Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
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Aleksandra Mir, ‘Living and Loving No 1: The Biography of Donald Cappy’, 2002.
Edition of 5000, commissioned by Polly Staple for Cubitt and distributed by Cubitt, London, T: 020 7278 8226.
Reviewed by: Chris Brown
Who is Donald Cappy? And why does he deserve a biography? Although every fact you could possibly want to know (or not) about the man is detailed in Living and Loving No1: The Biography of Donald Cappy, this full-colour glossy broadsheet by Aleksandra Mir leaves its subject strangely incomplete, even after the final page is turned.
Mir's career to date includes Hello featured at this year's Sydney Biennale and her intervention Pink tank, permanently situated in Bermondsey. She is the champion of ordinary folk, proclaiming: "Everybody's story is equally important, so the little suburban birthday party celebration is as important as Liz Taylor getting married." In this instance Mir accounts how, during her artist residency at California College of Arts and Crafts, she met CCAC safety manager Donald Cappy, an ordinary man with an extraordinary regard for life.
Dispelling the idea that biographies are reserved for the latter years of notable celebrities, Mir chose to portray this anonymous man barely out of his twenties. Over thirty-two pages, a warts and all transcription of conversations between the artist and Cappy gives a full-blown account of his life in his own words, from birth to present day. His is an unremarkable existence: a story of foster care, growing up, first love, employment, national service and mohican haircuts. In the absence of a natural family he has catalogued and archived his whole life through photographs. Pages of snapshots, passport photos and portraits are laid out like a scrapbook, illustrating his life story.
However, this story isn't over – this is an unfinished chapter. In fifty years time this publication will be a social document of middle America. But now it is a testament to the ordinary man, an evaluation of all that is everyday, undertaken with a level of indulgence normally reserved for the rich and famous.
Writer detail:
CHRISTOPHER BROWN
is an artist based in Cardiff.
chris.brown.an@gmail.com |
www.g39.org
Venue detail:
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