I went to see the Jeremy Deller exhibition today at the Hayward Gallery . I wasn't sure what to expect as I am not very familiar with his work . I was pleasantly surprised.
The first part , Open Bedroom seem to be quite lighthearted, I am not sure if it is because of my age , but I could really connect with some of the photos that he had put in drawers. Waiting for the jumble sale was particularly poignant . Such a small insignificant photo of people queuing for a jumble sale to open . I can remember doing this with my mum and they were such iconic events that no longer seem to happen.
There were paintings of Keith Moon and small child sized t shirt displaying with tabloid headlines such as , My booze hell and My drug shame . The whole room was set up to look like his bedroom when he was in his twenties, where he secretly had an open exhibition while his parents where away. All the memorabilia (or crap as he puts it) that has been stored in his parents house from his youth , have now officially become works of art now that they have been put in an art exhibition.
The part of the exhibition that I found really moving was the film of the recreation of the Battle of Orgreave.
This piece of work acts as a catalyst that makes you look at recent events in social history through the eyes of another culture. In this case the miners that were involved in the original confrontation were telling the viewer how it was through their eyes. And how the events leading to the shutting down of the mines have led to the disintegration of their culture. This was really poignant for me I can remember watching this unfold on the television when I was younger, and it was this attack on the working class back then that has created so many problems in our society now . My younger daughter (also an art student) gained an understanding from this reenactment and the snapshots of interviews of miners and union leaders and politicians of that time of how and why things are like they are today.
The placing of a burnt out car from the Iraq war ( he calls it the conversation piece from hell) and entitled the piece , It is what it is, 2009 . It is a terrible relic of the suicide bomb which killed thirty five people in a popular book market in Baghdad, it devastated the street and left hundreds injured. It was seen as a massive attack on the cultural life.
The car is presented to create a focus for dialogue .
Again it was shocking to see and although we seem to be completely bombarded by media images of war and human devastation , to see for real, how much devastation was caused by this bomb to a car ,it acts as a metaphor to the complete devastation that is caused by war and terrorism.
Dellar created a procession in Manchester that was to showcase the the strangeness of living in Britain. In collaboration with various groups the procession consisted of a Hindu Bagpipe band , a stream of banner wielding unrepentant smokers , Goths and Emos and a funeral cortege honouring the deceased clubs and social spaces. One of the floats was a recreation of Valeries Snack Bar from Bury Market. This was placed in the gallery and offered a free cup of tea whilst you watched a video of the procession. It was a bringing together of the real life in Britain which he termed as "Social Surrealism"
Throughout the whole exhibition Deller has investigated and bought together different cultures ( really loved the brass band playing acid house music) and has provided a space that is as much about his life and our culture . He has taken material directly from life around him , which consists of snatched conversations and peoples experiences and created a visual testimony of both social and political history.
He is not what may be considered a conventional artist, I am not sure whether he can paint or draw, but he has interesting ideas and brings them about creating an interconnectedness of the human being and the bizarre almost surreal life that goes on , sometimes unnoticed around us.
Great exhibition, really thought provoking and interesting
