One of the great things about being a student at LCA is the scope of internationally recognized artists who visit to give lectures to discuss their practices. For me, it is always fascinating to hear any other artist talk about their work, as it gives me more confident for talking about my own studio pieces. I was previously unaware of Dant’s work, however the enthusiasm from the tutors implied his lecture was not one to be missed.
Taking a seat in the lecture theatre, Dant walked in wearing a fantastic pair of red velvet trousers and after a brief introduction from Sarah Taylor, he began. Dant opened explaining that his earlier work would be shown through the use of a slide projector which instantly made me smile, having a love for old style projection equipment myself.
When giving a talk to art students I always feel it is important that the artist tries to give a brief history of when they first left university or college. Enabling the students to understand that becoming an established artist doesn’t happen overnight. Dant started the slide show with the creation of his wonderful character Donald Parsnip, who was brought to life in 1995 whilst Dant worked for a bus company. Donald Parsnip was writer of the newspaper Dant would hand out every day on the bus to the public. This, as Dant called it ‘art on the hoof’ enabled him to build a body of work and later Donald Parsnip was asked to write a column for the Sunday Telegraph.
Dant having 20 years of art work, under the practices of fine art, printmaking and graphics, it soon became clear the extent to which this artist was renowned for his contributions to the art world. He spoke with such vigour and delight about his own work that it would be quite accessible for me to write an extensive piece on his practice from this talk alone.
As the talk progressed there were some definite themes which came through within Dant’s practice. One of the key concepts was the idea of the artist occupying the public space. This came through in the Academy for the Improvement of the French Language. A project which he asked 40 French students to listen in public spaces for words which sounded French but that did not actually exist. These then became the bases for a published dictionary, which would be incorporated into the everyday used language.
Later work consisted of work whereby he and other artists would investigate classical paintings looking for subliminal pictures within the art works. The group was called Bureau for the Investigation of the Subliminal Image. However the pieces which really stood out for me were the fantastically intricate drawings of personal maps of Shoreditch. As well as the drawings round the fall of the London stock exchange. What was great about these pieces was their underlying black humour and the way that even whilst Dant was discussing the pieces he was laughing with the audience. Often we forget that art can have a humorous edge to it. The collection of maps he had drawn reflected extremely personal places to him and how those places had changed over the years. A phrase which he said and has stuck with was ‘if you can’t make work from outside your door, you can’t call yourself an artist’. Reminding me, as an artist that work should be personal to you.
For a Friday afternoon I couldn’t help but feel that Dant’s lecture not only lifted my spirits but all audiences mood as well. This is just a brief insight into the wonderful body of work that Dant discussed as his practice is so extensive. However a lovely finishing touch to the lecture was the gift of a booklet of Dant’s drawings, and as he said a prize for those who made it through his talk. For anyone who hasn’t seen Dant’s work, I would strongly suggest looking him up, for some technically brilliant drawings but also for art which will make you smile.
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