Art & Culture

ARTIST AT WORK

No.43 Mark Pender, Snakes and Ladders, 80 x 50 cm, Oil on Canvas, £350

Isometimes wonder where my work fits in the whole broad spectrum of two-dimensional art. I particularly struggle when, for example, I have to categorise it, faced with that dreadful drop-down thing demanding ‘genre’ or ‘description’. Well, it certainly isn’t abstract. It isn’t still life or landscape (mostly). What does ‘figurative’ mean (no-one seems to agree)? There’s rarely a box for ‘rather eccentric big oil painting’! It amuses me if I can tick ‘Fine Art’. My work commonly tells a story but it isn’t illustration in the usual sense, although I have done the odd book piece. I rather dislike ‘fantasy’ as a description.

Dark humour creeps into my paintings and, yes I know, occasionally they take on a rather cartoonish edge (strangely, more so after I spent lockdown studying the techniques of Rubens, Da Vinci, Vermeer…).

I paint to please myself more than others - I sometimes refer to my ‘stupid art’ but if you’re gonna paint stupid you’d better take it seriously. Anyway, here is Snakes and Ladders which acquired layers of complexity as I painted. It draws on the journey of life, good and evil, luck, fortune and, for good measure, has a bit of religion thrown in as well. Plus Daisy the cow.

ON FILM

Andy Hastie, Yeovil Cinematheque

It’s a great feeling when one has decided it’s time to write the reviews for June’s films at Cinematheque, then sitting down with pen and paper to hand, and, on checking which films are to be shown, suddenly realising that both are absolute classics, and probably the best of the season so far. We have managed to pull together a fine season of films this year I feel, given the initial lockdown uncertainty and Covid threat hanging over all entertainment venues. However, the desire to collectively watch intelligent and thoughtful films is strong in our membership, and I thank them all for supporting the society, enabling us to keep going.

Kelly Reichardt is an independent American director and screenwriter whose films are described as minimalist and realist, allowing the viewer to pause for contemplation along the way, in contrast to more mainstream films. Reichardt is quoted in an interview ‘When I go to the movies and I sit through the previews (trailers), I literally feel assaulted.’ Her films quietly show people living on the margins of society, often women, who are not usually represented in commercial cinema. Her characters are said to appear ‘caught between a mythology of greatness and the limitations that govern their reality.’ It’s not surprising therefore, multi-award-winning Reichardt is one of the best chroniclers of the American experience. In 2016 at Cinematheque we showed, to much praise, her film Certain Women an often heart-breaking, present day portmanteau portrait of independent women, and on 8th June we are pleased to screen First Cow (2021), set in 1820’s Oregon. It tells a glorious story of friendship, petty crime and the doomed pursuit of the American dream. Two loners team up to make their fortune by stealing milk from a wealthy landowner’s prized Jersey cow, in order to make cakes to sell. This true masterpiece playfully subverts the western film with its laconic anti-macho mood and gentle humour. Kelly Reichardt’s filmmaking can be summarised by her quote ‘You can take your time. It’s the difference

First Cow (2021)

Martin Eden (2019)

between showing an audience something, and letting an audience see something.’ Unmissable.

On 22nd June we show Martin Eden (2019), an original, stylistically dazzling Italian adaption of Jack London’s 1909 autobiographical novel, about a selftaught working-class writer, desperate to climb through the ranks of society, and achieve a place among the literary elite. His artistic and political journey through Italian middle-class life is prompted by a chance meeting with a beautiful young woman, who inspires him to become an accomplished writer, and then resolve to marry her. This bold adaption, transposing the story from America to Naples, mixes drama with genuine (and faked!) archive footage to create director Pietro Marcello’s sweeping vision of 20th century Italy; a cautionary tale of the corrupting power of wealth and success.

‘This is a work of passionate, polemic beauty from a director who is a genuine original.’ Jonathan Romney, Uncut. ‘Spellbinding. One of the best films of the last decade.’ Sight and Sound.

I cannot recommend these two films more highly. Come as a guest to the Swan Theatre to see what Cinematheque has to offer. All details are on the website below. We look forward to meeting you.

cinematheque.org.uk swan-theatre.co.uk

___________________________________________ Wednesday 8th June 7.30pm First Cow (2021) 12A

Wednesday 22nd June 7.30pm Martin Eden (2019) 15

Cinematheque, Swan Theatre, 138 Park St, Yeovil BA20 1QT Members £1, guests £5

CONFESSIONS OF A THEATRE ADDICT

Rosie Cunningham

Ralph Fiennes is doing some amazing work in the theatre, with Antony & Cleopatra at The National opposite Sophie Okonedo and recently T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. This time I saw him perform in Straight Line Crazy, written by David Hare and directed by Nicholas Hytner, at The Bridge Theatre. It is a biographical drama about fanatical and arrogant New York city planner Bob Moses, who flattens many of the city communities from the 1920s to 1950s to make way for expressways that shape the grid system of New York today. He is not a very likeable character however his motivation is not money but ideals. Fiennes is magnetic and sweeps up the audience with his vision.

Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer, was a one-woman, one-act play divided nominally into two halves. Barrister Tessa Ensler, who had risen from a working-class background, up the hierarchy of an immensely competitive, male-dominated legal world, energises the first half with a confident, swaggering, ‘I can rule the world’ personality, at home with the finer nuances of law and glorying at the cases she has won. Then she is raped by a fellow barrister, who she knows and previously had consensual sex with, and she becomes the victim. Her whole world crumbles but she remains angry and defiant, and reports the violation to the police. She fights back and won’t let the incident define her. Comer put everything into her performance and by the end, she was exhausted but emerged triumphant. The audience, as one, swept to their feet. She accepted the applause with tears in her eyes. Truly a five-star actor.

If you have never visited The Wallace Collection, just north of Oxford Street, it is a must. Allow enough time to see their many treasures including The Laughing Cavalier and Fragonard’s The Swing, a prolific collection of Canaletto’s and incredible pieces of Sèvres. Currently, there is an interesting exhibition entitled ‘Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts’ on, in collaboration with New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, until 16th October. The museum is free and open every day of the week from 10am-5pm. The guides are genuinely helpful and love to answer questions. I particularly loved the collection of miniature portraits. There is an excellent French-style brasserie and café on-site, with space to sit outside.

Finally, I saw Mark Rylance in Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem, playing Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron, a role that he last played just over a decade ago and he was magnificent. This is a three-hour performance with two intervals, but the energy and entertainment meant that the time passed in sheer enjoyment. The audience laughed a lot throughout. The action takes place on St. George’s Day, the morning of the local village fair. Johnny lives alone in a ramshackle dilapidated Airstream trailer in a field surrounded by discarded furniture and rubbish, he sells drugs and drinks hard spirits throughout the day, and attracts a motley crowd of hangers-ons. The council have served papers on him and wants him gone because the sprawl of newly built houses has almost reached his front door and he is an unwanted eyesore. This is a story however, of many twists and turns. There are several heart-breaking moments, particularly with Byron’s interaction with his young son, and some home truths to do with the nature of friendship. Rylance has perfected his characterisation of the ‘Rooster’ as he puffs up his chest, and struts around with a limping gait, giving the appearance of someone permanently drunk and stoned but he has a keen brain and misses nothing. The source of his apparent wealth is a complete surprise, and he has undoubtedly the last laugh. On until 7th August 2022. There are a few £15 single tickets to be bought on the day. Do not miss this one.

wallacecollection.org theapollotheatre.co.uk/tickets/jerusalem

AN ARTIST’S VIEW

Laurence Belbin

The phrase ‘keep things in perspective’ is common enough but to an artist, it conjures up a different meaning.

I pass, most days, two buildings in Sherborne that always catch me out even though I know why. Whenever I look at them from a particular angle the perspective looks wrong. They look twisted, as though some great force has gotten hold of the end and dragged it around so it’s in line with the front. Buildings, on the whole, are built with the walls at 90 degrees to each other, forming squares or rectangles. The perspective of roofs and gable ends look right from wherever you view them. The two I have drawn here don’t!

The first is ‘The Corner House’ situated opposite the Alms Houses, on the corner of Half Moon Street and Westbury. It is one of those shops which seem to have always been there. Frequented by generations of boys from the local school stocking up on ‘tuck’ and a steady flow of customers for papers, sandwiches and the desperately needed pint of milk, it should have a blue plaque! I have drawn it from Trendle Street where I leant against the railings which are beautifully topped off

with Bishops Mitres – the sort of street furniture we must treasure and preserve. The portion of building which makes it look askew is the small section that borders Westbury. The walls converge to a bit of a point from the chimney stack down, making the ridge longer than the eaves at the front. The small window, once a door by the look of it, is square-on to me where normally that would be a similar angle to the front and vanishing off to my right!

The second is ‘Jills’ in Trendle Street – a hair-dresser of the traditional kind where ladies can sit and be looked after and have a good old natter, leaving with both a spring in their step and in their hair. The way this building is laid out is similar to the previous one but the end wall does not end in a point. The ridge and eaves are the same on the front but although I can’t see the other side (the back) they will be different there, I’m sure. The walls are not 90 degrees, giving the impression of a slightly flattened look that when drawn, looks totally wrong. It feels like you are seeing more of the end than you should from where I was sat on the bench. No doubt there are other such buildings in Sherborne but these two are particularly noticeable. So, go and have a look, get a paper or a hair cut and ponder!

laurencebelbin.com

COUNTER CULTURE

Paul Maskell, The Beat and Track

No.10 The KLF: A Career Gone Up in Smoke?

Aband? An art movement? A statement? A manifesto? A joke?

Some would say all of the above.

