Jeremy Deller: English Magic
2015; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 42; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1543-3404
Autores Tópico(s)Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies
ResumoJeremy Deller: English Magic TURNER CONTEMPORARY MARGATE, UK OCTOBER 11, 2014-JANUARY 11, 2015 Pounding from the heart of Jeremy Deller's installation are the unmistakeable metallic vibrations of steel drums. Soundtrack to Deller's film English Magic (2013), the beats offset footage of the crushing of a Range Rover (known as a Chelsea Tractor in reference to its non-agricultural use in expensive parts of London) and of the public happily cartwheeling on an inflatable Stonehenge. Set to a musical score recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios, references to key symbols of English culture are not only visual, but auditory too: Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony no. 5 in D major (1938-43), iconic 1980s acid house track Voodoo Ray (1988) by A Guy Called Gerald, and The Man Who Sold the World (1970) by that most quintessential of English eccentrics, David Bowie, hold the audience transfixed until the end. I had thought that the enjoyment of a large inflatable toy house here--or bouncy castle in British vernacular--to the melodies of a steel band was a particularity of my own English childhood; but in Deller's story of the state of the nation, it provoked a shared cultural memory that to an outsider might seem as incongruously quirky as any cliched expression of English eccentricity could ever hope to be. From the inside, Deller's exploration of British society has real authenticity, handled with a lightness of touch that belies his depth of understanding of the ways myths, icons, and folklore operate in the creation of its identity. The work's sense of humor helps, manifested in particular through Deller's painted murals (from 2013) depicting imaginary acts of revenge upon symbols of capitalist privilege that many dream of happening in reality: the hen harrier (an endangered bird rumoured to have been shot in 2007 by a friend of Prince Harry) swooping to grasp a Range Rover in its talons in A Good Day for Cyclists; the burning of Saint Helier, a secretive tax haven in St Helier on Fire; and a giant William Morris vengefully throwing into the lagoon the multi-million pound yacht owned by oligarch Roman Abramovich in We Sit Starving Amidst our Cold. Provoking wry smiles, the latter reminds the informed viewer of the incident at the 2011 Venice Biennale in which Abramovich's boat controversially blocked public access to the Giardini quay. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] That particular artworld reference is perhaps lost on this audience, as the installation makes its final stop on a countrywide tour in Margate, the original English seaside resort. …
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