For They Know Not What They Do
For They Know Not What They Do
One of the more anarchic highlights of last summer’s Edinburgh Art Festival was
Peter Liversidge’s Festival Proposals - a multifarious smorgasbord of happenings and
performances that Liversidge inflicted on the city in the name of conceptual art. He
was, according to the press:
“The Lord of misrule at a feast of fools” [The Scotsman 01/08/2006]
and: [it was ] “…the closest yet that this Festival has come to its original aim of
having artists interact with the city. It is the art of daring to dream. The art of
possibility. The art of making us see beyond the everyday.” [Scotland on Sunday
06/08/2006]
Beyond the merry mayhem of these ideas Peter Liversidge is a serious and diverse
artist. He has made work in almost every conceivable medium including drawing,
performance, installation, painting, sculpture, intervention, artist books and
multiples. Whilst the forms his art takes are disparate, each embodies his enduring
fascination with ideas and the bounds of our imagination, exploring the gulf that
opens between expectation and reality. Humour and a kind of playfulness permeate
much of his work, and this charming hook pulls its audience into an uncertain world,
where fundamental questions are being quietly asked.
Liversidge has made exhibitions and performances at museums and galleries worldwide
and this summer he will be one of 26 artists given a one-person exhibition in Art
Statements at the hugely prestigious ART BASEL 38 [13-17 June 2007].
Concurrently, we will also present our first gallery-based exhibition of his work in
Edinburgh, including paintings and installations relating to his enduring
fascination with the North Montana Plains, and a large group of works on paper and
sculptures which offer a sideways look at our perceptions of the world of
advertising logos and objects of retail desire. Towards the end of the exhibition a
wall of photographs electronically relayed from Switzerland will also document
Liversidge’s daily performances from Basel as his Fair Proposals begin their assault
on that city. A new 144pp book 'Peter Liversidge: Fair Proposals' will be published
by the gallery and launched at Art Basel 38 in June.
Peter Liversidge (b. 1973) lives and works in London. His work is held in
collections including the British Council, Government Art Collection, Victoria &
Albert Museum, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne, Tate Gallery Archive and the Czech Museum
of Fine Art, Prague.
Ingleby Gallery
6 Carlton Terrace - Edinburgh