British Art Show - Artists and Bankers

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Permalink Reply by Shaun Belcher on November 10, 2010 at 20:44

The Arts of England

Have you seen that old curator
In the closed-down gallery
Kicking up the feedback forms,
with his worn out trainers?
In his eyes you see no white cube
And held loosely at his side
Yesterday’s funding form saying re-apply

So how can you tell me you’re starving,
And say for you that the arts don’t provide?
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the Arts of England
I’ll show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old brit artist
Who walks the streets of Hackney
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags?
She’s no time for site-specifics,
She just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home in two Tate Modern bags.

Chorus

In his Chelsea flat
At a quarter past eleven,
Jeremy Hunt is sitting there on his own
Looking at the world
Over the rim of his decanter,
Each sip lasts an hour
As he wonders what can be done

Chorus

And have you seen the old employees
Outside the conceptualist’s mission
Memory sticks fading with
The Muji clothes they wear.
In our regenerated city,
The foreign tourist cries a little pity
For one more forgotten art-world
In an international scene that doesn’t care

Permalink Reply by Gareth John on December 21, 2010 at 14:41

Yes, that disenfranchised look is still kind of cool and yes I was reading how the 70's were about exposing the neglect in our communities which then turned into celebrating that neglect in the 80's, Damien Hirst being labeled a Thatcherite for example. Maybe we could work on that, we could deliberatly champion the reducing of the arts budget in Britain instead of apposing it; the seed of Yin is in the Yang. Could start with: Why should British art be encouraged when the coolest things to have appeared on the British art scene these days are that kid from Japan doing graffiti on Brick Lane, and that Home office appeasement to radical Muslims everywhere - Raqib Shaw?

Permalink Reply by Charlotte Lindenberg on December 22, 2010 at 16:24

Obviously even desaster can be funny - as long as one can sing along.

Brilliant poetry!

Shaun Belcher said:

The Arts of England

Have you seen that old curator
In the closed-down gallery
Kicking up the feedback forms,
with his worn out trainers?
In his eyes you see no white cube
And held loosely at his side
Yesterday’s funding form saying re-apply

So how can you tell me you’re starving,
And say for you that the arts don’t provide?
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the Arts of England
I’ll show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old brit artist
Who walks the streets of Hackney
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags?
She’s no time for site-specifics,
She just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home in two Tate Modern bags.

Chorus

In his Chelsea flat
At a quarter past eleven,
Jeremy Hunt is sitting there on his own
Looking at the world
Over the rim of his decanter,
Each sip lasts an hour
As he wonders what can be done

Chorus

And have you seen the old employees
Outside the conceptualist’s mission
Memory sticks fading with
The Muji clothes they wear.
In our regenerated city,
The foreign tourist cries a little pity
For one more forgotten art-world
In an international scene that doesn’t care