- Venue
- Supercollider | Contemporary Art Projects
- Starts
- Friday, February 8, 2013
- Ends
- Saturday, March 2, 2013
- Address
- 59 Cookson Street / Blackpool / FY1 3DR
- Location
- North West England
Waiting For The Main Event is an exhibition in limbo. Confronted initially by the characters of Payton’s films (all played by the artist), viewers enter a space in which they may find themselves feeling excluded from ‘the action’. Curtains and drapery play a crucial role in developing a further sense of anticipation understood within a common trope of theatre and film, not to mention comedy: anyone visiting the gallery toilet and then re-entering the space may feel like Tommy Cooper taking three minutes to find his way to the front of the curtain, or Eric Morecambe looking for the key to get back behind it. The material is also suggestive of the public seance or a Medium’s stage backdrop – recurrent themes in Payton’s work – akin to the curtain that concealed one of the greatest charlatans, the Wizard of Oz: the emerald green satin being pulled aside by Toto to reveal the masterly trick.
