Art at Wolfson
A letter from Sir Tim Hitchens.
Art at Wolfson: the re-hang
Every few years a number of our major loaned artworks return to their owner; and other pieces are in turn generously loaned to us. This September has been the biggest re-hang in three years or so, and you may be interested in the new art works around you in Wolfson. My thanks to the Arts Committee for helping to make these difficult and ultimately personal choices. I hope you find new works you enjoy.
We are a living and working space, not an art gallery, and that does bring its own problems. A number of the valuable works we have been looking after have been damaged over the last years by inattentive passers-by, so we have had to remove some works from the most-used places, and raise others above head level. Please do take care of our art work as you move around the College; it would be a great shame if more damage brought an end to the loans entirely.
We have this year said farewell to a number of well-known works. “My Boyfriend is Vegan” by the Brazilian artist Adriano Costa, which hung on the stairs rising to the Upper Common Room, has been returned, as has the massive “Albus” by Marcus Harvey which dominated the Marble Hall outside the Dining Hall. Marc Quinn’s sculptures “Seven Deadly Sins”, loved and hated by us in equal measure, have returned to their owner. Two big paintings which were in positions that were too vulnerable have had to be moved: Bert Irvin’s “Richmond” has moved from the Upper Common Room to the First-Floor corridor, and Christopher Le Brun’s “Always, Almost” is now in the formal dining room of The Lodgings for visitors there to enjoy.
So, to introduce the big new works on our walls. In the Lodge, as you arrive in College, we now have works by the eminent Sudanese artist Hussein Shariffe (1934-2005), one untitled and the other “Birth and Death of the Stars”, abstract pieces full of rich colour. We also have the first of two pieces by Rudolf Polanszky, an Austrian artist who emerged as a new talent in 1960s Vienna, and now creates canvas-mounted and freestanding assemblages by combining salvaged industrial materials—such as acrylic glass, aluminium, mirrored foil, resin, silicone, and wire—into new aesthetic forms. The effect of his work close-up is cubist, ad-hoc and chaotic, but step back and it all comes together (his second work is in the Marble Hall). Our other big new artist is Gabriela Boyd, born in Glasgow in 1988; her work is infused with “the luminous quality of artificial halogen bulbs, of street lamps and train carriages, refracted through hazy, geometric interiors that imply a doubling effect of windows or mirrors.” See what you think. Her piece “Spindle” sits where “My Boyfriend is Vegan” used to.
And we have moved a number of current pieces to more prominent locations, in order that the community can see them afresh. Christopher Le Brun’s “Voice” has moved from the Lodge to the Marble Hall; the brilliant “Jazz Stories” by Faith Ringgold, born in Harlem New York in 1930, has moved to the café; our painting of refugee life by emigrée Afghan artist Kubra Khademi is now on the ground floor library corridor. And our M C Escher piece has moved from a café wall to the Lodge desk so even more people can enjoy it.
The exhibition of fifty portraits of Wolfson people, up for a year, has now come down. I am in touch with those who appeared in these wonderful black and white shots, so they can take their own portraits home.
Finally, we have a new one-year exhibition starting this term by the exiled Russian artist Kostya Benkovich, born in St Petersburg but now living in Finland. His pieces, in turn playful and dark, explore themes of oppression and freedom, and are being displayed in various locations around the College during this Academic Year. He says his “intent is to translate current social issues, such as greed for control and power, persecution, pain, tragedy, resilience and struggle, into steel rebar sculptures that tell a story.”
We hope you are stimulated by all the pieces, and enjoy most of them!
Tim