This Month In 1989 - Cornelia Parker

Art Monthly Cover 1989 

Cornelia Parker, Thirty Pieces of Silver (exhaled), Ikon (2014)

  It was by chance that I came across a review of Cornelia Parker's installation - 30 Pieces of Silver - a commissioned piece for Ikon Gallery, Birmingham in 1988-1989. It is now been shown (in part) at Ikon once again as part of As Exciting As We Can Make It: Ikon in the 1980's exhibition which is part of it's 50th anniversary celebrations.

Parker famously hired a steam roller to compress 1,000 pieces of silver objects - or plated objects - in a decorous performance that turned objects of commemoration and social status in to objects stripped of their initial function, like in many pieces of work by Parker, the objects are given new meaning.

Here described as 'A simulacrum for a gallery; a product and celebration of surplus' apparently tainted by it's own elegance. Silver is a precious metal, a treasure formed in to objects of material worth. The success in this piece is the loss of potentiality within the object when it is transformed 'If Parker had used real silver made into objects of beauty, the statement would have been more robust and the performance a reality.' Think of KLF burning 1 million pounds, if this had been fake money would it of had the same impact? I think not. 

The resurrection of the flattened objects is in their display, a silver lining. Thirty pools of delicately poised configurations make up the full scale version of this work. Changing perceived cultural values, traces alluding to betrayal and status as the viewer looked down upon the hovering remains.  

IKON Gallery

This week I visited Ikon Gallery, and I have to say upon first view of the programme I wasn't exactly enthused, images in a leaflet can never live up to real life. So my premature indifference quickly passed upon viewing the Pacific Tapa paintings. The early 20th century barkcloth paintings are unexpected in both size and detail with an uneven, creased surface that is both abstract and beautifully meticulous.

This was the first time I have come across barkcloth, formed from the inner bark of specific trees in the region of New Guinea. This cloth has been used for garments, rituals and in sacred spaces, often a sign of wealth. But more important than their materiality, is the way in which communities are brought together through making. Similar to other cultures, it is women who work collectively in producing the cloths, instigating social and creative expression.  

In a coinciding exhibition, Francois Morellet's paintings are a stark contrast to the previous work, but the artist was heavily influenced by the Tapa paintings. His abstract style is clean and precise, verging on optical illusion. Though it is possible to see how the patterns, repetition and shapes of the Tapa paintings have filtered their way into Morellets's work "my first love was focused on the art...of the islands of Oceania and especially Tapa from Fiji and the Solomon Islands, that contain everything that I loved and I still love: precision, rigor, geometry..." Although Francois Morellet finds his work to be "rather joyful" I personally find the paintings too clinical, too precise. The small abnormalities within the Tapa barkcloth create a sense of human presence which I think Morellet's work is void of, missing the community, collaborative spirit that Pacific paintings encapsulate. Never the less, this exhibition provides a unique opportunity to compare the two sets of paintings, bridging the gap between past and present, representing changing cultures. I know which I prefer.  

François Morellet. (quand j’étais petit je ne faisais pas grand) (d’après n°52010 “Cercles et demi-cercles”, 1952)”,(2006)
Acrylic on canvas on wood

In the reception hall is a new permanent installation by Oliver Beer. It is a simple yet highly effective piece that simultaneously distorts and clarifies the outside world, blurring the lines between inside and outside space. By bestowing an ear (or an eye) to the small, trumpet like opening, viewers can catch small observations of the square outside, hear the world passing byand even feel a cool draft as the air channels through the crystal tube.  

Oliver Beer, Outside -In (2013) Installation View

Oliver Beer, Outside-In, (2013)

Tapa Barkcolth Paintings from the Pacific and Francois Morellet exhibitions end 14th July.