This would be an extract from an artist's statement that Robert used to picket a show of his work by a commercial gallery. I picture him in a donkey jacket warming his hands at a brazier. Amusingly, Paul Somerville handed out photocopies of it at one of
his shows of Robert's work. I produced a spoof of it once and informed Robert that I would be handing them out to customers at one of his Annexe print launches denouncing the crass commercialization and pandering to high street tastes going on within, etc. He said he’d help.
Actually, I think Lenkiewicz said that only his studios were an appropriate venue so that he could create the
illusion that there were 300-500 pictures in a project: the lists on this website show that many exhibitions were padded out with previous work that could stand muster under more than one theme. Even the gigantic Education Project runs only to 150 items. This is the equivalent of a rock star putting a pair of socks down the front of his jeans. It would be a sad day if Robert at his petulant and posturing worst dictated future approaches to exhibiting his work.
Taken at face value, it implies that there can never be another show of Lenkiewicz paintings that isn't a full-scale museum retrospective or a reconstruction of a whole project. In fact, it even negates any small permanent collection that TLF may be able to conjure up.
But if the recent show at the Somerville Gallery proves anything it's that Robert's work has the power to please and educate even in relatively small doses — the important factor is not quantity but quality. I also think a major new book on the artist certainly counts as 'context'. Anyone who had a chance to see
The Glue Sniffer in all his arrogant glory but thought "I won't go because Robert would only have wanted this picture seen along with the other 149 Education Project paintings" is a dunce and really must try harder. Not only were fantastic individual pictures like this on display but there were two important Vagrancy pictures, companion pieces, showing Bishop and Terry Goldstone in Pierrot costumes. I don't think even Robert pulled that off for the 1997 Retrospective and it was a delight to be able to examine the two images at the same time given their different stage of development. Paul's show also displayed for the first time the magnificent masterpiece
Diogenes at Night in Studio Window from 1977. If that had been the sole picture on display, the show would have justified itself. Would it have made more sense to keep it under wraps until the National Portrait Gallery finally acquire it in 2075?
It's ironic, of course, that almost anyone who was lucky enough to attend the Birmingham ICC showing of Project 18 in 1994 would disagree with Robert about the best venue for showing his work. This was staged by that same tacky commercial outfit that had such disregard for contextualizing Robert's work that it led them to hang 77 retrospective paintings (out of 184) that weren't even for sale. Rubbish brochure though.
I know it feels like a backwards step for Robert's work to be on sale in Mayfair rather than Ashburton, and it's difficult to gauge whether the Halcyon's collection of works by Dali, Warhol, Degas, Picasso, etc. offsets the presence of Rolf Harris and Mackenzie Thorpe. But given the venue, it is entirely possible that "the man in the street" will indeed turn out to be a City Banker (London rhyming slang) looking to blow his Xmas bonus, so they have that covered. But wasn’t it the Halcyon that turned Rolf Harris into Britain’s most famous painter? If they can do that with such thin material…
Of course, we will have to wait and see how the Halcyon decides to position Lenkiewicz as an artist. But if they do choose to market Robert as Britain’s premier painter of chicks in frocks there is only one person to blame. Counteracting that public perception will require patience and persistence and it’s a shame that TLF hasn’t already promoted itself as the authority on all things Lenkiewicz. It would be nice to get to a point where TLF worked closely with any organization whose activities might impact on Robert’s reputation as an artist. It could ensure that accurate information was available and try to influence the tone of any presentation of his work. That shouldn’t be too much of a struggle — Robert’s broader artistic and intellectual credentials hardly impact negatively on the perception of individual works at the point of sale.
When I heard about the Halcyon exhibition my first thought was to rush round to the Executor’s house with a team of paramedics to help get the permanent grin off his face. Imagine an outfit with that much clout making the market
before your final Estate sell-off of Lenkiewicz work! What a pity no-one thought about contacting the Halcyon back in 2002 and asking them to buy the entire studio contents and run with it.
Author
Logged
