John Cake & Darren Neave's sculptures and photographs restage icons of contemporary art in Lego.
The sculptural pieces transpose key works of art, by the likes of Hirst, Beuys and Koons, to the microcosmic scale of the Lego world, forming miniature, fetishistic relics that subvert the grand gestures of these artists. Their large photographs take these works and artists and re-present them as tableaux vivants, confronting the viewer with the once tiny Lego world on a unsettling human scale.
The central theme to their work is an attempt to understand the significance of contemporary art and the consumerist culture in which it is produced. They have always seen a poignancy in Lego as a medium to explore this relationship, and especially the idea of the artist as a brand-name.
The new phase in Cake & Neave's work reconsiders these same icons of modern art as now being over-burdened with meaning, assimilated into the idea of the homogenised progression of Art History. Aiming to monumentalise these works on a small scale, they drain the vitality and anthropomorphic nature of their original Lego sculptures by reinterpreting them in a monochromatic black. Now invested with new levels of signification, the pieces are considered more in sculptural terms and the familiar connotations of the material diminished. The new photographs again shift up in scale, immersing the viewer in scenes that are the antithesis of their previous photographic work, monochrome mausoleums for cultural monuments, devoid of life.
XTE J1550−564
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CV/Resumé
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2009
‘Two of you, among you, with you’ 20-21 Arts Centre, Scunthorpe
‘Art Crazy Nation’ Auckland Festival, New Zealand
‘Kippen...Schlumpf Büro’ Galerie Markus Winter, Berlin
2008
‘Kippen...Schlumpf Büro’ Another Roadside Attraction Gallery, London
‘Some Little Artists’ Hive Gallery, Elsecar, Yorkshire
‘SmurfNet’ Fishmarket Gallery, Northampton
‘Two of you, among you, with you’ My Life in Art/TAG Fine Arts, London
2006
‘Bumper Bonanza’ Hedspace Gallery, Brighton
‘Big Art’ Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
‘Art Crazy Nation’ Kulczyk Foundation, Poznan
2005
‘Contemporary Artists play Pictionary’ Agency Contemporary, London
‘Art Craziest Nation’ Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
‘Lick Your Selves’ Bloc, Sheffield
2004
‘Crazius Craftus Creativus’ The Reliance Gallery, London
‘Taking a line for a drive’ Comme Ca Gallery, Manchester
‘Art Crazy Nation’ Comme Ca NYC, New York
2003
‘Art Crazy Nation’ Catto Contemporary, London
2001
‘This is Modern Art’ Cornerhouse, Manchester
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011
‘We were young and immortal’ Good Friday, Paris
‘Pop! Pop!’ Collectors Contemporary, Singapore
‘11:11’ East Gallery, London
2010
‘Unrealised Potential’ Cornerhouse, Manchester
2009
‘Group show’ Collectors Contemporary, Singapore
‘Parcours St Germain’ Paris
‘English Lounge’ Tang Contemporary, Beijing
2008
‘And the dish ran away with the spoon’ Collectors Contemporary, Singapore
‘Tatton Park Biennial’ Tatton Park, Cheshire. Curated by Danielle Arnaud
‘Let’go’ Monster Truck, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
2007
‘Deptford X’ Various venues in Deptford, London
‘L’ego’ Space Gallery, Bratislava. Curated by Juarj Carny
‘Jeux de Mains, jeux de vilains’ Good Friday Gallery. Curated by Christophe Veys
2006
‘post_modellismus’ Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna and Kunsthall Bergen
Collections
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
SPAC, Brussels
Publications
‘The Little Artists Art Crazy Nation’ Catalogue Published by Kulczyk Foundation. Essays by Piotr Bernatowicz and Urszula Szulakowska. ISBN 83-923177-3-4
‘John Cake & Darren Neave ‘The Little Artists’ Works 1995-2010’ Published by Group Of. ISBN 978-0-9566651-0-2
‘Unearthed’ by Douglass Bailey, Andrew Cochrane and Jean Zambelli. ISBN 978-0-9545921-2-7
‘English Lounge’ Catalogue Published by Tang Contemporary, Beijing.
‘Tatton Park Biennial 2008’ Catalogue Published by Tatton Park. ISBN 978-0-9558721-1-2
‘post_modellismus’ Catalogue Published by Krinzinger Projekte. ISBN 3-200-00541-6
Articles
‘Miniature Masterpieces’ Annie Bowles, Nude Magazine August 2007
‘De l’art en briques’ Dorothee Tramoni, Milk March 2007
‘Lego cenniejsze niz braz’ Eliza Bernatowicz, ArtEon April 2006
‘Little Artists create...’ Sam Jones, The Guardian August 2005
‘Its a small (Art) world after all’ Michelle Kung, ArtNews January 2004
‘Build-your-own Brit Art’ Naomi West, Telegraph 22 November 2003
Commissions
‘Big Art’ Concept for childrens’ art gallery and activity book, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
‘High ArtLite’ Julian Stallabrass. Images for cover for 2nd edition, Verso
‘A day in the life of Mother’ for Mother Agency, Advertising Agency of the Year, Creative Review Magazine, June 2003
Lecturing
Visiting lecturers to: Goldsmith’s College, Leeds College of Art & Design and University of the Arts, London
