- Venue
- Compton Verney
- Location
- West Midlands
The Fabric of Myth until September 7th 2008
A Family Day Out
This month I visited Compton Verney on a cultural family day out, my wife and I dropped our daughter off at her grandma’s and we picked up our niece. Hannah Mosley is my sister’s daughter and she is visiting from Australia, she is sixteen and keen to return to blighty for a British University education. This is her account of the exhibition:
My uncle requested that I assist in the write up of our 'family outing' in the hope that his regular column would be injected humorously with a quirky, foreign sense of wit. Unfortunately for him I have never really got the hang of Australian humour….mate.
While I may be lacking in terms of Australian idioms, I was in England for the purpose of an archaeological dig, and thus was pleased to round my trip off with an exhibition that brought two interests of mine together. 'The Fabric of Myth' blends classical history with art in a very unique collection of historical and contemporary work.
When asked by my uncle which artwork I liked the best I immediately replied that it was Henry Moore's woven tapestry 'Three Fates' due to the unorthodox portrayal of the popular sisters from myth. On reflection, however, I find I am still intrigued by the work of Annie Whiles who used, among other materials, real hair to create works, which explored the idea of metamorphosis.
Cormpton Verney's 'The Fabric of Myth' will open your eyes to using alternative materials to create meaningful works of art.
Understandably I am very proud of our arts correspondent down-under, and it is heartening to hear a teenager talk about missing the culture that us winging pomes take for granted.
Talking off moaning the thought of this show was at first, a real turn off for me, I imagined a lot of applied arts in awkward display cases. I should however have known better, the last textiles exhibition I went to; ‘the art of the STITCH’ at Waterhall in Birmingham also left me pleasantly pleased. This exhibition at Compton Verney was the curatorial debut of Antonia Harrison and she has made some really insightful decisions in the chosen works. A real mix of artefact and art. Loans from The Ashmolean mix with Louise Bourgeois, Joseph Beuys and the tapestries of Henri Moore's drawings which all stand out as Modern heavyweights.
My preferences came in the new work, and in particular the work that in true myth and fairytale fashion is the work that comes out of imprisonment and incarceration. Two works; Ray Materson’s solace whilst in prison for drugs offences came in the form of intensely minute embroidery made from the socks of fellow inmates. They tell dark tales of serving porridge and illustrate the power of redemption. And Delaine Le Bas’ work ‘Gynaikonitides’ 2008 is a interactive installation that draws you in and then tells you the disturbing mythical story of horrific deeds which took place in a attic, a child trapped and made mute, forced to tell her story through stitch. My wife plumed for a piece by Leonid Tishkov entitled Knittling (1953-) made in 2002 it is the fabric story of the artist’s life fashioned into an all-encompassing rag-wool body suit. “I liked the initial fun of the snug looking suit and then the historical background behind the individual layers of knitting.”
After the exhibition we took our niece to see a wholly inappropriate adaptation of The Taming of The Shrew at the RSC, afterwards we all agreed we couldn’t really concentrate as this exhibition was still unwinding in our thoughts.
Review by Nathaniel & Angela Pitt and Hannah Mosley
