Keith Piper (b. 1960) returns to Wolverhampton Art Gallery with a major exhibition that brings together key works from across the first three decades of his career focusing on the 1980s and 90s and ending with a video from 2007.
Piper, a core player in the Black Art Movement and British contemporary art, first exhibited at the Gallery in 1981 in the ground-breaking exhibition Black Art an’ Done. This new solo show Keith Piper: Body Politics. Work from 1982 – 2007 demonstrates the shift in his practice from painting, print and collage towards new media.
The exhibition taking place across three gallery rooms, will run from Thursday, October 10, to Sunday, December 1, and is curated chronologically, exploring recurrent interests in Piper’s work, related to the ‘black body’, racial, gender and class identity while also interlocked with the politics of the moment. The exhibition showcases the artist’s various narrative strategies, including still and moving image, as well as written and spoken words.
The first room will exhibit powerful, large-scale, two-dimensional works featuring hand written texts, such as The Black Assassin Saints (1982)and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1984). The second room will contain immersive, time-based work, including a video installation, sound and slideshow, made using early home computing systems, demonstrating Piper’s ongoing interest in sampling, cut-and-paste aesthetic and visual montage.
The final room will feature digital work made by using more advanced technologies including The Nation’s Finest (1990), a piece commissioned by Manchester Olympic Video Festival and The Perfect City (2007), which looks at urban space, history, mythology and the body.
Councillor Harman Banger, City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for City Economy, said: “Keith Piper has had a long-standing career and has been a key player in the Black Art Movement and contemporary art.
I am pleased to see that he and his artwork will be returning to Wolverhampton to share his interest in history, the movement of people, the political angle, and introducing visitors to new technologies and how stories can be told through different art forms.
The exhibition gives visitors the chance to immerse themselves in Keith Piper’s thought-provoking work.”
Born in Malta to Caribbean parents, Piper spent his childhood in Birmingham and now lives and works in London. With a career spanning almost 40 years, he has exhibited both in the UK and internationally. Piper was one of the founding members of the BLK Art Group, an association of black British art students from the Midlands that included Eddie Chambers, Donald Rodney, Claudette Johnson and Marlene Smith. The group went on to organise the self-proclaimed First National Black Art Convention at Wolverhampton Polytechnic in 1981, often cited as one of the key foundational moments in the development of the British Black Art Movement of the 1980s. In September 2002 Keith also received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Arts form the University of Wolverhampton.
The free Keith Piper exhibition ties in with Black History Month in October and can be seen during gallery opening hours, Monday to Saturday (10.30am to 4.30pm) and Sunday (11am to 4pm).
On Wednesday, October 9 the gallery will be hosting a private view from 5pm where visitors can be the first to see the exhibition and enjoy an exhibition talk and tour with the artist. Anyone interested should RSVP by emailing art.gallery@wolverhampton.gov.uk or calling 01902 552055.
Associated events:
Free Seminar
Race, Activism and Art of the Midlands: Exploring the interconnections between place, community and black art
Saturday 19th October 2019
12.30 – 4.30pm
Places are free, but booking is essential via Eventbrite: https://race_activism_and_art.eventbrite.co.uk
This event featuring prominent speakers will discuss the importance of the Midlands to the British Black Art Movement, exploring some of the interconnections between the artists, activism and community politics and think about its relevance in the present.
