- Venue
- Initial Access
- Location
- West Midlands
Easy Access Passage to India – 15th March – 12 July 2008
Passage to India is the 4th exhibition to be staged at Frank Cohen’s Initial Access gallery. The space, in Four Ashes on the outskirts of Wolverhampton is housed in two industrial warehouses. This exhibition focuses on the recent acquisitions from the Indian sub continent. I was privileged to get a sneak preview when I went to meet the curator David Thorp last month. As I entered the space I was greeted by a small squad of technicians positioning a piece called ‘The Skin Speaks a Language Not Its Own.’ A sculpture of an elephant lying asleep or at rest, with a skin made up of tiny contours of Bhindi's that resemble individual sperm. The piece is by Bharti Kher. The elephant was jacked up and on wheels, a final check and David gave the go ahead for the piece to be positioned. I got the distinct impression David was enjoying himself. “It’s the easy access, it’s so easy to move sculpture in this space.” And he’s right the space is ideal, one level, massive floor space and secure hanger style doors. A curatorial nightmare free, dream.
David is an independent curator and has been very influential in the last two decades of art in Britain. David exhibited the work of the *YBA’s when others wouldn’t and was at the heart of the contemporary art scene in the East End of London. He was also on the jury of the Turner Prize in 2004. So having proven his credentials in being one step ahead, my first question was ‘Why India…? Why not Ethiopia or art from Peru?’
David explained; “Art that comes from a completely different culture is not understood very well when it moves to somewhere else, it is trivialized or even misinterpreted. A lot of the work here has reached a point where the work can be understood internationally. This work has some way into it, for instance there are works exhibited in this show that we [the viewer] don’t have a particular problem with, some pieces fulfill our western ideas of rich and exotic decoration or the familiar imagery of Krishna. And of course these artists move backwards and forwards between India and the West, through family and education and similarly a lot of British born artists are being educated in India and China. We also have real international issues in this show – like the Iraq war. So it’s all to do with the language, when the language of a particular part of the world becomes more international then it’s much more likely that the work will be better received and appreciated worldwide.”
The question I posed was slightly gauged, I wanted to talk about the market and how this makes up Frank Cohen’s decisions as a collector, there is a lot of press about the competition between him and Saatchi. I also wanted to reflect on the current Western obsession with art from China, but as we walked around the work I found a growing affinity with the new acquisitions and the more critical line of enquiry was replaced by an enjoyment of the collection. David is right they do ‘speak’ internationally, and this work can, dare I say it, be easily understood offering easy access!
I was also keen to talk about the location, again I had my own agenda. As a Wolverhampton University student I wanted to impress upon David the importance of the site. David was way ahead of me – commenting – “ Frank is very keen that this work is seen as widely as possible, this space was originally temporary, but that is what this space is about, everyone is welcome, it’s free, This place is significant as a regional presence, there are things here that you won’t see anywhere else.”
However this space is by no means permanent and it would be a great shame if Wolverhampton missed out to Manchester or Liverpool. If you are a civic leader or representative, be it at the University or the Council. I would urge you to engage Frank and offer a more permanent suitable location. And we could have a cultural international art site here in the Black Country. Offering ‘Easy Access’ to an otherwise inaccessible world.
*Young British Artists.
