Exhibition curator Si Smith chats with contributing artist Andrew Lister about the thundering words of the Church, moments of daftness, and the serious business of Play...
Si: Hi Andrew, and welcome to the exhibition blog.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Andrew: I am a studio holder
at Patrick Studios in Leeds.
My work is essentially drawing, painting and constructed inlays
that make use of many different found materials.
The subject matter of work in my exhibition last November in The
Shed Gallery, Ilkley, was art history.
The work in my next exhibition in Batley Art Gallery is about the
powerful and their weapons and their victims.*
Si: Your piece for the exhibition is called
'The Holy Lamb of Rauschenberg'... can you tell us about it?
Andrew: The Holy Lamb of
Rauschenberg came into being when I was playing in an idle moment with my
toys, a pile of toys that are a remnant of my junk dealing days.
But although it was made in careless way it does reflect two very important
interests of mine: Christianity and Art History.
Robert Rauschenberg, long a favourite artist, famously put a
vehicle tyre around a stuffed angora goat in one of his combines (see above)
Brought up going to church four times a week I have spent much
of my adult life assessing and analysing my relationship with Christianity.
The Holy Lamb of God is for me a powerful image.
The power derives in no small way from the words of Blake sung many
times in my childhood and youth.
It is therefore no surprise that in a moment of daftness I should
put a tiny tyre round a tiny lamb and call it The Holy Lamb of
Rauschenberg (below)...
Si: It's a lovely little (really little) piece,
and I'm looking forward to seeing it in the exhibition, especially up against
some of the larger works.
That contrast in scale is going to be really
interesting...
Meanwhile - and picking up on something that
you said there - I'm intrigued by the place that Playfulness has in your
creative process...
Andrew: I did the writing
part of my MA on art and play - the humour part, if you believe Freud, is a
serious business!
My study was of aesthetic play and strangely what a hard task master
it is.
I read bits of philosophy but mainly Schiller, Freud, Barthes and
Marcuse. It strengthened my belief that the stronger the internal dialogue of
the artwork the stronger the aesthetic.
In simple terms this means that, for example, political ideas are
best excluded from the work because they make the dialogue external.
All games require rules or laws and in aesthetic play these rules
evolve and demand recognition. Adherence to them gives the work
integrity.
Si: And having a pile of toys and stuff to mess
around and play with is, I guess, an important part of that creative
game-playing...
Andrew: I bought and
sold junk for 15/16 years from a shop, and I was left with a lot of interesting
stuff which as Rauschenberg will testify I still make use of.
The
other legacy was the handling of so many objects hand made and manufactured
usually of little monetary value. It allowed me to see so much quirky
stuff and so many different ways of hand-making objects.
Si: At our exhibition last year, I
remember you telling me that you visited St Edmund's when you were a pupil at
Roundhay school (quite a few years ago now...) for school concerts and events.
I like that historical connection with the
venue that you have there...
So one last thing that i was wondering about is
your relationship to Christianity...
Andrew: I was a choir boy
and this involved being in church 3,4,5 times a week.
As a child and young teenager I did not question the faith but fell
out with the church because of the contradiction as I perceived it between
the words in the church and actions outside it - of individuals and the
corporate body.
I left the choir and left the church but with its words thundering
on in my head.
Years later I had a compulsion to study the Texts and
analysis and so come to some kind of conclusion about what I believed and
what it meant to me.
My conclusion is not special: Jesus was a good man who is
misrepresented.
What a destructive philosophy in the hands of the powerful,
including the Church, has been concocted from his words.
Si: And I think that William Blake would
probably agree with you there...
_____________________________________________________
*Batley Library and Art Gallery
Market Place
Batley WF17 5DA
01924 326021
Exhibition Dates: 7th November to 19th December 2016
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