It is an oft-repeated criticism of high modernism that an enjoyment of its artifacts relies upon an understanding of its theoretical framework, rendering it accessible only to an educated elite. Similar accusations are made of the post modern project, in which references to other artists, intertextuality and skeptical deconstruction are the norm; even whilst apparently celebrating ‘low’ culture its artists are in fact making aesthetic judgements about its nature. It is an in joke for those in the know. Where is the work that can be enjoyed by all? The artwork that can appeal to the man (or woman) on the street and reach out beyond the ghetto of the metropolitan cognoscenti? This piece, entitled ‘Gentrification’, by an anonymous local artist answers that call with a work that appeals on many levels. On the one hand, yes, there are references to artworks that have gone on before. One needs to look closely to spot the reference to ‘Pizza King’, relating to an earlier site-specific piece on Chelsea Park Road in which an overturned leaflet box became a transformative piece of interactive community art – which literally ‘keeps on giving’. This surely signifies Easton’s traditional past, its recent industrial heritage, speaking to us of dying trades such as leaflet-abandoners and pizza-mongers. But there is more. The symbolism of the Ferrero Rocher wrapper is significant. Like medieval allegorical art, it is easy for even the casual observer to understand it as a symbol of gentrification encroaching on the traditional values. It is a careful selection: the circular motif echoes perhaps a Riley or a Hurst, and its gold wrapping seems to reference the symbolism of Klimt. Of course had it been a Twirl or a Curly Wurly it would have been stripped of its class conscious symbolism, for the Ferrero Rosher is the known food of the elite, the diplomat perhaps, a new kind of Eastoner whose natural habitat is not the Chelsea, but the rarified atmosphere of the Green Bank or the middle class bakery on St Marks Road. Is this, then, is social commentary, in which the red ‘target’ perhaps reflects the idea that this neighbourhood is itself a ‘target’ for those who would seek to buy up the very street upon which this work adorns and is itself part of? Perhaps. And yet it can be enjoyed on another level again, the simple visceral pleasures of the regal purple, gold and yellow accessible to all as a bas relief exercise in colour experimentation. Even a child - whilst knowing nothing of the densely meaning-laden, semantic devices at work – could not fail to enjoy, be inspired by, such a thing of such beauty as it livens up a damp pavement, and indeed livens up all of our lives. A truly multi-layered work.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 21:41:25 +0000
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