- Venue
- Courcoux & Courcoux Contemporary Art
- Starts
- Saturday, May 7, 2011
- Ends
- Wednesday, June 1, 2011
- Address
- Nomads House High Street Stockbridge Hampshire SO20 6HE
- Location
- South West England
I embarked on this show with a desire to be playful with the past. Like most people, I love the theatrical and decorative nature of ancient artefacts. This is a voyage into classical antiquity, diverted by the raw and primitive, with the mimic and maverick on board. The sculptures are journeys by boat, horse and other time-worn inventions. “The Runcible Spoon” sums it up – taking Lear’s limerick – The Owl and the Pussycat and planting them on the barge-thrones of Dynastic Egypt. “Panjandrum” sends-up a Phoenician water cart – sporting Eros as the omniscient hare – shared by so many cultures. “Minoan Haredevil” takes the Cretan Bull for a ride into Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland. Then, “Once I Sat Upon a Promontory” puts Shakespeare’s Bottom on a pedestal – on a Tang Horse. The referencing is deliberate and haphazard – “King Creole” is a Neolithic Elvis, mounted on a weathervane horse, on a vessel. “Monsieur Bubo” walks out of a sombre, but contented, corner of the mind. I have gone boldly with two, complementary tones for the sculptures and retained the rush of colour for the walls. Eclectic again – an impressionist palette blends with the stark and vivid colours and themes of Persian and Moghul miniatures and the signs and bird symbols of the Pueblo.
