Jim Moir: Wrestlers Etc.

8 - 22 September 2017

Although primarily known as a comedian, best known as half of the comic double act Reeves and Mortimer, his other great passion in life is art. Vic studied at Sir Cass College in Whitechapel in the mid-1980s before moving to New Cross where he started a performance art piece at The Goldsmiths Tavern called 'Vic Reeves Big Night Out'. Fans of the comic actor will be well aware of the story since then.

 

Reeves' practice consists of painting, drawing, etching, photography and sculpture, and is wide ranging in its themes. Vic draws from a wide range of sources, to produce work hugely characterful work that is at once surreal, amusing, bizarre and occasionally tinged with a sinister edge. Fellow artists Jake and Dinos Chapman describe Reeves' art as being: "able to command our laughter as a purgative, to encourage the viewer to leak at both ends."

 

His inspirations are wide ranging, encompassing celebrity, nature, architecture and peculiar fantasy assemblages. The product of a constantly creative mind, Reeves says of his art; "I think putting your imagination on canvas or a television screen is the same thing. If you've got an idea you have got to have an outlet for it. So if it's painting, poetry, singing or acting it all comes out somewhere."

Vic has recently been focusing on the theme of wrestlers, and the show features a number of the vivid images of intertwined fleshy figures, with fauvist overtones. Why wrestlers? "I woke up one day and wanted to paint wrestlers" is Vic's answer. This series sits alongside his depictions of brutalist buildings and fantasy sceneries as well as surreal depictions such as 'Mel Gibson uses his great strength to shake water out of his carburetor in the terrible storm.' 

 

In addition to the original works in the show, a new limited edition print is being published exclusively for the exhibition in an edition of 25, and will be priced at £300.00 each.

 

New works by Vic Reeves runs at Grosvenor Gallery from the 8th - 22nd September 2017. Free admission

 

Opening Hours:

Monday - Friday 10am - 6pm

Saturdays (during the exhibition) 12pm-4pm

Sunday Closed