Outside the gallery during the opening on 29 May, 6-8.30PM, Andy Holden will be staging a sale of Beerbottle Stalagmites (2007 - ). These are 'original multiples', or ‘fakes’, created by pouring excess plaster over beer bottles that have accumulated in the studio.
The works are the result of the artist imitating himself. They are hastily made with limited consideration, but in the process the resulting ‘souvenirs’ become arguably more authentic in their directness and unfiltered expression. The resulting forms appear as eroded religious figurines, calcified objects, geological artefacts, melted candles, cartoon figures, or ironic, phallic trophies.
The ongoing work gently questions art’s economic status, as this series of works are only sold outside of the gallery like tourist trinkets. A different value system is applied: as ‘fakes’ these become affordable artworks sold to those attending the exhibition. The ‘sale’ shifts the emphasis from the finished work to the studio process and from sculpture back to performance. The dissemination of the works into a modest domestic environment completes the work.
Thursday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm and by appointment
Royal Society of Sculptors, 108 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3RA
Free
Description
We are pleased to announce 'The Pleasure of Misuse' a group exhibition co-curated by Indira Dyussebayeva-Ziyabek and Maria Hinel and featuring Glen Baxter, Ingrid Berthon-Moine, Appau Junior Boakye–Yiadom, Abraham Cruzvillegas, CFGNY, Melanie Ebenhoch, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Gina Fischli, Graham Gussin, Holly Hendry, Ty Locke, Andy Holden, Jean-Luc Moulène, Amalia Pica, Aziza Shadenova and Richard Wentworth
Opening 29 May, 6-8.30 PM with performance by Andy Holden
29 May - 13 July 2025
Click here to read the full press release and for further details click here or scroll below.
“The great virtue of humour is that it is philosophising in action, a bright silver thread in the great duvet of existence” – Simon Critchley, philosopher
Comic possibilities of the everyday abound for the perceptive eye. This exhibition considers the comedy of mundane objects, cases of accidental or deliberate ‘misuse’ that can afford particularly liberating moments of laughter and joy. Stripped of their intended function, familiar objects become manifestly absurd, whilst questioning our own place in the order of things through their ineptitude.
The humour that springs from manipulating or referencing the mundane is paradoxically self-reflexive – appropriated objects suddenly appear anthropomorphic, our laughter becomes directed at ourselves and the intermittent absurdity of the human condition. Humble mass-produced things can also complete us, operating as extensions of our bodies or even stand-ins for the self, and there is, at times, something cathartic about the misuse and play involving these. Bringing together works by fifteen international artists, The Pleasure of Misuse explores the mechanics and psychology of humour in the everyday, considering its potential to heal and its power to disarm, creating the sense of complicity and the space for self-reflection amid these anxious times.
In part constructed as jokes by swapping words with objects, many works in the exhibition project the subversive quality of humour, its ability to render the status quo patently contingent, rather than absolute. Punching holes in the rational continuum of our daily lives, jokes and humorous objects are thus not unlike a philosophical enquiry – inviting us to step outside the situation and consider is from non-involved viewpoint. As Wittgenstein famously noted, “A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.”
About the Curators
Indira Dyussebayeva-Ziyabek and Maria Hinel are independent curators who met during art history studies at UCL in 2012. Between them, they have curated numerous exhibitions internationally. Indira is running a nomadic arts project, Ainalaiyn Space, that showcases contemporary art from an interdisciplinary perspective. She is also a cofounder of the non-profit organisation IADA, supporting contemporary Central Asian artists for more than ten years. Until 2023, Maria oversaw exhibitions and publications at a major commercial gallery in London, where she worked with many renowned contemporary artists, and has since organised exhibitions with a particular focus on humour, linguistics, and ecology.
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