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Ken Ardley Playboys, Window Box, Party!

I am extremely excited about playing with the Ken Ardley Playboys at the Party! show next week.  The Apathy Band and some of the Ken Ardley Playboys played in Pescara Italy just after we finished the window installation for the party show last week.  The window installation is the largest and most involved art work we have made so far involving images and objects from the Garman Ryan Collection; see the video below.  It is inspired by some very touching photo’s of Esther at a party she must have organized for Roland Joffe when he was six or seven in our version of the party at the Epstein House things have gone rather crazy and busts by Epstein have be festooned with silly string and streamers. I find the party photos very moving.

They are an insight into the personal lives of the Epstein’s.  Because Kathleen does not appear in them I suspect they are her eye view of proceedings. Perhaps when people look through the portholes of the window box installation for a brief instant become Kathleen. Neil has made a wonderful job of representing our efforts so far in the Archive Gallery in the Garman Ryan Collection. He has edited the films we have made so far with ‘Pathe’ footage of Epstein.  It makes for a very effective 45 minutes of film.  Hales Gallery in London are interested in organizing a screening of the film.  It’s always enjoyable working behind the scenes of the Gallery.  Neil and I are very much involved with one aspect of the Gallery but as we were working last week I was amazed at what a cultural centre The New Art Gallery Walsall has become.  During most week days the Gallery is filled with school kids. Unlike most middle aged gallery goers I don’t mind a few kids running about.  When I was a student I lived in Italy.  The use of museums in Italy as Educational tools is far more advanced.  Because so much of what it means to be Italian resides within the museum they jam them with kids.  The New Art Gallery Walsall is doing a great job of reflecting how culture is developing while showing where its roots are.

Happy Birthday. 10 years old this month.