Fortunately history also preserves the memory of the great fighters against history, that is, against the blind force of the real and thus puts itself right in the pillory, because it brings out directly as the essential historical natures those who worried so little about the “Thus it is,” in order instead to follow with a more cheerful pride a “So it should be.” - Friedrich Nietzsche. On the Use and Abuse of History for Life [Revised Edition, 2010]. Translated by Ian Johnston, Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, BC, Canada.
To coincide with the one-year anniversary of the death of legendary music producer Malcolm McLaren, Steven Bankhead mounts a rousing solo exhibition at Emma Gray HQ. The main gallery space is modeled after McLaren's Sex boutique with black and white wallpapered Blitzkrieg imagery lining the walls. Bankhead has created a series of finely executed oil paintings as a homage to McLaren based on a single image he discovered of a painting McLaren did while at Goldsmith's. These paintings, bright and colorful, full of vitality, are tucked inside the smaller gallery/office space where they live with a sculptural stump, carved with the same double-M symbol found on MaLaren's grave. Trying to create a monument to the genius of McLaren is surely a daunting task, but this exhibition offers up a wonderfully balanced sense of appreciation, honor and remembrance.
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