Jonathan Baldock: My biggest fear is that someone Theatre & Performing Arts

Join us for the exhibition opening of Jonathan Baldock: My biggest fear is that someone will crawl into it on Thu 6 April, 6 - 8pm at SPACE

Visitors to the exhibition can enter the gallery through the gaping mouth to find a king sized four-poster bed with hand-sewn hangings comprising another face with an accompanying whispering voice audible from within. The work reveals the subjective boundaries between external and internal, public and private, gallery formality and bedroom intimacy.

My biggest fear is that someone will crawl into it is a paraphrased quote from Robert Rauschenberg speaking about his 1955 combine work, Bed. There is a long history of beds being depicted in art for the significant role they play in our lives - from Vincent Van Gogh to Tracey Emin. Beds are the sites of birth, death, sex, sleep, dreams and, increasingly, meals, entertainment, business and study. Conspicuously lacking from the lives of many people who are rendered homeless, the symbol of the bed shifts between a complex metaphor and a basic necessity. This project is Baldock’s first overtly autobiographical work, evoking his own living situation and also his relationship to his mother. Her voice is heard within the exhibition, recorded reading from her diaries in a hushed and hurried tone. This aspect of the work reflects how his mother’s narrative has informed his own. My biggest fear is that someone will crawl into it is a self-conscious statement that reflects the discomfort of opening up one’s private space while also recognising the unexceptional yet universal nature of personal experience. Baldock’s invitation for visitors to crawl into his work and participate in its narrative is knowingly both narcissistic and generous.
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Jonathan Baldock (b. Pembury, UK) is a London-based artist with a multidisciplinary practice incorporating sculpture, painting, textiles and performance.

Venue: SPACE, 129-131 Mare Street, London, E8 3RH

Price

FREE: GBP 0

Links:

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/112578-0
Facebook: https://go.evvnt.com/112578-1

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