This winter Modern Art Oxford will twin rarely seen works by two of the most important practitioners of the 20th century in a show curated by Turner Prize-winner Jeremy Deller.
There are few galleries outside of the capital that host such challenging and original exhibitions as those at Modern Art Oxford. Often it is not merely the work on display, but the curatorial conceit employed that elevates MOA’s program above most other of that which can survive beyond London’s funding an footfall anti-cyclone. Love is Enough, due to open at the beginning of December, looks set to be yet another eloquent piece of exhibition making, with Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller at the helm in a show that twins the work of two of the most important practitioners of the 20th century in an unlikely, but fortuitous convocation.
William Morris and Andy Warhol are two artists who are rarely placed in direct comparison but, as Deller states: “For me, these two figures have so much in common, not least their tendency to be contradictory. Morris railed against capitalism and yet he established a shop in central London bearing his family name, and Warhol’s trademark blankness, I think, belies a deeply political artist.”
Both Morris and Warhol were print fanatics who explored new technologies in mass production and dissemination. The show will explore shared themes in the artists’ careers, such as pop culture, empire, mythology and the artist as brand. The exhibition includes Morris’ rarely seen 1896 Holy Grail tapestries, a selection of Warhol’s iconic silkscreens and archival material from the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, including a signed photograph of Shirley Temple sent by the actress to a teenage Warhol in 1941.
As an artist Deller has long built a reputation as both an exhaustive researcher of historical detail and as an agent provocateur. Here he continues his more recent development as an astute and incisive curator, following on from recent shows such as English Magic at the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, All That is Solid Melts into Air for Hayward Touring and his stewardship of the 2013 British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
He’s made documentaries spanning subjects such as exotic wrestler Adrian Street and the obsessive tendencies of die-hard Depeche Mode fans. He is perhaps best well known for his work The Battle of Orgreave, 2001 – a re-enactment which brought together around 1,000 veteran miners and members of historical societies to restage the 1984 clash between miners and police at Orgreave, Yorkshire.
Love is Enough
Modern Art Oxford
6 December 2014 – 8 March 2015
modernartoxford.org.uk