A Dangerous Lesson
Shipton - London, UK
6 - 16 Apr 2023
In 1948 Magritte produced collection of paintings, deviating from his traditional style. These paintings were loose, expressive & rebellious. He titled them “La Période Vache” which roughly translates to “The Lazy Fat Cow Period”. When he exhibited them in Paris, most people had no idea what to make of them, non sold. In response to this “failure” Magritte stated “the paintings were a form of slow suicide.” a striking description taking into account his own mother committed suicide when he was just 13.
I find these paintings to be some of the most exciting of his career. They are bold, unapologetic, off script & confrontational. They are the antithesis to much of the cultural production made today, which I would argue is “a form of slow suicide” in its cowering to the reductive demands & tastes of the mass audience, “Driving into the future using only our rear view mirror” as Marshall McLuhan would say.
I have remixed many paintings from this series & subsequently began to sample from Magritte’s expanded repertoire reimagining them in his “Période Vache” spirit, integrating contemporary iconography to delve into the absurdity of our overstimulated present.
I was meant to stage a much larger exhibition of these works last year, however the exhibition was unceremoniously cancelled last minute. Considering their lineage referencing Magritte’s rejected paintings this seemed ironically fitting. The universe surely does have a sense of humour, after Magritte’s “failed” exhibition in 1948 & my cancelled one in 2022 fingers crossed with this exhibition, third time's a charm!