keith farquhar

10.05.2003-30.06.2003

Galleria Laura Pecci is proud to present a performance by Scottish artist Keith Farquhar, his first in Italy.

Farquhar appeared on the scene during the ‘90s with a series of abstract projects based on the reproduction of covers of pseudoscientific and futuristic books from the ‘60s. This was the beginning of Farquhar’s revisiting of utopias from the past that have since lost their value, and he has continued to develop this leitmotiv throughout the years.

His return to Edinburgh after a period in London marked an important new beginning for Farquhar, whose main art theme is the country of Scotland. He worked on a series of projects with Lucy McKenzie where he was both artist and curator, and with a group of artists named Charisma. Collaborations with other artists and solo shows are part of his activities.

His work interprets the experience of living in Scotland, and he wittily criticizes its system of values and the artistic taste of his fellow countrymen.

For his show entitled “A Pain in the V-Neck” (2002), Keith Farquhar exhibited creations made with Pringle sweaters, a symbol of Scottish identity and purveyors of traditional values and prestige.

Using different parts of the sweaters in a variety of colors and sewing them back into different shapes, Farquhar implicitly criticized Scottish formalism.

By modifying and reconstructing these garments, partly with the help of his mother, Farquhar makes an attempt at destabilizing the hierarchy in Scottish authority that is an intrinsical part of the fabrication of the sweaters. His is a kind of refusal of homogenization and an effort to recreate his own very personal line of hierarchy.

Fireworks, another powerful symbol of Scottish tradition that is particularly cherished by the elite society of Edinburgh, were the subject of Farquhar’s “Ball gone with firework motif” (2002). His work for this exhibition consisted in the embroidery of firework patterns onto coarse, deformed fabric. The desacralization of a staunch symbol of Scottish upper class is a way of making fun of the ostentation of prestige, superficiality, and generally the whole system of values belonging to the Scottish bourgeoisie.

At the same time however, Farquhar’s work contains strong elements of nostalgia: the work with his mother, the revival of certain values, the use of ancient symbols of traditionalism are all sentimental components of his artistic work.

While delving into the more political side of its identity, Farquhar is all the while telling us about his country and its traditions. If on one hand he is continuously attempting to subvert the system in a satirical way, on the other hand he conveys to us his desire that we share in his strong feelings and notions of typical “Scottishness”.

Born in 1969 in Edinburgh, where he lives and works.