Simon Bedwell

Some loosely connected coincidences…

In 1970 Brian Ferry loses his job teaching ceramics at a girls school, for staging impromptu record-listening sessions. In December 1971 Roxy Music play a try-out gig at the Friends of the Tate Gallery Xmas show in London. In December 2006 Simon Bedwell tells Chris Hammond that he would like his work to have the decadence of an early Roxy Music album cover. In January 2007 Bedwell shows The Furnishers at White Columns, New York. On returning to London he has a strong urge to learn ceramics. In March 2007 Bedwell shows his latest work, The Receivers, at MOT, London

Two slightly relevant quotes…

“Are you customised or ready-made? Heavy metal trick or treat? Only seventeen/On the level trash is neat/Caught the flavour want it all/Bet you know the trash I mean. Row your features into magazines/Slips are lower trash is in…” Trash (Brian Ferry 1979).

“Bedwell’s installation juxtaposes thrift store furniture and ornaments, an overhead-projected image, détourned posters, and monochromatic and abstract paintings (that often take the form of modular temporary screens.) In his works Bedwell often collides conflicting aesthetics and visual languages, which variously include soft-porn imagery, the popular gothic (often in the form of horror movie posters), institutional and bureaucratic architecture(s), advertising, modernist painting, and sardonic sloganeering. Seen together, Bedwell’s interventions establish a complex narrative that both engages with and confuses contemporary political and social mores. With a deft humor his work both conflates and disrupts issues of class, race, sexual politics and art.” White Columns press release, (M. Higgs 2007)

Some background information…

Simon Bedwell lives and works in London, UK and is represented by MOT International. Recent solo exhibitions and projects include: The Furnishers, White Columns, New York (2007), The Researchers (Byam Shaw School of Art gallery); Gents: A Melodrama with 2 Acts, Platform, London; The Adverts, Ritter/Zamet at Rental Gallery, Los Angeles; Simon Bedwell, Ritter/Zamet (2005). Recent group shows include Bring The War Home, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York; (2006); Post No Bills, White Columns, New York (2005); Becks Futures 5, ICA, London; Galleon and other stories, Saatchi Gallery, London (both 2004.) Bedwell was a founding member of the now defunct artists collective BANK, probably the most important contributor to the London art scene in the 1990s.

Simon Bedwell
The Receivers