Press Release
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Press release Date: 30 April 2019, 12:00 Contact: Gloria Roberts, [email protected] / 020 7183 3577 or James Smyllie, [email protected] / 020 7921 0752 ARTS COUNCIL COLLECTION ANNOUNCES 2018-19 ACQUISITIONS Credits (L-R): Katie Cuddon, Untitled, 2016, image courtesy the artist; Flo Brooks, Butts Only (that's the sound that lonely makes), 2018, image courtesy the artist and Project Native Informant, London, 2018; Claudette Johnson, Figure in Blue, 2018, image courtesy the artist and Hollybush Gardens, London. Photo: Andy Keate. The Arts Council Collection, the UK’s largest national loan collection of modern and contemporary art, has today [30 April 2019] unveiled the full list of 59 works by 25 artists that it has acquired for the nation. Over 75% of the works acquired for 2018–2019 are by female artists building on the Collection’s mission to support and champion the breadth and diversity of British art and artists. The new acquisitions include works by a number of early career artists including Flo Brooks, Holly Hendry, Evan Ifekoya and Imran Perretta who are all under the age of 35. The Collection supports artists from a broad age spectrum and has this year acquired Untitled (1976) by Gillian Lowndes (1936-2010) made at an important period in Lowndes career in which she began to use hand-building processes to construct intricate, basket-like ceramic works. The Collection has acquired several performance-based video works this year. Artists such as Frances Disley, Jacqueline Donachie, susan pui san lok, and Zadie Xa explore themes of self-improvement and non-linear female narratives through experimental multi-channel works. A moving image highlight of this year’s acquisitions is 15 days (2018), a single channel video work by London-based artist Imran Perretta. The work was inspired by the artist’s time spent with former inhabitants of the refugee camp near Calais, France that became known as the Jungle. Perretta’s work realises the camps state of uncertainty and animates a bleak environment against a backdrop of dank digital trees and muddy scrubland, interspersed with handheld footage shot on location in France. The work captures the intense emotions of living on the edge, bringing them to the centre of the viewer’s thoughts. Nine works by London-based artist John Walter from his project CAPSID (2018–19) have also been acquired by the Collection. A collaboration with molecular virologist Professor Greg Towers of University College London, this project aims to bring new scientific knowledge about viral capsids to the attention of the wider public and addresses the crisis of representation surrounding viruses such as HIV. John Walter, who has generously gifted eight of his artworks to the Collection this year commented: “It is a career-defining moment to be acquired by the Arts Council Collection - an incredible canon to be part of - and it’s a privilege for me to see such a significant body of my work from CAPSID become available for loan and display across the UK.” Themes of protest and politics appear throughout the acquired works for 2018–2019, raising awareness of the ongoing global struggles for female representation, equality and freedom. The work of South Korean artist Young In Hong, now based in Bristol, investigates the processes and ideas around authorship, translation and reinterpretation. Hong’s embroidery work Burning Love (2014) illustrates a scene from a 2008 candle-lit vigil in Seoul, South Korea which was triggered by the Korean government’s reversal of a ban on US beef imports. Composed using oversaturated blue, orange, yellow and red viscose rayon threads and cotton, the work portrays the crowd, each person marked by a dot of light. Through her painstaking method Young In Hong encapsulates this under-reported event in a way which is poetic and poignant. London-based artist Claudette Johnson is attuned to the politics of representation within the arts. Her drawings and paintings including the acquired work Figure in Blue (2018) honour the form, figure and strength of Black women whilst establishing presence and quiet power. Artist Dawn Mellor, also based in London, deals with sexuality and violence and explores the intricacies of fame, identity and politics through her painted portraits. The Collection has acquired three of Mellor’s works made in 2013: Chief Financial Officer (Bette Davis), Museum Director (Judith Anderson) and Front Desk Manager (Whoopi Goldberg), which interrogate how mass-media figures are depicted and the way they are interpreted and understood. Works from the Collection – spanning video, photography, performance, installation, painting, computer