Is the sort of important question I asked myself when I was kindly invited to join the merry band of artists in the #NotQuiteDisney Show at the JEALOUS GALLERY (jealousgallery.com) - opening this Thursday 27th June at 6.30pm.
The plot of the forthcoming show, curated by the extreeeemly popular artist Magda Archer, is encapsulated perfectly in its title, ‘NOT-QUITE-DISNEY’ as in ‘Disneyesque' but not quite (obvs).
Once I got over the thrill of being asked to join in I was faced with the reality of having to come up with some suitably twisted/arty ideas.
So I imagined a Fairytale Kingdom, just up the road from the famous one, but a bit more ‘Tragical’ than ‘Magical’.
Which led to some crucial questions…
What’s the parking like there?
Do swarms of Fairies constitute a major pest problem?
What does Geppetto knock out in his workshop, when no-one's watching?
Would ‘Health and Safety’ insist on warning labels on poison apples?
Perhaps there’s an 8th Dwarf that no one talks about?
What if Snow White was about as pure as the driven slush?
And maybe Cinderella should be spelled ‘Sinnerella’?
After a quick twiddle of my wand there was a selection of scribbles sitting on my sketchpad.
I thought it would be good to cut some stencils and do some ‘rattle-can’ art.
It seemed like the most rough-and-ready alternative to a perfect magical world as conjured up by ‘proper’ Disney.
Of course I wanted to finish up all of the concepts but I’d actually only been asked to supply one piece of art and time was marching on a bit.
There was another slight problem…
I’m actually between studios at the moment so I started the process by spraying the first couple of pieces while hanging out of the window of my flat (the neighbours weren’t too pleased tbh).
Of course that wasn’t very practical but fortunately my bacon was saved (yet again) by St Luke’s, who threw open the doors to their studio/terrace where I finished the (very enjoyable) job.
So, may I present to you, in limited editions of 25 a piece, ‘Bambi’s Mum’, ‘Bambi’s Dad’ and ‘Sinner-Ella’.
Every single one is spray-painted and embellished by my own lovely hand with custom made vinyl stickers and paint marker, then finally rubber stamped with the ‘Tragical Kingdom’ mark of authenticity.
I’m cock-a-hoop to be part of this star-studded show which includes celebrity artists like Harry Hill and Joe Lycett etc AND celebrated artists like Magda Archer, David Shrigley, Real Hackney Dave, Lucy Bryant (Haus of Lucy), Modern Toss - PLUS many, many, many more!
WOW!
I reckon it's the Happenin'est Place on Earth. (The Jealous Gallery, Thursday 27th June at 6.30pm, that is)
MDEsq x
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