MO(NU)MENTARIES
“Mo(nu)mentaries: Bury Art Museum”, two-part exhibition at Bury Art Museum, 2021-2
Installation photography by Jules Lister
Taken from the gallery interpretation panel:
MO(NU)MENTARIES also forms the selection and re-presentation of the permanent collections gallery. The thematic display of the three gallery spaces are based on the etching “The Parting Kiss”, After Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1884, which depicts a mother and her daughter in a fleeting embrace. The spaces of the foreground, middle ground and background, depicts the development of the daughter’s sandaled feet, an onlooker’s bare feet, and the elevated feet of a classical statue, punctuating the composition. The artwork, in this presentation, prompts us to re-evaluate artworks and artefacts, some familiar and some presented for the first time, focussing on the significance of feet and footwear, who they belong to, how they move through the composition, and where they take the subject, and the viewer.
The exhibition includes the motif of shoes and footwear in intimate, domestic interiors and floor spaces (Dinu Li, David Hockney, Edward Burra), alongside ancient shoe leather found in Bury Castle. The bare foot, suggests a romantic, almost fetishized, interpretation of poverty, and representations of the working class (Frances William Topham, Paul Falconer Poole, Augustus John). The myth like naturalism, spirituality, and escapism (Henry Scott Tuke, Ludwig Deutsch, Charles Sims) evokes a spirit of freedom and the emancipated feet, during Carpenter’s era, a connection with nature and the ideals of classical literature, art, and philosophy. Classical male busts and female statuary look upon a maquette of the Peel Monument by Edward Hodges Baily, confronted by a disembodied David’s foot, After Michelangelo, once a working cast from Bury Art School, a symbol of nimble youth and agility triumphing over authority and institution. A queer reworking of John Faed’s “The Cruel Sister” by Jez Dolan and friends, alongside ledgers and records that uncover the structural systems and support for the Peel Monument Commissioning process through its council leaders, patrons and manufacturers.
Throughout, the permanent collection exhibition, the graphic shapes forming the logo concept “SELF 1892” brings into playful context the ideas and motivations behind the artist’s practice, drawing out points of visual reference for the project “Towards Memorial” and “MO(NU)MENTARIES”. Overall, the artist wants to evoke the ‘cut and paste’ spirit of collage, the sampling and testing of images and forms, from prototype paper and glue sandals to the finished product, from his chaotic studio desk to the order of the museum gallery space.
Supported by Making Ways (Sheffield Culture Consortium), Arts Council England, Art Design Media Research Centre (ADMRC) at Sheffield Hallam University, Site Gallery, Freelands Foundation, Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre, and Social Art Publications.