A stunning collection of paintings, sculpture and decorative art from the 13th century to the present day.
Follow us online:
A stunning collection of paintings, sculpture and decorative art from the 13th century to the present day.
John Moores 25
This exhibition is being held at the Walker Art Gallery, 20 September 2008 - 9 January 2009
Oil on canvas, 40.5 x 30.5cm, 2007/08
The title of this painting was produced with internet software used to form
Jamaican Creole names from English names. The phrase suggested a fusion of
Mr Kurtz from Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' and Colonel Kurtz from Coppola's
'Apocalypse Now.' In the novella, Kurtz was an ivory-trader on the Congo, while in
the film he was an American soldier illegally encamped in Cambodia during the war
in Vietnam. My Kurtz, 'Cadet Congo Ganja', is a cultural composite, a bust-portrait of
a bald young Caucasian wearing the uniform of a West Point military cadet, his face
modified by war paint that is part clown and part warrior.
My knowledge that Edgar Allan Poe was also a cadet at West Point (before his
court-martial) may somehow have influenced this painting, which is from a series
of portraits of members of a fictional colonial family, 'The Rial Family'. The word
'Rial' ('royal' in English) is a modifier used by Jamaican Creoles to denote children of
mixed ethnic parentage. It refers to the Jamaican parent; so, for instance, Chinese/
Jamaican becomes Chiney-Rial. We arrive at this version of Kurtz-Royal, opaque and
as impenetrable as a joke told in a foreign language.
Tim Bailey was born in Flitwick, Bedfordshire in 1966.
He attended Central Saint Martins London 1985-88. He has exhibited
in group shows including 'Near Sharjah' Museum of Art United Arab
Emirates 1998, 'Slimvolume 01' Austrian Cultural Institute London 2001,
'Like Beads On An Abacus Designed To Measure Infinity' Rockwell London
2005, 'Frozen Tears III' (book launch) Koenig Books London 2006 and
'990: General History of Other Areas' Beacon Art Project Mablethorpe
Lincolnshire 2007.