The best news ever? Quite possibly.
Wow, this is exactly the kind of news to jazz up a grey September morning. From poacher to game-keeper: the great art critic of our time, one Brian Sewell, is turning his hand to curation. Sewell, the Evening Standard's art critic since 1984, is curating a solo show for contemproary artist Richard Harrison that opens to the public this October, and we at Spoonfed are pretty darned excited.
Sewell, who we occasionally see at Royal Academy media views but are too in awe to go and speak to, is known for his searing demolitions of the contemporary art world – guile-less artists and, in particular, overly complex theory-driven curation. So it's going to be interesting to see the kind of approach he takes. The first thing to note is the eschewal of the standard white cube gallery space, in favour of an “antiquarian backdrop”, in the heart of Chelsea.
Harrisson was first discovered by Sewell back in 1987 and the critic was prompted to later write, in his characteristically elaborate prose:
"At a time when figurative painting has long been out of fashion in British art schools and among the curators of the nation's galleries of modern art, its acknowledgement limited to Freud, Hockney and a handful of other grandees, Richard Harrison has been one of the very few contemporary artists to hold to this ancestral tradition. His early work was essentially abstract, and abstract values have formed the armature of all his later work, but in subject he has moved from convincing interest in the texture and manipulative qualities of the simple materials of painting to Biblical and mythical narratives that were common among European painters from the High Renaissance to the High Olympus of Victorian art."
Sewell is perhaps best known for his outspoken criticism of the YBA movement - Hirst, Emin et al - and for his television appearance in which he described his rather peculiar acquaintance with Salvador Dalí. This involved Sewell removing his trousers, lying in the foetal position in the armpit of a figure of Christ and masturbating, whilst Dalí looked on and pretended to take photos: brilliant!
Richard Harrison - Nothing Wasted is at JAMB, 107a Pimlico Road, London SW1W 8PH from 13th to 23rd October 2011, open daily 10am - 6pm.
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