NEWS and VIEWS

Online Catalogue | NEWS and VIEWS

INTRODUCTION

On this page you'll find official and unofficial news and views about jCauty&SON.

If you have any views you'd like to share or an analysis of what you think this might all be about, please send them by e-mail to controller@jcautyandson.com and they will be posted on this page.

Recoding Reality by Alice Planel

On the one hand, James Cauty's new work is a caustic, yet provocatively childish and gleeful (if not disingenuous) lampooning of mass-produced cartoon imagery, and, on the other, a subtle but quizzical inquiry into mans relationship with violence.

Recognisable cartoon characters are caught in an overdriven cycle of frenzied violence, exacerbated by the incessant din of a familiar sound track, which echoes our brand-saturated and mass media culture. As such, Splatter follows Nam Jun Paik's seminal injunction to fight back against televisual imagery. "TV has been attacking us - now we can attack it back". However, where Paik is emphatic (if not sentimental), Cauty is pragmatic. Reappraising a concept developed for "ADIDAS" where the Nike logo was hijacked for critical re-assessment, Cauty configures of a new line of attack to subvert corporate messages, in what he terms 'recoding our reality'. Instead of distorting logos, branded images or expressions, Splatter, and "ADIDAS" before it, displays mass-produced imagery in its original form. It is thus the very idea of the multinational that is under fire rather than its signature; its physical presence within the public realm.

The re-appropriation of corporate imagery is found across a large spectrum of creative practices, from street art to the photographic work of such artists as Richard Prince. Furthermore, cartoon imagery is a common influence in contemporary art, being an important exponent of popular culture worldwide. However, Cauty differs in the degree of delectation he takes in playing and toying with cartoon imagery. There is an obvious amount of fun involved, and the fact that Cauty's son Harry (age 15) was instrumental in the conception and production of this work is further proof of lavished cheekiness.

True to "cartoon physics", the characters on screen never die from their injuries, and their splattered blood is an unreal, cartoonesque ketchup colour. And yet, they sneak into our grimmer reality as they ceaselessly attack one another in images that now bear titles referring to military terminology and forms of torture. Faced with entertaining and reassuringly familiar images, sanctioned and omnipresent, should one, however, resist being enticed by the scenes of ridiculous yet extreme violence on display? Splatter is disturbing despite, or perhaps because of, it's immediacy, simplicity and it's duplicitous conceptualisation.

Alice Planel, September 2008

A Return to the Medieval

In the days to come J Cauty and Sons show "the plausible impossibility..." will be seen as a milestone in contemporary culture. You may ask why the fuck is that? Surely they are being disingenuous? Let's take a step back and ask what are we seeing and what's it all about? Jimmy is being enigmatically silent - what a cunt!

It's cartoon characters killing each other - Tom kills Jerry, Bugs kills Daffy. This is permanence they are no more , their future absence will be telling , one by one like a great gladiatorial combat a prophetic vision of the ultimate end game of the X Fucked-Her ( say it ). This is hugely significant because with these mythological beings the nostalgic historic attachment is deep, they hark back to the oft mentioned "golden age", and my truth is that it never existed. The death also in a blind spot makes reference to the death of the "other" a common enough experience in modern times of pick and mix this and dispose of that - it's a true manifestation of our desire to wipe out rather than reconcile with the other. Insert however many contemporary references you like, from Thatcher with the miners, the fall of the eastern bloc, even today's "global financial crisis" they all are predicated on final destruction. Jimmy's work makes this death manifest at far too many levels for me to go into in this short piece.

Ultimately though it's a set of works that point to hope - out with the old school bring on the new school.

Today of course the idea of death, particularly these mythological beings that are above mortality and bring such comfort, is completely unacceptable. The advent of the Hyper Security Institution is putting paid to the idea of an accidental death.

So why should we care about what's going on in this show? Firstly the show is pioneering in the sense that this death of the other says something much deeper. It's the manifestation of displaced actions in a society that has spiralled out of control on the triumph of structure over form, of reason over humanity. Secondly it's a side swipe at that society which promotes the belief that more security equates to a better state of being.

Ultimately the death of Jerry and Daffy is the wake up call that the safety party is officially over and the old guard can roll over safe in the knowledge that psychological and structural murder are to follow.

Why would anyone complain, except to acknowledge either that their world is disrupted or that this prohibition on the death of a security mythology is their own big idea that they are too afraid to speak

James White
7th October 2008

PRESS

Below are a few of the many URLs to some in-depth and intelligent analysis of the jCauty&SON project, and list of where it's been featured in the press

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/extreme-cartoon-violence-james-cautys-controversial-splatter-exhibition
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/events/splatter
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1762702.ece
http://www.visitlondon.com/attractions/detail/3889837
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/go/tag/view/blog_post/Tweety%20Pie
http://www.wikio.co.uk/entertainment/cinema/cartoon_and_animation
http://www.thebadandugly.com/
http://www.newexhibitions.com/exhibitions/

~ Interview with James Cauty in the London Paper
~ James Cauty and Steve Lowe interviewed on the Robert Elms Show BBC London
~ Feature in the Sun, Star, Metro and Telegraph
~ Italian national paper La Repubblica on line has featured with a picture gallery
~ BBC online picture gallery
~ Big Pictures news agency has posted on their database
~ BBC Brazilian website posting which is part of BBC world service. BBC Brazil
~ Italian artsblog is covering with a picture gallery
~ Austrian The Gap.at has featured online
~ Belgian Knack Focus is featuring with an online gallery
~ Norwegian financial papers, www.NA24.no, feature with an online picture led story

Please direct any press enquiries to Marta Bogna at Idea Generation

marta.bogna@ideageneration.co.uk

M. +44 (0)7814 487 742?T. +44 (0)20 7749 6853?F. +44 (0)20 7729 0513??Idea Generation Ltd - 11 Chance Street - London E2 7JB - http://www.ideageneration.co.uk

Online Catalogue | NEWS and VIEWS