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Tony Blair, 'Avocado I', 2007
Photographic print, edition of 30, 10" x 12"
Tony Blair, 'Avocado II', 2007
Photographic print, edition of 30, 10" x 12"
Tony Blair, 'Scurrying', 2007
Porcelain, 11cm x 11cm
Tony Blair is a self-professed 'rat and a conceptual artist'. In an attempt to understand something about this statement, I clicked through to his blog, 'The Artist Rat Blog.' A prolific gathering of written updates and images of life as a rat, I still didn't really have a clue who Tony Blair was, or why he called himself Tony Blair and claimed to be a rat (despite the obviously pejorative sentiment inherent in fulfilling both these claims simultaneously). I decided to keep pondering that thought and clicked back to have a look at Blair's work.
Blair claims to work with foliage, found objects, electric cables and clay. The images I saw were mostly photographs. 'Avocado I' (2007) and 'Avocado II' (2007) are images of the creamy fruit chewed up and scraped out, with even the skin gnawed through. They're odd images, but nicely composed. Other images include a detail of a blanket and a square of porcelain called 'Scurrying' (2007). Beginning to understand that all of these objects were 'made' by a rat, I surmised that the conceptual project must be 'the rat'. Whether this project is funny, tedious, a pointed critique on contemporary art, a political statement, a hoax or something else entirely, I'm still not sure, but I did appreciate being caught unawares.
To view more of his work, on Saatchi Online click here or on the artist blog, click here
Charlotte Bonham-Carter
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Charlotte Bonham-Carter is an author, art critic and a curator. Formerly assistant curator at Barbican Art Gallery, she is now assistant curator at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. She is a regular contributor to Flash Art and recently co-authored (with David Hodge) 'The Contemporary Art Book' (Carlton, 2009).
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| Published on 21-12-2009 |
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Hello Charlotte
I only came across your article in Saatchi online TV and magazine 21.12.09. two days ago. I’m pleased that Tony was selected and realize now how there may have been some confusion. Should you be interested, please find a link attached to his page on my website.
http://www.helenaseget.com/project_tony.htm
Sadly he passed away in March of ’08, but his memory lives on…
An exhibition of Tony Blair artist rat memorabilia will be taking part in the Tyne and Wear Museums ‘The Late Shows’, 14-15 May at 36 Lime Street Gallery.
Should you be interested in visiting please do let me know.
Best wishes
Helena
Helena Seget | |
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