Exhibition Run:  6 September 2002 - Sunday 20 October 2002

Private View: Thursday 5 September 2002, 7:00PM - 9:00PM

Curated by Polly Staple

The Blacks
By Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan, 2002
Opening of the exhibition at Cubitt: Thursday 5 September 7- 9pm

‘The Blacks’, 2002 is a new sculptural work by Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan commissioned by Cubitt. ‘The Blacks’ is both the title of the work and the work itself: a title, a label, a reading, a social indicator, a presentation, a construction… a description of the letters themselves and a theatrical design… an absurdly flamboyant non-sculpture sculpture. The title says here are the Blacks – and then here they are. Alongside ‘The Blacks’, a short play ‘The Slapstick Mystics with Sticks’, will be available in the gallery to take away. This work draws on the tradition of the irreverent allegorical folk play as a device to make contemporary conceptual art.

An artist talk to coinside with this exhibition took place on the 12th October 2002 at 4pm.

Supported by The Henry Moore Foundation, The Hope Scott Trust and London Arts

JEZ: (from THE CHORUS) You can hear the jingle jangle of the bells
(JEZ jangles his bells) As he walks into town

I-EYE:In walks I,
I,
I-Eye.

THE CHORUS: Aye, but who is I-Eye?

I-EYE: Aye, who is I-Eye?
Who is I?
I am I,
I am I-Eye
Aye, I am.

(THE MIRROR steps forward, I-EYE reflects.)

I-EYE: But who am I?
I, I-Eye?

Extract from ‘The Slapstick Mystics with Sticks’ 2001
by Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan

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The Blacks
By Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan, 2002
Commissioned by Polly Staple, Curator at Cubitt, London, 2001-2003

The Slapstick Mystics With Sticks
By Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan, 2001
Designed with Robert Johnston of Pause ButtonEdit
Published by Cubitt in conjunction with the exhibition The Blacks, 2002

Supported by The Henry Moore Foundation; The Hope Scott Trust and London Arts

Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan – Biography
Joanne Tatham (born 1971) and Tom O’Sullivan (born 1967) both live in Glasgow and have worked collaboratively since 1995. Recent projects include “HK”, a solo commission for Tramway in Glasgow (2001); “My Head is on Fire but my Heart is Full of Love” at Charlottenborg Udstillingsbygning in Copenhagen, curated by The Modern Institute (May 2002) and “The Best Book About Pessimism I Ever Read” an exhibition curated by Lucy Mackenzie for Kunstverein Braunschweig in Germany (June 2002).