The KLF started off life as a band but immediately sought to stir things up within the music industry and cause controversy within the establishment – an establishment they saw as outdated and somewhat generic. The two members, Bill Drummond (ex-WEA employee and short-time manager of Echo and the Bunnymen) and Jimmy Cauty (ex-member of the band Brilliant) got together when Drummond, aged 33 and ⅓ decided he was ready for a personal ‘Revolution’. They began making music together under the name The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu and instantly caused controversy by using samples of the Beatles All You Need is Love and Samantha Fox’s Touch Me for their first single. Due to the potential legal wranglings that would no doubt ensue, the single was declined by all labels and distributors. A one-sided promo 12" found its way to the music press and quickly became single of the week in several publications as well as the band being heralded as ‘the hottest, most exhilarating band of the year’. The blue touchpaper had been lit.

They followed this single with its own re-release minus the antagonistic samples and managed to make enough money to fund their first album entitled 1987. What The **** is Going On?. The album’s release was short-lived as it was recalled due to the use of samples from ABBA’s Dancing Queen. The band travelled to Sweden to gain an agreement to allow the band to proceed with the album’s sale. Once it was realised that ABBA would not be allowing the use of their music, the band took the remaining stock of the new album and disposed of it by throwing it into the North Sea on the ferry trip back to the UK.

Two more sample ladened singles were shortly followed by a more house music-inspired album Who killed the JAMS? which instantly gained rave reviews in the press. 1988 saw the band begin to mess with the industry

further as they released a novelty pop song under the name of The Timelords. The single mashed up elements of the Doctor Who theme and Blockbuster by the Sweet.

It went to number one in the UK charts and shortly after, the band published a book entitled The Manual (How to Have a Number One The Easy Way). The book explained step-by-step how to achieve a number one single with little money or talent.

Now functioning under the name The KLF, the band took a different approach to their output and produced a more dance-orientated sound. Such singles as What

Time is Love?, 3am Eternal and Last Train to Trancentral were released and made a wave in the underground club scene. During this period Jimmy Cauty formed an ambient side project with friend Alex Paterson called

The Orb. During the year of 1990 things took off for both bands as The KLF re-mixed their singles for rerelease gaining numerous top 10 positions in both the

UK and the States. They then released their White Room album in March of 1991 to a great reception.

So, what next for a band on top of their game and on top of the industry they had fought so hard to subvert? Why, self-destruct obviously.

The 12th February 1992 saw the band win Best

British Group at the Brit Awards and perform a live version of 3am Eternal with the grindcore band

Extreme Noise Terror. They intended to end the performance by disembowelling a dead sheep on stage.

This plan was thwarted by the organisers but didn’t stop a kilted Bill Drummond limping centre stage when the song finished and firing blanks from an automatic machine gun over the heads of a startled crowd.

The PA system then announced that “The KLF have now left the music business.” The dead sheep was later dumped on the steps of one of the ceremonies’ afterEM_ST.qxp_Layout 1 18/05/2022 11:48 Page 1 show parties with a note tied to it saying ‘I died for you – bon appetit’. Shortly afterwards the band’s whole back catalogue was deleted. Their Brit award was later found buried in a field near Stonehenge.

During the next year, Drummond and Cauty formed The K Foundation an arts foundation which would engage in art projects and media campaigns including the K Foundation Art Award given for the ‘worst’ artist of the year. This was awarded to Rachael Whiteread, who, on the eve of her receiving the Turner Prize award and £20,000 in the Tate Gallery, was presented with the K Foundation award and £40,000 on the street outside. A big statement maybe but a bigger one was to follow.

On 23rd August 1994, Drummond, Cauty and longtime friend and cohort Gimpo travelled to the Scottish isle of Jura. Within a disused boathouse, they proceeded to be filmed burning the remaining funds of the K Foundation which amounted to £1 million cash.

The band then vowed to take a 23-year moratorium.

On the 23rd August 2017, the duo returned, back under the name of The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. They published a novel 2023: A Trilogy, staged a three-day festival called Welcome to The Dark Ages and vowed to build a ‘people’s pyramid’ as part of the Toxteth Day of the Dead.

Over the last 5 years, the band have remastered 8 previous singles and released them as a 30-minute mix on streaming services. They later produced a second volume of 12” extended versions and in 2021 saw the release of a documentary directed by Chris Atkins entitled Who Killed the KLF?.

So what on earth is next for The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The JAMS, The KLF, The K Foundation… who knows? I’m off to hacksaw a £1 coin in half – my revolution will be slightly less prolific.

thebeatandtrack.co.uk

The Electric Broom Cupboard presents OrchardPopfest South Somerset The Monochrome Set • The June Brides • The Chesterfields Helen McCookerybook • The Rhynes • Palooka 5 • Special Guests Saturday 16 July 2022 DJ Johnny Dee • DJ Alan Flint • DJ Andrew Perry

North Down Farm, Crewkerne, TA18 7PL • Gates 12noon, live music from 2pm, curfew 11pm Bar and food • Tickets from Eventbrite: £20 / under 16s free / camping £10