The Singh Twins unveiled their latest major work today at the Bluecoat. They also gave a short but interesting talk on their methods for designing and painting their works. This large painting is on the first floor near to the bar and performance area. Its there until the end of 2008, you need a few minutes to study it closely and see how many characters you can spot.
Wirral-based sisters Amrit and Rabindra Singh officially launched ‘Arts Matters: The Pool of Life’ at the Bluecoat on Monday, March 31 2008
Presented in the Singh Twins’ distinctive ‘past modern’ style which combines traditional Indian miniature painting techniques with more contemporary western influences, the new painting is an intricate exploration of Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture celebrations.
Alongside references to many of the events and institutions involved in the 2008 festivities, the sisters have added a plethora of well-known faces associated with the city’s culture, including Ken Dodd, Pete Postlethwaite, Yoko Ono, Cilla Black, Steven Gerrard, Abigail Clancy, Adrian Henri and Sir Simon Rattle.
The painting is one of two Singh Twins works commissioned by the Liverpool Culture Company to mark Liverpool’s 800th Birthday in 2007 and European Capital of Culture 2008. The first – ‘Liverpool 800: The Changing Face of Liverpool’ – was unveiled in April 2007 by HRH The Prince of Wales at the gala re-opening of St George’s Hall. Presented in the form of a coat of arms, the painting featured hundreds of interwoven references to events, people and places relating to the city’s 800 year history.
Fiona Gasper, Executive Producer at the Liverpool Culture Company, said: “The Singh Twins’ work has earned them international acclaim and I am delighted that they have made such an important contribution to the programme for 2008.
“This latest painting is a fantastic interpretation of Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture year, and will serve as a permanent legacy to the city’s celebrations.”
During Ian Jackson’s announcement a heckler noted Liverpool Art Prize was ‘Better than the Turner!’ and on reflection, and with a certain local bias I can’t help but agree. It was just refreshing to find the six finalists were working accessibly in what are considered traditional art forms. Emma Rodgers sculpts instants in time, finger marks forming, for instance, the exact moment a hare has all four paws of the ground. Gareth Kemp paints evocatively in near monochrome, figures in snow, imagined incidents inspired by his family. Mary Fitzpatrick photographs the floor in areas of conflict, capturing the scarred landscape left behind by humans, most poignantly a school.
The main winner, a suitably surprised Imogen Stidworthy works in sound and images; ‘Get Here’ features Liverpudlian voices repeating the way their parents probably called to them as children ‘Get here now!’ The People’s Prize, voted for by public passing through the exhibition went to The Singh Twin whose incredibly detailed graphic art depicts a merging of eastern and western imagery – in the catalogue there’s an image of the William Brown Street with the roads replaced by Indian tiling. Always the contrarian, my favourite was the conceptual artist Jayne Lawless the best of her two works consisting of an red balloon tethered to a concrete block with a desktop fan gently blowing a breeze against it. According to the notes she was attempting to depict what it’s like to be a contemporary artist.
LIVERPOOL: WORLD GATEWAY
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