SellYourSelf
https://www.facebook.com/events/1302745413132979/
13/01/17 to 29/01/17
130 Vicar Lane, Leeds, U.K.
Artists: May Hands, Jemma Egan, Lindsay Mendick, Rebecca Molloy, Paloma Proudfoot, Sarah Roberts
I just managed to get to see SellYourSelf before it closes on Sunday 29th Jan (tomorrow, as I write – sorry!) and I’m very glad I did.
Situated in one of East Street Arts’s pop up exhibition spaces, next to the Leeds Print Workshop, passers by could be forgiven for mistaking the installation as an actual retail unit, with the aesthetic of a low rent nail bar or market stall selling hair extensions and perfume. Though the bizarre double ended banana ceramic sculpture in the window could make you think you were about to purchase some quirky homewares, or enter a sex shop. (Or maybe that’s just me….. I do read Viz.)
I was welcomed warmly by artist Sarah Roberts, who was sitting behind a bespoke chipboard table, playing the role of shop assistant and artist all at once.
The densly packed interior gave a realistic retail environment, unlike the usual art space method of giving each artwork a lot of space between each object. This felt like being in a huge metaphorical puzzle, with many objects to decipher and make associations with. Shop fittings were used to display artifacts which I was encouraged to rifle through and examine as one might in a shop.
The intention of SellYourSelf is to “explore the relationship between sculptural installation and the alluring yet perturbing nature of the world of retail and constructed leisure/pleasure spaces.” To this end large slabs of acrylic, with coloured prints of gels and creams on them hung from metal islands, fabric sample swatches hung from the wall and small sculptures and objects such as more black ceramic fruits and strange pink and brown ‘chicken nuggets’ were displayed in glass cabinets. A mannequin wore a pair of faux-suede backless chaps and on the wall there was what appeared to be a straight jacket like tubular construction made (I think) from a padded bomber jacket. There was a display of hair extensions and fabric, and a perfume island, with bottles of perfumes that looked like the type you find in Poundland. I commented on how nice the smell was in the ‘shop’ and Roberts explained that the diffuser on top of the perfume display was pumping out her signature scent that she had developed, using the bulk synthetic fragrances that pad out many cheap perfumes. I was kind of embarrassed that my olfactory tastes would betray my proletariat nature so well! I do love a bottle of ‘Exclamation!’… <img src="https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/wpcom-smileys/twemoji/2/72x72/1f609.png" alt="