This exhibition was fun. Kitson grew up in Dudley. Incisive, enterprising and laced with sharp wit, Kitson's artistic practice dissects British class and identity, reshaping its visual hallmarks and traditions across sculpture, installation, film and found objects. Kitson's work is both playful and provocative, providing a candid account of the everyday.
The visual environment of Kitson's exhibition draws on the artist's experience of growing up in Dudley, a market town which prides itself as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and, as such, is replete with ruination - a metaphor for the wider state of British towns.
Ode to Rubbish Mountain, 2011-23, (scale model, newspaper article)
III Communication, 2024, (mannequin, green BT street cabinet)
The 3D-printed engineer, kneeling at the BT Openreach greenbox, is so life-like, it's uncanny. This sculptural installation certainly makes visible the often overlooked everyday worker.
Break, 2022, (cigarettes in a clock)
What a wonderful way of visually expressing the joy of a fag during break at work.
A miniature recreation of the iconic landfill pile in Brierley Hill, finally removed in 2016 after a 5-year local battle. It is also an ode to the train model-making hobbyists, subverted to document local authority affairs.
Accompanying the model, Kitson displays a newspaper cutting documenting the frenzy created by the waste and its clearance
Winner Stays On, 2024, (English pool table)
Kitson brought the staple of the British pub into the gallery space
as visitors can play on the pool table.
Mop, 2024, (pool cue, mop head)
Broom, 2024, (pool cue, broom head)
The cues are adapted to resemble the domestic mop and broom.
Ken played with both the mop
and the broom.
Still Life, 2024, (3D printed sculpture, mannequin)
Young Prince Harry at his mother's funeral.
so sad,
Facing the floor - haunting.
No comments:
Post a Comment