Monday 18 May 2009

Domestic Mishaps and Thieving Fingers



Considering the vast numbers who attended, there was relatively little trashing of the space on Friday night, so thank you all for being careful around such delicate works! But, apart from burning rubber, there are a couple more incidents we forgot to mention:

1) Two Venice Viagra Bars were 'removed' from the exhibition, we have scanned the photos for bulging pants in an attempt to identify the culprit(s), but no luck...In all seriousness, this was pretty low, the artist David Rusbatch now has to make the work again for Venice, unless the bars are returned to WW - you know who you are, so please drop them through the letterbox, no questions asked.

2) On Saturday morning, the cleaner did an excellent, thorough and careful job of returning the gallery to pre-pv, pristeen status. So thorough, that she inadvertently removed part of Kate Davis' work 'Still Waiting After All These Years 1'. Thinking a careless visitor had left their cigarette to burn out on someone's work, and, with the sensitivity of an art restorer, she meticulously removed the butt and every trace of ash without disturbing the perfect pool of red nail varnish or the half lemons... so, some conceptual decisions were made, or she would have removed the lot! The mortified cleaner has been reassured that she is in good company...as Damien Hirst, Joseph Beuys and Gustav Metzger have all had similar domestic scrapes. Kate's work is now happily reinstated for your viewing pleasure!

The MOTHER of all pvs



We are both overwhelmed and exhausted by the fantastic response to Travelling Light. Floods of positive messages have been pouring in. Too bad we're too knackered to read them. The first leg is still partying on a bit, we've had visitors every day since last Thursday and can't get rid of them...in the nicest possible way. The opening party was brilliant, featuring music by Olivia Chaney, whose voice is a beautiful instrument in itself and was perfect for TL (if you missed it, here's a sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yejYBW1l8AI)

Proceedings were only slighty marred by our psycho neighbour who decided to burn rubber (literally) in his back garden to get rid of our guests, as it was too noisy for him at 8.15 on a Friday night! Thank God for British weather. It pissed on his protest and we were able to enjoy ourselves without it dampening any spirits.

So far we have had press in The Independent, This is London, Notion Magazine and Hackney Citizen as well as numerous art blogs and comments online. Thanks to all the artists and everybody who came on Friday for making it one of the most memorable evenings ever!