Charles Avery
Grace Beaumont
‘The Islanders’ at Leeds College of Art
Earlier this year Leeds College of Art was excited to welcome Charles Avery to discuss his ambitious project ‘The Islanders’ before an audience of fans and students, eager to get inside the head of the creator of such an intriguing body of work.
The continual project began in 2004 and involves an impressive compilation of drawings, sculpture, text and installation which together depict a fictional island invented by the artist. Previous exhibitions have revealed single aspects of ‘The Island’ only, but more recent group shows such as ‘Walking in My Mind’ at The Hayward and ‘Altermodern’ at Tate Britain have highlighted Avery’s concept as a whole, bringing him into the spotlight. Along with these and his solo show at Parasol Unit, in October 2008, it has certainly been an eventful year for Charles Avery, so what better time for him to be visiting the college.
Avery was born on the Scottish Isle of Mull and fuelled by a dedicated interest in philosophy ‘The Island’ was created as a vehicle for thinking and “a space to put ideas”. He explains how the project originated with his own story of ‘The Hunter’, the central character who comes to ‘The Island’ with the hope of conquering it, but discovers all the other beings that inhabit it. This tale infers the existence of ‘The Island,’ and the audience at the talk listen captivated as they are told an account of ‘The Hunter’s’ arrival on
‘The Island.’ Avery’s story telling is compelling and his faultless attention to detail is entirely convincing.
During the talk we were able to realise the extent of the artists imagination; he is able to thoroughly describe even minute aspects of ‘The Island,’ from the pickled eggs that sit in a jar in philosopher’s hang-out ‘McGreggors’s bar’, to the rare and precious stone
mice that can be found and sold, though fakes are often found on sale at the market. We are shown a slide of a drawing of the market place, a bustling scene of bizarre people and creatures, as detailed and meticulous as the stories we have been hearing.
According to Avery the market place itself adds vitality to the project; it is the perfect setting for the residents of ‘The Island’ to go about their daily business. In this particular drawing a mob is claiming to have caught the mythical ‘Noumenon’, a creature named
after Immanuel Kant’s concept of the unknowable, while pyramid shaped mountains loom in the background.
We are told further stories about ‘The Islands’ inhabitants, particularly the fantastical gods such as the beautiful sisters Theodora and Dorothea, who delight in playing tricks on unsuspecting tourists, and lesser being ‘Mr. Impossible’, a short duck-billed individual who considers himself one of the gods and likes to think of the sisters as his conquests.
An issue that is raised through out the talk by the artist himself is the idea that ‘The Island’ is concerned with escapism. The question that many were probably considering is asked toward the end of the discussion, whether it is in fact Charles Avery’s intention to escape reality through the invention of this alternative world.
“Sometimes it is a curse”, he explains when questioned about this possibility, and admits he has considered what it may be like to be an artist with a different approach and methods. He is keen to make the point that for him ‘The Island’ is not by any means an alternative reality, it is simply fiction. As well as this he claims there is no attempt to be strange or bizarre, as he has been accused.
In the future, once the project is complete it is Avery’s aim for his work to be assembled as a series of large books, not unlike encyclopaedias, which will follow his first book ‘The Islanders: An Introduction.’ This will be a prosperous end to the project which is
intended by the artist to continue for six more years, totalling at ten years. It is difficult to foresee how such an extensive and determined venture could ever truly be complete, but thrilling to consider the future undertakings of an incredibly significant artist.
Untitled - Herd of Alephs (2008)
Charles Avery
Untitled - Feeding the Gulls (2007)
Charles Avery
