Entering the Ralph Steadman room at the new exhibition Ghosts of Gone Birds is almost a religious experience. Light floods the high ceilings and the walls are covered in a riot of sketches brighter than stained glass.
And then a miracle occurs: extinct birds are resurrected. The Oceanic Eclectus Parrot squawks off the page, a Mauritian Duck paddles to sea once more and the deadly dull Dodo suddenly acquires a colourful new suit of feathers.
Helpfully the gallery has provided binoculars for a spot of “extinct bird watching” and to better appreciate the 91 new paintings. After all, this is the only place in the world where one can still see the Aldabra Brush Warbler in the wild.
Artists have always looked to birds for ideas about beauty, nature and even mortality. Think of Keats’s nightingale, various novels by Julian Barnes, Beatles songs about blackbirds and most recently Tracey Emin’s paintings.
Chris Aldhous, the creative director of this new exhibition, knew a lot of artists were worried about the environment. So he casually put a call out for new work about extinct birds.
Nothing prepared him for the reaction. More than 80 artists have made 91 new paintings for the eclectic show in East London to raise money for Birdlife International. Margaret Atwood has knitted an auk, Billy Childish has painted an owl and Sir Peter Blake has done a pen and ink collage.
Perhaps the most unexpected reaction was from Steadman, who was only commissioned for one painting and then just kept on making these extraordinary pictures. Deciding that extinct birds “have more character than today’s politicians”, he got thoroughly carried away.
This being the man best known for his merciless depiction of politicians and illustrations of Hunter S Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, reality is soon abandoned for something more subversive. Among the extinct birds are the Moor Pen, the Nasty Tern, the Once Bittern and the Needless Smut. The Gob Swallows look like angry black ink blots flying off the page. Nesting under the tail feathers of the Dodo is the Blue Slut, as if the cartoonist cannot help himself spicing up a perfectly sensible painting with something silly.
There are now plans to bring together a book of more than 200 sketches in Ralph Steadman’s Field Guide to the Extinct Boids of Planet Oith. As the artist explains, what does it matter if they really existed or not? They will only ever be taking flight in our imaginations.
At points in the exhibition it is difficult to tell fact from fiction. One minute you are giggling at Steadman’s sketch of a Laughing Owl before realising that this bird really does exist – or it used to before humans wiped it out in the Sixties.
The stories of extinct birds have inspired and angered the artists in different ways. Atwood’s knitted Great Auk, for instance, looks a little like a cushion cover your granny would make; this is forgivable given that she is both a brilliant writer and a passionate ornithologist, though not necessarily lovely in itself.
Atwood is a huge fan of the show: “To find so many people engaged with the subject of birds and the threat of extinction that faces so many of them today, is truly inspiring,” she said at the launch. “This magnificent show will reconnect us to the natural world, teach us about our past and fuel our interest in saving what we are losing daily.”
To remind us of that, Sir Peter Blake has painstakingly written down the names of every species that has died out. Not just the familiar ones like the Passenger Pigeon but the species we didn’t even know we had lost such as the Red-Moustached Fruit-Dove or the Hawaiian Oo.
Artists are not only concerned with the loss of inspiration but the influence birds have on our culture and history. Hummingbirds made of knitted wire remind us of the delicate ecosystems we have destroyed, while a wooden skeleton of the Great Moa links birds back to dinosaurs.
A sound insulation takes birdsong under the sea and sculpture recreates an Albatross wing above oceans of waste.
It is uplifting to see such beauty bought back to life but ultimately also sad to think of what could have been. The natural rate of extinction should only be about one bird every century but in the past 400 years it has risen so rapidly we have already lost more than 150. If you are 30 then at least 21 “ghost birds” have become extinct in your life time.
And it is not over yet, Birdlife International estimates that one in eight of the world’s 10,000 species is now threatened with extinction. With this in mind, many of the works of art highlight parts of the world where hunting continues and where habitat is being destroyed.
Ceri Levy, the curator of the show, is passionate about bringing the conservation message to a new audience. The film maker is best known for Bananaz, his documentary of the pop group Gorillaz, and is an unexpected birder. But as he points out, plenty of unexpected people are fascinated by birds and birdwatching, including Paul McCartney and Joanna Lumley.
For him, it is the job of the artist to encourage more people to consider their lifestyles, join a campaign or even just appreciate the birds we have left.
“The exhibition is not hectoring or haranguing,” he says. “It is using creativity to bring back to life what we have lost already and make people aware of how much worse it could get. If we don’t, then we will be haunted by even more ghosts of gone birds.”
