Fairy Tale
dal 25/1/2007 al 14/4/2007
Segnalato da
Kiki Smith
Vanessa Jane Phaff
Janaina Tschape
Peter Callesen
Paul Morrison
Annelies Strba
Angela Kingston
25/1/2007
Fairy Tale
The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall
The tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen have inspired the six artists in show. Their videos, paintings, sculpture and prints enter the worlds of 'Beauty and the Beast', or 'Little Red Riding Hood' or 'The Little Mermaid', with surprising consequences. Works by: Kiki Smith, Vanessa Jane Phaff, Janaina Tschape, Peter Callesen, Paul Morrison and Annelies Strba.
Contemporary Art and Enchantment
Curated by Angela Kingston
Some stories never finish being told. Certainly not our age-old fairy stories,
in which there is currently a resurgence of interest.
The tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen have inspired the six artists in Fairy Tale, which will be on display at The New Art Gallery Walsall from the 26 January - 15 April 2007. Their videos, paintings, sculpture and prints enter the worlds of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, or ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, or ‘The Little Mermaid’, with surprising consequences. Beauty enjoys being ravished by the beast in etchings by Kiki Smith; Little Red Riding Hood outwits the wolf in paintings by Vanessa Jane Phaff; the Little Mermaid roars with anger and pain in a video installation by Janaina Tschape. These artworks are bawdy and dark - and more in keeping with the early versions of these fairy tales, before they were toned down in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
There are two new commissions: a castle by Peter Callesen, its turrets and crenellations improbably constructed from a single 6m x 6m sheet of paper; and a large wall-painting by Paul Morrison, also of a castle, in a clearing where everything is out-of-scale and unfamiliar.
Finally, in a video by Annelies Štrba that has the air of a furtively made home-movie, beautiful female creatures are seen frolicking and asleep at the edge of a wood.
The exhibition Fairy Tale suggests that we continue to need fairy tales: both for their more troubling psychological aspects, and also for their lightness and wit.
A catalogue has been produced to accompany the exhibition with an introduction by Deborah Robinson and essays by Angela Kingston and Stella Beddoe. It also contains late 19th century versions of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and ‘Hansel and Grettel’.
The exhibition will tour to Chapter in Cardiff (28 April - 10 June) and Leeds.City Art Gallery (22 June - 16 Sept).
"The New Art Gallery Walsall is a member of a group of galleries in the Heart of England raising the profile of the visual arts in the West Midlands to local, regional and national audiences".
For further information, please contact Deborah Robinson, Exhibitions Curator on 01922 654412 or email robinsondeb@walsall.gov.uk or Chris Wilkinson, Marketing Assistant on 01922 654416 or email: wilkinsonc@walsall.gov.uk
The New Art Gallery Walsall
Gallery Square - Walsall