After Nyne Reflects: FaceValueKPF
Hearing news of The Strand Gallery’s current exhibition, FaceValueKPF, my thoughts immediately turned to Vladimir Umanets and his defacement, or improvement, depending on where you stand, of one of Rothko’s Seagram Murals at the Tate Modern in 2012. Umanets penned ‘Vladimir Umanets, A Potential Piece of Yellowism’ in black ink in the bottom corner of an artwork with a monetary value of around £53 million, the resultant media outcry being largely focused on this figure; whether it would decrease, conservation costs, and its equivalent in jail time. And then there was of course the value attached to its ‘meaning’, its subjective impact, whatever that constitutes, and whether this had altered due to an inescapable feeling that the sacred had become secular through this abrupt and unwarranted formal change. Despite the obvious criminality of the incident, the conversation it stirred up was undeniably exciting, reengaging discourses on art vandalism, and questioning what constitutes the worth of a thing.
In a diversion of this conversation, FaceValueKPF addresses both individual and societal values placed on image through an exploration of identity new and old. The show sees works from notable British artists tangibly manipulated by a third party, standing as allegories for persons whose visual identity has been altered. Curated by artist and ex-convict Gary Mansfield, this exhibition asks the spectator to contemplate whether this visual change enhances, or detracts from the worth of each item, and, to put their money where their mouth is, place a bid, post-manipulation, either higher or lower than the artists’ original face value price, with all proceeds going to The Katie Piper Foundation.
Opening night, amid animated chatter and bids, I am amused to find that I have unknowingly become a part of the manipulation myself; Lee Ainsworth’s ‘Matt 7:15’ is continuously compacted and dirtied in its service as a doormat at the gallery’s entrance. The calibre of artists in show is immediately impressive, from Sarah Lucas and Martin Creed to Faisal Abdu’Allah, as is the diversity in method of manipulation either orchestrated or enacted by Mansfield. Prior to hanging, contributions from Jake and Dinos Chapman and Noel Fielding, had been, respectively, run over and hit with a hammer, whilst Wendy Mayer’s ‘Coil’, a unnervingly lifelike infant’s face emerging from a ceramic shell, flourishes a small cigarette burn to one side.
A personal highlight of the exhibition is the inclusion and curation of an edition of Marcus Harvey’s ‘Myra’. The image’s notoriety, owing to the person it personifies and its excessive use in the media both prior to and following Harvey’s reimagining, encroaches upon the space, demanding attention. Positioned at the end of a narrow hallway, the image seems to draw its audience forwards, Myra’s darkened eyes staring out from the print. Unsettling to say the least. Even more so when close enough to observe three puncture holes, the result of manipulation via pitchfork.
Defaced during its controversial showing in The Royal Academy’s ‘Sensation’, it is difficult not to associate Myra with art vandalism, a history which invites contemplation on the actual nature of Mansfield’s manipulations. Each alteration, be it a puncture, tear or cut away, is a consensual and strategised manoeuvre; the shocking, and often violently physical manipulations have been choreographed since September, in an effort to invite conversations of visual identity and worth.
Further blurring the lines between consensual and criminal, the crowd is stupefied as four motorcyclists pull up outside the gallery, dismount, enter and begin smashing Courty’s £8,400 ‘Rock’N’Roll Biker’ with Laura Keeble’s ‘Joan of Arc’, a baseball bat with a face value of £900. Standing on tiptoes to observe the carnage, there is a resounding gasp from onlookers, myself included, and then what feels like quite a surreal applause. I found the spectacle to incite a mixture of exhilaration and, surprisingly, discomfort; an urge to prize the baseball bat away and place into conservation almost sidelined rationality.
Asking the audience to decide on the value of an art object based purely on its visual identity is easier said than done. Contextual factors such as inclusion in the exhibition and the fact that all bids are for charity alone could markedly impact the bidding. However, this does not detract, in fact it strengthens the concept of the works as representative of the complexity of individuals’ visual identity; the judgement of a person based purely on their visual image is only possible devoid of any context, and is entirely vaporous.
FaceValueKPF runs until 20th December at The Strand Gallery London
Image: 'For Lovers' by Elizabeth Waggett before manipulation via legendary dart player Bobby George.