animation and sculpture – are lent to galleries and public institutions throughout the country. In 2018-19, 1,652 works from the Collection were shown in 126 different galleries and museums across the UK and internationally, reaching an audience of over 2.8 million people. Jill Constantine, Director of the Arts Council Collection, said: “2018-19 has been another exceptional year and I am particularly proud that during this period we were able to acquire so many works by women based in different parts of the UK. The Arts Council Collection is an important national resource for galleries and museums everywhere and its popularity and interest from the public continues to grow. At a time when the sector is under so much pressure it is more important than ever that we are able to support those artists and collect the very best of British contemporary art for the nation.” Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England, said: “The Arts Council Collection is a great national resource which is used to enrich the lives of people everywhere through a programme of exhibitions and loans. The Collection has often made a point of acquiring work at an early stage in an artist’s career, representing new voices and giving them support at a critical moment. The acquisitions this year continue that tradition and I am grateful to our external advisors whose expertise and knowledge ensures that our Collection continues to reflect the excellence of artists making work across England today. Building this Collection relies on the skill of Jill Constantine and her team but also on the energy and creativity of so many gallery and museum partners.” Recommendations to purchase innovative works of art that reflect artistic practice in Britain today are made by a changing group of external advisors to the Arts Council Collection Acquisitions Committee. The Chairman of the Acquisitions Committee for 2018–19 was Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England who was joined by Jill Constantine, Director of Arts Council Collection, Peter Heslip, Director of Visual Arts, Arts Council England and Ralph Rugoff, Director of Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre. External advisers to the 2018-19 Acquisitions Committee were Anthea Hamilton, Charlotte Keenan, Helen Nisbet and Fatoş Üstek. FULL LIST OF WORKS ACQUIRED BY THE ARTS COUNCIL COLLECTION 2018-19 For more information on the artists and works listed, download the 2018-19 Arts Council Collection acquisitions brochure here: https://issuu.com/fallingupbrochure/docs/acquisitions 2018-19 All works have been purchased through the Arts Council Collection annual acquisition budget other 2 than those marked as gifts. Rachal Bradley, Interlocutor, 2018 Vacuum-formed high-impact polystyrene, electrical components, wiring, junction box and installation hardware, Dimensions variable Flo Brooks, YessSIR! Back off! Tell me who I am again?!, 2018 Acrylic on wood, 197 x 177 x 4.5 cm Flo Brooks, Butts Only (that's the sound that lonely makes), 2018 Acrylic on wood, 109 x 136 x 4.5 cm Paul Coldwell, A Mapping in White, 2013 Screen print and relief dusted with metallic pigment, 98.5 x 77 cm, Edition 11 of 20 Paul Coldwell, What Remains – Possessions, 2015 Etching, 57 x 65 cm, Edition 9 of 10, Gift of the artist, 2018 Katie Cuddon, Untitled, 2016 Black, buff and painted ceramic, 17 x 9 x 13 cm Katie Cuddon, Shame, 2014 Painted ceramic, 50 x 37 x 77 cm Katie Cuddon, A Problem of Departure, 2013 Painted ceramic, pillow, 64 x 43 x 30 cm Katie Cuddon, Listener, 2015 Painted ceramic, sheep’s wool, wood, 17 x 29 x 24 cm Katie Cuddon, Exhibition, 2014 Painted ceramic and wood, 104 x 120 x 52 cm Jesse Darling, Brazen Serpent, 2018 Steel, aluminium mobility cane, rubber ferrule, lacquer, 93 x 120 x 34 cm Frances Disley, RRR, 2018 Single channel video and textiles backdrops, garments, yoga mat, trainers and ribbon, 34 min 19 sec Jacqueline Donachie, Pose Work for Sisters, 2016 Digital video, 10 min 1 sec, Edition 2 of 3 Jacqueline Donachie, Studio 1995, 2016 Digital print on Hahnemühle photo rag, 110 x 180 cm, Edition 2 of 10 Cosey Fanni Tutti, ‘Throbbing Gristle' Partner, Vol. 1, No. 9, February, 1980 Magazine action, lithography on paper, 5 parts, each 148 x 112 cm Rose Finn-Kelcey, God’s Bog, 2001 Jesmonite, polypropylene, paint, 45.7 x 43.2 x 40.6 cm Holly Hendry, Gut Feelings (Stromatolith), 2016 Plaster, steel, aluminium, cement, marble Jesmonite, birch plywood, pigment, rock salt, soap, rawhide dog chew, 170 x 225 x 100.5 cm Evan Ifekoya, The Gender Song, 2014 HD video, 2 min 32 sec, Edition 2 of 3 3 Evan Ifekoya, Ritual Without Belief, 2018 Digital photo series, giclée print, 84.1 x