THE
GEORGIE PROJECT
2012
Press
Release
On 4th
December 2012 The Georgie Project will hold its inaugural event at Winsor and
Newton’s Notting Hill headquarters, The Griffin Gallery. It is an impressive new contemporary art
space that champions emerging artists, hosting Matt Roberts’ Salon Art Prize
2012 two days after our show. This makes
it the perfect venue for such a night.
There will be an art auction run by Sotheby’s, and a performance by
Richard Dyer, poet, artist and highly acclaimed art critic, together with live
music by young singer songwriter Hoon Young Kim and DJ Rusty Egan, longtime
collaborator with Midge Ure.
International Wine Challenge merchant of the year, Lea and Sandeman, are
sponsoring the event with homemade Italian delicacies courtesy of boutique
company, Olive.
The project was inspired
by artist, Natasha Morland’s, desire to celebrate her sister, Georgia Morland,
whose sunny disposition lost out in the battle with bipolar disorder and drug
and alcohol dependencies resulting in suicide in 2004. The project also aims to
ask questions about links between creative minds and mental illness. Artist Stuart Semple set up the Creative
Therapies Fund at Mind, the largest mental health charity in the UK and the one
chosen by Stephen Fry to represent as president. This is where funds raised by the event will
be allocated. The question over whether
an artistic temperament makes a person more vulnerable to mental illness is not
easily answered without further research.
However it has been proven that therapy for those who struggle, using
art and drama, is often the most effective.
The project takes the
following format: 27 artworks with a
storyline attached, have been made by 27 artists, in a similar way to the
parlour games of Consequences and Exquisite Corpse, whereby each artist has
written part of a story together with producing a related image, before
selecting another artist they know to respond to their work with a new image
and further text. The result is a
fantastical, absurd sequence of works and accompanying story. The number of artists was chosen because,
Georgia, alongside numerous creative such as Jimi Hendrix, Jean Michel Basquiat
and Janis Joplin died at 27 years old.
This is the age one is anecdotally most likely to die in a self
destructive way. The collaborative
aspect of the project hints in a simple way at the possible benefit to artists
working together as opposed to struggling in isolation. An accompanying book to the show also
continues this theme in the questions answered by a number of the artists in
regards to their personal views on links between creative minds and mental
illness. A preface has been written by
Stuart Semple, and introduction by Natasha Morland, alongside images of all the
artworks and storyline. All profits raised
by book sales will also go to Mind.
Many of the participating
artists attended the Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths, the Slade and City and
Guild of London Art School. Their
careers span from new graduates such as rising star, George Little, part of
this year’s Liverpool Biennale and Bloomberg New Contemporaries, to Annabel
Emson whose work is in the Saatchi collection and Patrick Hughes, a household
name, whose paintings are found in major collections around the world and is
the inventor of the optical illusion painting, “reverspective”.
A few words from
Natasha Morland on the event:
“I started the project chiefly because I felt
compelled to create something that would embody the spirit of my sister,
Georgie, who took her life in 2004 at 27 years old, in a celebratory way.
The images and text created for the show seem to embody both extremes of
her strong character, the dark and the light. December was Georgie’s
birthday and is also a month of extremes. Those of us lucky enough to
have friends, family, cause for joy, and a bit of money in our pockets, have just
reason to don our party hats and crack open the bubbly. However the
festive season also highlights the lack that so many people have, often causing
those who are looking over the precipice to jump. So, please do spare a
thought for all the people less fortunate than us and equally those amongst us
who are forced to smile at this time of year but are silently suffering inside.
If you are unable to come, then do lend your support by buying a book, an
artwork, or giving something to Mind. “
Natasha Morland (born
1973) received her BA from City and Guilds of London Art School in 2007 with
first class honours. Since then she has exhibited in London at Transition
Gallery, SPACE for its 40th Anniversary show, the RCA, and The Soane Museum
amongst others. Her work is featured in the book, "Garden Painters: 21
Contemporary Artists" by Ariel Luke, published by A&C Black 2008. She
received a Skinners' Company Phillip Connard Travel Award in 2005 and has been
shortlisted for the Celeste Painting prize in 2010. Morland
has accepted a residency with Matt Roberts
Arts’ ALAS gallery, London in 2013.
For more information and
images please contact:
Jessica Bannister
Or see
