I am truly appreciative of the support and encouragement that I have received from artist, curator, and academic Michael Petry over the years since meeting him 2007. Being included in his latest epic tome ’Mirror Mirror’ is an incredible privilege. I’m in a book! A serious proper art book!! And I can hardly believe the company that I am in!
A stroke of luck (technically bad luck but that’s for another time and place) meant that I could attend the UK launch last night at the Groucho Club in London. It was great to catch up with Michael and to meet some of the other artists featured in the volume – and a super surprise to see my old studio colleague and fellow Crystal Palace Artists founder Tine Bech. Tine is an amazing person and it was wonderful to bump into her like that.
Thames and Hudson’s World of Art series was a fundamental part of my early engagement with art, and their David Hockney monograph was my (unconscious? … subconscious? …) introduction to gay art. This adds an extra dimension to being in a book published by them.
I am looking forward to having a proper look at the book … for now I can say that I am delighted that ’Play’ (vhs gay porn tape installation, 2009) is in the ’material’ chapter.
Roberto Ekholm was of course there too – he’s worked with Michael for over eighteen years now! We continued our loose conversation about doing a two-person show – an idea that we have been speaking about since before his pre-pandemic show at Glitter Ball. It’s definitely something that I want to make happen. There’s a nice symmetry with him being a Swede relocated in the UK and me being a Brit relocated in Sweden. The timing feels good for both of us. Although he has been in the UK far longer than I have been in Sweden we are both feeling that a show in our countries of origin would be appropriate and meaningful.
