LONDON ART FAIR / 19/01/11 - 23/01/11
Location: Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 0QH
They have been collected by Saatchi and graced the walls of the Hermitage; now they will show at the London Art Fair with a series of installations around the fair beyond the constraints of a traditional stand.
Craig Little (29) and Blake Whitehead (25) began working together after graduating from the Glasgow School of Art in 2007. Having become friends by default because "nobody else would speak to us", their prerogative is to expose the unpleasant, bleakly comic truth about society and the viewer.
PLAYING WITH FIRE
The London Art Fair heralds the unveiling of the provocative duo's newest work: an array of sculptures made from ash. "Conversely cathartic" is how they have described the process that lead to The Struggle, a 'bible' delicately constructed from the ash of 100 burnt copies of Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'. Admittedly nihilistic and extremist, they claim that "to an extent, it doesn't matter that it's the Bible and Mein Kampf"; the two books merely exist as symbols for powerful and commonly adopted ideologies and more importantly, their destructive capabilities.
In another work a series of doll house pianos have been cast from the ash created by burning a porn collection. 'littlewhitehead' explore the idea of learning to play, a socially constructed and controlled childhood experience, perverted by the hedonism of adult pornography. The artists have also cast a Beretta using the ash of 4000 incinerated matches. As the official hand gun of the US Army these are produced in their thousands. They are as expendable as matches, as the lives of those who carry them, as the lives of those they take. 'littlewhitehead' are not interested in penalising us for our choices; they simply lay bear the reality of contemporary society.
A VISUAL FEAST
A joke about the films of David Cronenberg introduced the idea of deep-fat frying as a method of sculptural production. Irreverant and imprecise, the process lead to the creation of The Thing - a battered and deep-fried 200 year-old Bible. Provoking condemnation from church leaders who declared it a mockery of Christianity, the artists ignored the comments, swiftly justifying the work by claiming that both Bible and batter were quintessentially Glaswegian.
"We have a peculiar sense of humour that comes from spending so much time together...it annoys our families. Ultimately, if we don't find it funny, it doesn't work"
Commissioned under the guise of a royal portrait, the artists have also deep-fried the head of the Queen. Stripped of its pomp and majesty, we see this cultural symbol reduced to something to which we can relate: bad diets, loss of faith, dinnertime. The process may evoke ideas of torture and assassination but the sculpture actually becomes a touching abstract portrait of the Head of the Church of England that proves both patriotic, and palatable.
TAKING (ALMOST) NO PRISONERS
Tying their victims to chairs, bags taut over their heads, and knocking them to the floor, a favourite recent subject for the artists has been hostages. These hyper-real sculptures look just as real as the stories upon which they are based: unashamedly lifted from the newspapers and brought screaming into the physical world. When reading newspapers or watching the news, if we do not like the story we turn the page or change the channel. In denying us this option, in physically forcing us to witness this atrocity and exposing our reluctance to interject, littlewhitehead shine a spotlight on our apathy, one that almost makes us complicit in the act.
Charmingly autobiographical - deadpan, foul-mouthed, articulate - the work of 'littlewhitehead' invites visitors to witness a direct contrast between the modern and contemporary art shown at the fair. In tying together reality with theatricality, this unique occasion calls upon the artists' position as one of a new breed of social observers - borderline offensive, but brutally honest.
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SUMARRIA LUNN at the London Art Fair: installations by 'littlewhitehead'
Location: Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, London N1 0QH
Dates: Wednesday 19th - Sunday 23rd January 2011
Opening hours:
Wednesday 19th January 11am - 9pm
Thursday 20th January 11am - 9pm
Friday 21st January 11am - 7pm
Saturday 22nd January 10am - 7pm
Sunday 23rd January 10am - 5pm
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