Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Outpost, Norwich
1-2, 7-8 December
Reviewed by: Andrea Mason
At 3.10 this morning the revelation came, fully formed, that what was missing from Bill Drummond’s performance ‘How To Be An Artist’ was a sense of joy. Here’s what happened. The artist put on a single, placed a canvas which read ‘From A Smell Of Sulphur In The Wind’ on an easel to our left, then a second canvas, ‘To A Smell Of Money Underground’, on an easel to our right. He then took us on a journey, explaining how he’d arrived at the statement on the right from the statement on the left. This involved fish suppers, Iceland, his sister, failure, Richard Long, pride, revenge, the replacement of a Long stone, thoughts of suicide, pacing, sheep, a beautiful view (a glimmer of joy?) an idea to bury a lot of money, un-kept promises, For Sale signs, a carpet, a drive from Southampton to Scotland. These activities ricocheted from one reactive moment to another and culminated in Drummond drawing a grid across his Richard Long photograph, From A Smell Of Sulphur In The Wind, cutting out the first rectangle with a Stanley knife blade and eating it.
The piece is a sales pitch: Drummond wants to sell each rectangle to 20,000 people for a dollar each (it cost him $20,000). Helper one exchanges 75p with you for a dollar. You choose co-ordinates painted on tiny oak blocks from gym bag Up and gym bag Down. You then move across the room and give your dollar to Drummond. He cuts out the relevant rectangle. A third canvas is gridded to match the Richard Long photograph. Helper two finds your co-ordinates and offers a paintbrush with black or yellow paint. Eventually this canvas will read ‘SOLD’. There was a queue, I only had a chequebook, I had to get back to my babysitter.
For a chance to win a copy of How to be an artist by Bill Drummond see Subscriber prize
Writer detail:
Andrea Mason is an artist and writer based in Norwich.
Venue detail:
Outpost
10B Wensum Street, NORWICH NR3 1HR
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