Exquisite TroveTHE NEW ART GALLERY WALSALL 31 October 2009 – 10 January 2010
The House of Fairy Tales touring exhibition of artefacts, drawings, notes, photographs, films and curios on loan from over 70 artists and makers begins its journey at The New Art Gallery Walsall. Inspired by Cabinets of Curiosities or Wunderkammer, the encyclopedic collections of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were, in Renaissance Europe, yet to be defined. Regarded as a microcosm or theatre of the world, and a memory theatre, these collections conveyed symbolically the patron's control of the world through its indoor, microscopic reproduction. Exquisite Trove is an exploration of our passions and interests in collecting, displaying, documenting and telling tales through those things that surround us which reflect our own folklores and mythologies.
Derived, with a tip of the hat, in deference to André Breton's Exquisite Corpse, the Surrealist, chance-inspired, Consequences-like, game. The thread of Dada and Surrealism comes coursing down through a century of artistic revolution, counter-revolution and evolution. Perhaps though, even stronger and more profound, the links to our archaic past in the form of storytelling, myth-making and fetish. The principle then, as now, being one of a passing-on of wisdom, of a key knowledge base and learning tools. As much as the joy and celebration of, the wonders of the universe, being, in the detail and the diversity, and in our unique powers of observation and accumulation. Gordon Faulds
Many of the contributors are involved with The House of Fairy Tales as exhibiting artists, players or supporters and include a few children. The sense of playfulness at the heart of the show is a reminder that child-like play is a crucial part of our understanding of life. This exhibition will be touring around the country from the spring starting with Millennium Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall from March 6th to 28th 2010 and Newlyn Gallery, Cornwall from July to September 2010.
photo credit Richard Hubert Smith
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