'Ghosts of Gone Birds’ is at the Rochelle School, Arnold Circus, London, E2 7ES until November 23. The exhibition is free but will be raising money for Birdlife International.
For more information see www.ghostsofgonebirds.com and www.facebook.com/ghostsofgonebirds
Chris Aldhous, the creative director of this new exhibition, knew a lot of artists were worried about the environment. So he casually put a call out for new work about extinct birds.
Nothing prepared him for the reaction. More than 80 artists have made 91 new paintings for the eclectic show in East London to raise money for Birdlife International. Margaret Atwood has knitted an auk, Billy Childish has painted an owl and Sir Peter Blake has done a pen and ink collage.
Perhaps the most unexpected reaction was from Steadman, who was only commissioned for one painting and then just kept on making these extraordinary pictures. Deciding that extinct birds “have more character than today’s politicians”, he got thoroughly carried away.
This being the man best known for his merciless depiction of politicians and illustrations of Hunter S Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, reality is soon abandoned for something more subversive. Among the extinct birds are the Moor Pen, the Nasty Tern, the Once Bittern and the Needless Smut. The Gob Swallows look like angry black ink blots flying off the page. Nesting under the tail feathers of the Dodo is the Blue Slut, as if the cartoonist cannot help himself spicing up a perfectly sensible painting with something silly.
There are now plans to bring together a book of more than 200 sketches in Ralph Steadman’s Field Guide to the Extinct Boids of Planet Oith. As the artist explains, what does it matter if they really existed or not? They will only ever be taking flight in our imaginations.
At points in the exhibition it is difficult to tell fact from fiction. One minute you are giggling at Steadman’s sketch of a Laughing Owl before realising that this bird really does exist – or it used to before humans wiped it out in the Sixties.
The stories of extinct birds have inspired and angered the artists in different ways. Atwood’s knitted Great Auk, for instance, looks a little like a cushion cover your granny would make; this is forgivable given that she is both a brilliant writer and a passionate ornithologist, though not necessarily lovely in itself.
Atwood is a huge fan of the show: “To find so many people engaged with the subject of birds and the threat of extinction that faces so many of them today, is truly inspiring,” she said at the launch. “This magnificent show will reconnect us to the natural world, teach us about our past and fuel our interest in saving what we are losing daily.”
To remind us of that, Sir Peter Blake has painstakingly written down the names of every species that has died out. Not just the familiar ones like the Passenger Pigeon but the species we didn’t even know we had lost such as the Red-Moustached Fruit-Dove or the Hawaiian Oo.
Artists are not only concerned with the loss of inspiration but the influence birds have on our culture and history. Hummingbirds made of knitted wire remind us of the delicate ecosystems we have destroyed, while a wooden skeleton of the Great Moa links birds back to dinosaurs.
A sound insulation takes birdsong under the sea and sculpture recreates an Albatross wing above oceans of waste.
It is uplifting to see such beauty bought back to life but ultimately also sad to think of what could have been. The natural rate of extinction should only be about one bird every century but in the past 400 years it has risen so rapidly we have already lost more than 150. If you are 30 then at least 21 “ghost birds” have become extinct in your life time.
And it is not over yet, Birdlife International estimates that one in eight of the world’s 10,000 species is now threatened with extinction. With this in mind, many of the works of art highlight parts of the world where hunting continues and where habitat is being destroyed.
Ceri Levy, the curator of the show, is passionate about bringing the conservation message to a new audience. The film maker is best known for Bananaz, his documentary of the pop group Gorillaz, and is an unexpected birder. But as he points out, plenty of unexpected people are fascinated by birds and birdwatching, including Paul McCartney and Joanna Lumley.
For him, it is the job of the artist to encourage more people to consider their lifestyles, join a campaign or even just appreciate the birds we have left.
“The exhibition is not hectoring or haranguing,” he says. “It is using creativity to bring back to life what we have lost already and make people aware of how much worse it could get. If we don’t, then we will be haunted by even more ghosts of gone birds.”
'Ghosts of Gone Birds’ is at the Rochelle School, Arnold Circus, London, E2 7ES until November 23. The exhibition is free but will be raising money for Birdlife International.
For more information see www.ghostsofgonebirds.com and www.facebook.com/ghostsofgonebirds
So it is only natural that artists should get angry when this source of creativity is snatched from them.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/8873905/Ghost-of-Gone-Birds-Rochelle-School-Arnold-Circus-review.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/8873905/Ghost-of-Gone-Birds-Rochelle-School-Arnold-Circus-review.html
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!