Derek Boshier - ‘It’s Only When the Tide Goes Out… Selected works and Ephemera 1976-2018’
This was a solo show I curated of the seminal British Pop Artist, Derek Boshier, at MOSTYN, Llandudno (Mar 16 - Jun 20, 2019) which ran alongside, and in conversation with, my own exhibition ‘The Last Judgement’.
I had the pleasure of being introduced to Derek through our mutual friend, Jonathan Griffin. On our first meeting, Derek became very animated when I told him I lived in Cardiff, as he used to have a house in mid-Wales in the 1970s. This was the catalyst for an ongoing conversation and the developing of this double-header project that became part of MOSTYN’s ‘In Conversation’ series, which brings together two solo exhibitions and presents the dialogue, collaboration or similarity in exploring themes that can occur between artists.
Quite rightly, the world has seen hundreds of Derek Boshier exhibitions and I wanted to try and do something different for him - to draw out threads that connect our practices, but that also potentially drew on bodies of Derek’s vast practice that hadn’t been seen so much.
The exhibition ultimately included a range of drawings, paintings, prints and videos, along with lesser known photographic and sculptural works, and ephemera from the Derek's personal collection. Through this broad collection I was attempting to show something of how Derek’s creativity extends way beyond his studio or a gallery space. This led to the inclusion of things like Derek’s personal video collection with hand-drawn spines and a collection of decorated envelopes generously loaned by long-term correspondents of Derek’s.
We were also able to include a wonderful selection of photographs from Derek’s personal archive of his time living in Llangadfan in the 1970s; a fantastic document of rural Welsh life through the eyes of one of Britain’s leading Pop Artists.
The show also got a few nice bits of press. There was great review in June’s Art Monthly (which you’ll either need a subscription to read or follow this link to a tweet of it) and another by the wonderful Jon Gower in Nation. There were also two pieces on Wales Arts Review - one a review, the other the transcript of an interview I did with Derek about how he came to live in Wales back in the 70s. Last, but by no means least, I did a short QnA for the Daily Post (you can link to a tweet of it here).