Now, I was as excited as the next person at the news of a visiting Chris Evans, and though it wasn’t you’d expected (for obvious reasons), this Chris Evans’ artwork was particularly memorable. The lecture wasn’t a long drawl on one piece he had been involved with but a more generalised overview of the past 10 or so years’ artworks/exhibitions. This way of lecturing certainly kept me more engaged than some of last semesters visiting artists, and I have definitely remembered his pieces more clearly.
He began his lecture by dimming the lights completely and reading from a commissioned book based on job interviews and written by artists and poets, and compiled into a bound book called JOB. The effect of beginning with the bold poem definitely got everyone’s attention (it was only after when I tried to write notes I realised I couldn’t see my paper, so maybe the lights off wasn’t the greatest idea, but I gave it a good go), and he continued to work through the years chronologically. Some of my favourites or most admired pieces he showed us included:
- One way karma
- Village hall roadshow
- UKABA
- The Rock & The Judge
- Cowlicks
- Home Economics
One way karma particularly made me laugh. In this series, he and fellows faxed documents to various (rather risky) places, such as 10 Downing Street, MI5, and modelling agencies. One image was a slightly edited photograph of his friend to portray ‘perfect’ facial features and infiltrate the modelling world, as in reality he had quite prominent features (nose and ears). I think the reason this series interested me so much was how relatable it still is now. I thought of what the public could send to the government now, to 10 Downing Street and how we could adapt the work Evans indulged in to suit today’s climate. Especially with all the drama in parliament these last few weeks around Brexit (are we going, are we staying, who knows), as it is personal to everyone and something that could be revolutionised quickly using a style like this.
On the opposite (and more innocent) end of the spectrum, I absolutely loved his exhibition of Cowlicks, and the simplicity of it. It sounds bizarre but I love cows. During this part of the lecture I was smiling; through the experimentation of what the cows would eat (which resulted in a mix of molasses and sugars in a thick paste) and the decision of what to use as a mould material for the indentations and moulds (some clay, some paint, some almost dust-like), which were to be placed inside post office transaction windows. As the art can be viewed from either side of the frames, it creates a conversation between the two people, alongside this anonymous cow lick. I like to think of it as a conversational piece, allowing the animal to connect and have human interaction, in a format that would usually go ignored.
When someone comes along, so down to earth and open about their work it becomes a lot more accessible for us students as an audience, and to find out the Chris Evans lectures on the masters courses at LJMU is a real eye opener to higher education, which I have not thought about before.
HXLLISON ART HISTORY 