Jasper & Harry's Tate Modern

Jasper & Harry's Tate Modern

Postby jasperjoffe » Sat Jan 08, 2011 12:39 am

Press Release
Jasper & Harry’s Tate Modern
December 10 to January 22 at Unit 24
PV 6-9 pm December 9
Jasper Joffe and Harry Pye proudly present their version of Tate Modern, at Unit 24, the dry cleaner
that doubles as an art gallery. Just a few minutes walk from the original Tate Modern, Joffe And Pye
will show their versions of the Tate’s collection, as well as work by guest stars from the other Tate such
as Matt Calderwood and Turner Prize winner Mark Leckey.
Nicholas Serota's Tate Modern is the most visited modern art gallery in the world. Jasper and Harry
believe records are there to be broken. They are fans of the Tate. They are not interested in attacking
or mocking the other Tate, they just want to do their own version, like Bob Dylan tried to be Woody
Guthrie, or Picasso did Velazquez. Even if they don't fully succeed, whatever happens, the results
should be cheaper and better.
The building Joffe and Pye have selected is like Tate Modern in that it's very near London Bridge and
on more than one level. Unlike Tate Modern it doubles up as a dry cleaners. Because of size
limitations and time restrictions it won’t be possible for Joffe and Pye to recreate all 8,000 works from
the Tate collection. However a lot of that stuff is not top quality and by focussing on the cherry pickings
things could still be beautiful.
Jasper & Harry’s Tate Modern, open for Christmas, will feature artists’ talks, a book shop, an official
busker, and an occasional café. And unlike the old Tate Modern you can buy one of the masterpieces
and take it home with you.
Quotes
Harry Pye: "Times are hard. People are having their jobs taken away and funding is being cut. We
want to put on a show that will inspire, amuse and give you hope. It seems only reasonable that we
should set ourselves such an impossible task as recreating the Tate collection."
Jasper Joffe: “I like to multitask, so the dry cleaning element of our Tate Modern is really handy.”
Notes to Editors
The punk ethos of "do it yourself" is the backbone of most projects Jasper and Harry have undertaken
together and on their own since leaving college.
For five years from 1995 to 2000, Harry Pye was the editor of his own arts and entertainment
periodical: Harry Pye's Frank Magazine. Jasper Joffe meanwhile is the founder of
worldwidereview.com which has been providing alternative art reviews since 1999.
Harry was part of the Bart Wells Gang (along with Francis Upritchard, Brian Griffiths, Sam Basu, and
Luke Gottelier) who in 2001 turned a derelict 3 storey building in Hackney into an art gallery. Jasper
was the founder of the Free Art Fair which in 2009 featured 50 artists giving away £100,000 of work at
the Barbican, and received global media coverage.
Joffe and Pye are both esteemed British artists. Jasper's work has won praise from Charles Saatchi
who said: "When Joffe hits it right he really is pretty good ". Tate Patron Bob & Roberta Smith said
“Harry Pye is a force for good.”Harry won the Daily Mirror award for his painting of Tony Blair in a competition judged by Gilbert &
George. Pye has been described in The Guardian as "The master of lo -fi British art"
jasperjoffe
Site Admin
 
Posts: 768
Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2010 2:53 pm

Re: Jasper & Harry's Tate Modern

Postby Mortimer » Sun Jan 09, 2011 11:28 am

On the blog it says that Mark Leckey will be giving a talk at 2pm. Will there be a closing party after that? Does the gallery still close at 5pm even though it's the last day?
Mortimer
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2011 11:25 am


Return to Art press releases

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 23 guests

cron