Grimm Tales
Venue: Norman Rea Gallery
Runs: 28 November-12 December 2011
Artist: Jake Spicer (originally from Brighton)
Curated by: Lydia Miller
Before coming to the exhibition, I had a lot of preconceptions as to what it might be like. With the current wave of cinematic reinterpretations of fairy tales like Red Riding Hood and Snow White, I thought “Grimm Tales” would be much the same as its forbearers: an unsuccessfully commercial effort to recapture the fundamental tenets of the Grimm fairytales through a modern prism. I was veritably corrected on exploring Brighton artist Jake Spicer’s inversion of the traditional stories in more depth.
On entering the space, my stubborn prudishness was assaulted by a throng of overtly naked women. My initial reactions were those of embarrassment, but gradually, my pretensions evaporated, just as the artist intended the “cultural accoutrements” of his characters to be stripped away; lending to a more ‘human’ beauty emanating from the canvas. In a rather bizarre sense, I felt more humanised after observing these paintings, as it dawned on me that I shared more than I thought with the unadorned characters peopling the artwork.
A particularly captivating collection was the series of paintings entitled “Fortescue” which I later discovered was the name of the house that the artist had shared with his previous partner who was also featured in the work.
Leading on from this, the use of fairytale imagery seemed to serve as a protective and somewhat distance inducing device, for the artist to make sense of the adversity he was facing in his own life, showing this fictionalising to be quite cathartic. Later that evening, Spicer commented that the intention of his art was “to present ambiguity” in the hope that “people would bring more to the work than was originally intended.”
It is quite impossible not to derive a multiplex of meanings and thoughts from Spicer’s aesthetically and intellectually rich work. The paintings embodied the potent sexualisation of women, as the masked model was positioned in powerful and assertive postures in each piece: from standing tall holding up garments, to another portrait featuring her sat with legs jutted out in a spatially dominating pose; these all echoed the artist’s own interpretation of the females achieving “liberation through objectification.”
Credit must additionally be given to the imaginative ensemble created by Lydia Miller, which was invaluable in enhancing the fantastical aura of Spicer’s paintings. Sporting burlesque-meets-Moulin Rouge type costumes, Miller and her team embodied the enchanting undertones of the exhibition as I was a greeted by a warm visual feast mimicking a stately home. Complete with regal green walls and specifically chosen period pieces like the ‘magic’ gilded mirror or old-fashioned hat-stand; these well-chosen objects heightened the feel of grandeur and tasteful sophistication characterising the eroticised fairytale women populating the walls.
Moreover, the central piece of the room couldn’t have been more perfect for the artist’s intention of involving his viewers with the creative processes underpinning his work.
A simple antique desk bedecked with the artist’s materials and diagrams of human anatomy served as a stimulus for viewers to understand the initial inspiration (the anatomy books and animal skull) and how the artist was able to transmute this scientific means of examining the beauty of the body into fantastical and artful beauty on canvas.
Miller commented on Spicer’s work as a “re-working of the traditional nude. There’s nothing contrived about it.” My sentiments exactly. Indeed, it felt natural and quite comfortable by the end of the exhibition to observe the female nude through a lens of aesthetic appreciation for the subtle blend between fairytale and the beauty of the human body. Undeniably, some of my mental furniture was repositioned ever so slightly from viewing the artist’s work; and for this reason everyone should pay a visit to the Norman Rea Gallery with the expectation of leaving somewhat changed from when you entered.
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