David Kemp 'The Tribe that Held the Sky Up'

D AV I D K E M P T H E T R I B E T H AT H E L D T H E S KY U P

‘The Tribe that Held the Sky Up’

There was once a clever tribe Whose knowledge tied the four corners of the world together.

Their sorcerers had many powers.

They made great poles that held the sky up.

They had great cunning with fire They could make the night like day.

They could send pictures in the wind Their long tongues could speak over many miles Their warriors were fierce and powerful.

They rose in the air, over land and sea.

They overcame all the other tribes of the earth.

One day the smoke from their many clevernesses grew thick, Great flames licked up the poles blocking out the sun and burning a hole in the sky.

Slowly, the sky started to fall.

Fearing the dreadful weight of the clouds The tribe dug deep holes in the ground.

Here they hide with all their clever things Awaiting the day when the sky is pushed back up.

Botallack Birdman reconstruction : wood, industrial components, found objects 95 x 150 cm

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Skull reconstruction : auto and electrical components, floats 40 x 35 cm

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Whirlybird reconstruction : including auto and electrical components, feathers 70 x 70 cm

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Lost Head reconstruction : auto and electrical components, string 40 x 30 cm

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Lost Leader reconstruction : auto, motorbike and washing machine components 110 x 80 cm

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Consumer Boomer reconstruction : furniture components, ladies purses, feather 55 x 40 cm

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Sky God reconstruction : satelite dish, auto and electrical components 55 x 56 cm

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Totem reconstruction : satelite dish, auto components, floats, brushes 100 x 80 cm

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Ella Gerrill reconstruction : electrical components, toaster, earphones 38 x 35 cm

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Bad Hair Day reconstruction : wood, hair extensions, hairdryer, hair accessories 60 x 48 cm

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Digital Guerrilla reconstruction : electrical components, anatomical model and toys 45 x 32 cm

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Holy Spirit reconstruction : plastic bottle, barbed wire, string 50 x 50 cm

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Hazard Sisters reconstruction : plastic bottles, string 50 x 35 cm

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Horseman reconstruction : rubber trug, gas mask, horse jaw bone 60 x 60 cm

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Knockout Blonde reconstruction : cows horns, boxing gloves, garden glove, floats, wig 50 x 60 cm

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Fetish Head reconstruction: vacuum cleaner, pipes, false teeth, shells 95 x 30 cm

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Snake-Lipped Handbag Woman reconstruction: handbags, flowerpot 52 x 30 cm

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Relic reconstruction : elecrical components, domestic brassware 80 x 30 cm

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Electro Princess reconstruction : elecrical components, domestic brassware 55 x 40 cm

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BIOGRAPHY David Kemp was born in London, upon leaving school he went to sea as a midshipman in the Merchant Navy for four years. After his return he attended Farnham Art School and then Wimbledon School of Art, and moved to West Cornwall in 1975.

For more than 30 years, Kemp has lived and worked on the exposed Atlantic coast of West Cornwall - inspired by the natural landscape and the remains of the tin-mining industry carried out there since medieval times.

Living among the ruins, he collects fragments, piecing together curious connections between past and emergent human mythologies and technologies. His constructions use a variety of materials including timber, steel and bronze, but he is best known for his reconstruction sculpture, which have been compared to the work of archaeologists and ethnologists.

Kemp has exhibited widely including Tate St Ives, Arts Council Touring Exhibtions, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Newlyn Art Gallery, Royal Cornwall Museum, The Royal Albert 38

Museum in Exeter, Manchester Museum of Modern Art, Plymouth Arts Centre and in many other venues.

Kemp’s significant output of public art began when he was artist in residence at Grizedale Forest, Cumbria in 1981. Here he learned the important links between site and content, which he has applied to the many large scale, site-specific sculptures he has built around Britain over the past 25 years.

In the 1980’s Kemp built a series of large ‘post-industrial’ sculptures in the North East, such as ‘King Coal’ on the Durham moors, and in 1987 he built the ‘Navigators’, a 60ft high bronze and steel kinetic sculpture at Hays Galleria, near London Bridge on the Southbank. Other commissions include the Ogilvy & Mathers European Headquarters at Canary Wharf and the atrium of Price Waterhouse’s new headquarters in Birmingham. Other notable works include ‘The Hampshire Hog’ at County Hall at the Castle, Winchester and more recently ‘The ‘Murdoch Mosaics’ a set of five mosaic panels as part of the Redruth Town Regeneration

Programme. Kemp has also produced a series of large sculptures for the Eden Project alongide a great many more works nationwide.

Kemp has participated in residencies including at Grizedale Forest, Citto Vittoriosa, Malta and has also worked closely with Kneehigh Theatre.

His work is in numerous art collections including Arts Council England, The Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Northern Arts, Manchester City Art Gallery, Glasgow City Art Galleries, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield City Art Gallery, Liverpool Development Corporation, The Forestry Commission, The National Trust and Falmouth Art Gallery among others.

Man in the Iron Frock reconstruction : elecrical components, bike saddle, tongs, wood 70 cm 39

Published by Millennium to coincide with the exhibition ‘The Tribe that Held the Sky Up’ by David Kemp All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers Publication produced by Impact Printing Services (www.impactprintingservices.co.uk) Interview Film by Alban Roinard and Joseph Clarke ISBN 978-1-905772-59-9

MILLENNIUM Street-an-Pol St. Ives Cornwall 01736 793121 mail@millenniumgallery.c o . u k www.mil lenniumgallery.c o . u k