latest in a line of thoughtfully produced shows 鈥� Speak, Clown!
The exhibition, conceived and curated by Hotel Swirly-Whirly, attempts to satirically traverse the often 鈥榥ot especially鈥� amusing terrain between contemporary artist, curator and commercial gallery in a bid to find the comic within.
Following the model of the satyr play, it represents the fourth and final exhibition; the comic relief after a trilogy of somewhat darker and obscure exhibitions curated at Neue Froth Kunsthalle (Brighton) earlier this year, and includes many of those artists shown in those first shows.
In this final show however, as much fitting to the Ancient Greek satyr as to the contemporary clown, both subtle and brash gestures of the curatorial hand are employed to provide insightful and ludicrous posturing into the nature of the comic in contemporary art.
Appropriately perhaps, and through a variety of historical conceits of both materials and language, much of the gallery and its materials have been tampered with. The language of the 鈥楶ress Release鈥�, the hay on the floor, and references to the four humours (sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic), might, for instance, lead one into a 鈥榤edieval interpretation鈥�. Yet an equally large historical stride onto the 鈥楢rtist Bios鈥� sheet transports one into the world of contemporary clowning. There, we are presented with 19 eggs to represent the 19 artists that make up the show. A direct reference to the egg collection at The Clown鈥檚 Gallery 鈥� each egg representing the make up and brand of each clown, and, unlike the wikipedia page or website, crushed when the clown dies.
Egg-citingly, Speak, Clown! presents a rare opportunity to view two egg-samples of the eggs outside of The Clown鈥檚 Gallery. Courtesy of 鈥楳attie The Clown鈥� and Clowns International.
Clearly the artists selected here to exhibit have each been chosen for their particular and unique brands of humour. Whether it is sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic, or indeed, just plain 鈥楤onzo鈥� is something we will alone have to contemplate amongst the hay.
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