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It’s been quite a month for the Epstein Archive. Bob was in residency for most of May and made the largest work for the project to date. See Esther Walsall’s Mona Lisa comprises of 4 large boards that tell the story of Esther Garman, Jacob Epstein’s sculpture of Esther and Bob’s reaction to it. This is part of Bob’s plan to brand the Esther sculpture as Walsall’s Mona Lisa. These boards will be displayed in the main hall of the Garman Ryan Collection from October and I genuinely cannot wait to see it up there. Enjoy the pictures below…
We created some stop motion films of the residency, with some of Bob’s thoughts on the work….
As well as the small matter of making the See Esther work, Bob also made some posters for the promotion of the Freshly Squeezed event at the gallery (Thursday 10th June @ 6pm) and also the gallery generally. The latter poster is also part of Bob’s branding of Esther.
I’ve posted this video already, but I’m going to put it up again as it’s my favourite of all the videos we have created so far. Inspired by Telly Savalas’ ‘tour’ of Birmingham (which you can see here),we filmed this straight after Bob finished See Esther and he was in a very amusing mood. If you listen carefully, you can hear me snorting with laughter in the background. The theme tune comes courtesy of Dr CJ Freelove, a little known South American musician who exclusively writes 80s ‘This Morning’ style theme tunes.
Bob and Roberta Smith residency
The second episode of Bob’s residency at the gallery. The 3rd will follow soon…enjoy.
Bob and Roberta Smith residency
Bob was up at the gallery last week for the 1st week of his 4 week residency. During this time, Bob will be making a large work relating to Esther Garman and specifically the Jacob Epstein sculpture of Esther in the Garman Ryan Collection. We filmed Bob’s time in the studio on time lapse and will do the same for the remaining 3 weeks. Therefore, sit back, relax and enjoy episode 1!
The Epstein Tour
Bob and I took a trip around some Epstein related sites in London a few weeks ago. This is a shortened version of the film we made that day. The full version of this will be shown at the Bob and Roberta Smith Film Evening on the 19th of May.
Epstein vs Churchill
I met Bob in London last week to film some interesting Epstein locations, which was great. The full film will be shown at our Film Evening on the 19th of May. This is another film that we did that day. Although Epstein and Churchill were neighbours and friends, Churchill apparently complained sometimes about the loud music coming from 18 Hyde Park Gate. Enjoy.
The dust has settled…
Things couldn’t be more different in the Epstein Archive at the moment after the excitement of the Party! exhibition opening. It was great fun doing the performance of the Epstein puppet theatre with Bob – there was a great turn out and it seemed like other people enjoyed it too which was nice. Bob is not in Walsall again until May, where he is in residence in the Artists Studio every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday throughout the month. Who knows what will happen, but it’s going to be good. Between now and then there is going to be lots and lots of cataloguing on the go. The archive is taking shape nicely, all of the letters to Jacob Epstein and almost all of the letters to Kathleen Garman are now catalogued and searchable online – you can find the catalogue here. This is a pretty long process, but thankfully our small band of intrepid volunteers, Jonathan Kelham, Ellie Matthews and Lesly Pritchard, are helping me with the catalouging.
Seeing as it’s Friday, let’s relive a few songs from the Party! opening courtesy of The Ken Ardley Playboys. I think you will agree that I won The Epstein Quiz (the very loud voice next to camera).
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.
The results are in…
The most watched Bob and Roberta Smith and the Epstein video so far is ‘Archiving with Bob and Roberta Smith’. With an eye-watering 500 views, this video has consistently outgunned the competition.
What does this mean for the museum and gallery community more generally? I think the answer is clear – the public want museums all over the country to destroy their collections. Perhaps their could be a competition to see which gallery can do this in the most imaginative way – fire the Tate Collection out of a cannon, submerge British Museum artefacts in liquid nitrogen and smash them with a toffee hammer, or strap the Magna Carta to the back of a wild stallion and film it careering into a swimming pool of ink.
The public have spoken.
Bob says…
Wow the archive gallery looks great. I am eager to see it in person.
It was wonderful last week to visit the Museum of Everything with Neil Lebeter and Jo Digger. We met James Brett the inspirational collector who made the Museum of Everything a reality. For those not in the know the Museum of Everything is an exhibition of what for want of a better term has been called ‘outsider art’. It’s been the smash hit of the autumn and it’s free. Its early days but I hope to collaborate with James on a project next year.
Later in the afternoon we visited the Wild Thing show at the Royal Academy. It was great to visit the show with Jo Digger who is so insightful about Epstein’s work. Jo went into a very detailed explanation of the drawings which lead up to the Rock Drill many of which suggest a kind of hybrid object involving all sorts of other elements including women and doves. After that Jo and Neil joined me at Beaconsfield, 22 Newport Street, where I have a show called This Artist is Deeply Dangerous.
I went to Chris Ofili’s show at Tate Britain last night. Ofili is an artist who is deeply interested in Art and culture that resides outside the mainstream. Ofili’s show is incredible. It made me think that in painting terms he is as powerful as Francis Bacon. He is way beyond any other painter around just now.
Followers of Museums and their Directors will note that Walsall’s Stephen Snoddy was pretty involved in Ofili’s early career.
10 years of the New Art Gallery Walsall is celebrated early next month with the exhibition ‘Party’. Neil and I will perform our play about Epstein using the puppet theatre and my band The Ken Ardley Playboys are going to play. Bring cotton wool for your ears. It’s good to reflect upon the importance of the Garman Ryan Collection and note that the whole New Art Gallery Walsall would never have existed but for the foresight of Kathleen Garman and her friend Sally Ryan and the gift of their collection to Walsall.
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