Jeremy Deller, Ask The Animals and they will Teach You, mixed media, 2021
Ask The Animals and They Will Teach You was installed in Knokke-Heist, on the Belgian coast, on the occasion of the Beaufort 21 contemporary art triennial.
This work, which is both a sculpture and a children play, invites children to slide on the tongue of a large chameleon. Placed in the centre of the Van Bunnenplein square, the animal stands on an engraved base on which a description of the species can be read. True to his sense of misappropriation, Jeremy Deller uses the codes of the monument to make it a playful object. Instead of paying tribute to a historical figure, he highlights one of the oldest creatures on the planet, threatened by global warming.
” “There’s something magical about chameleons,” says Deller, “they can do things we can only dream of and are the most beautiful creatures on the planet. We have to worship them.” “
Ask the Animals, and They Will Teach You, 2021. Polyester et technique mixte / Polyester and mixed media,, éd. 2/3, Hangar Y, Meudon/FR, 2024
“TO ADORE THE CHAMELEON
The chameleon is an old reptile species, living on Earth for about 100 million years.
Many chameleons can change color to express their state of mind or to communicate.
Chameleons have a 360° field of vision and thanks to their ballistic tongue, they can catch the heaviest preys with a speed of 0 to 95 kilometers in 1/100th of a second.”
—Jeremy Deller.
Ask the Animals, and They Will Teach You embodies a reflection on scientific and popular cultures with a fun and educational approach, typical of Jeremy Deller’s work. The artiste conceives this piece as a children’s play structure where they are invited to glide on the tongue-like slide of the chameleon. Ecological issues are discreetly underlying the monument which invites us to consider the collective remembrance of endangered species on the model of historical figures. In the vicinity of Hangar Y, the enlarged animal regains its place amidst the forest, but this time, as an interactive artwork.
The first version of Ask The Animals and They Will TeachYou was installed in the centre of the Van Bunnenplein square, in Knokke-Heist, on the Belgian coast, on the occasion of the Beaufort 21 contemporary art triennial.
Jeremy Deller, The lovers, 2021, polyuréthane, fibre de verre, acier, polyester, peinture, balançoire. H 300cm.
In 2021, Kortrijk’s second contemporary art triennial invites artists to interpret the concept of paradise.
In the heart of Messeyne Park, a romantic garden designed in the 19th century, Jeremy Deller revisits one of the most famous scenes from the Bible, which has become an archetype in the collective Western imagination. His work is based in particular on a painting of Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach (1526), currently on display at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
The imposing three-meter-high pair of white figures is the structure of a swing set available to the public. The artist offers a contemporary, funny, and functional version of this creation myth. He hijacks both the content of religious iconography and the solemnity usually associated with monuments in the public space.
Jeremy Deller, Father and Son, November 6th, 2021, time-based sculptural installation, wax, wood, wick, flame, life-size, commissioned by ACCA, Saint Saviour’s Church of Exiles, Collingwood, Melbourne/AU.
Father and Son is a time-based installation by Jeremy Deller, commissioned by the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA). On November 6, 2021, a public vigil staged the 12-hour burning of the waxwork. The event was filmed and broadcast in real-time on the ACCA website. A miniature version of the candle sculpture was also on sale.
Father and Son illustrates the social dimension of Jeremy Deller’s artistic approach. The work is presented as an archetypal representation of the father figure accompanied by his male offspring. Yet the two men bear an uncanny resemblance to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, the heads of a long line of Australian media magnates. The artist tackles the question of inheritance and filiation and invites us to reflect on power dynamics through a generational and institutional prism.
The Bible is the main reference for the British artist, who specifically mentions verse 5:19 of the Gospel according to Saint John: “What the Father does, the Son does likewise”. The choice of venue – a desacralized church in Melbourne – underlines the subversive nature of Jeremy Deller’s thinking, for whom museums and churches are singular, interchangeable spaces where the boundaries between sacred and profane are blurred. A setting that inevitably refers to the patriarchal dynamics at work not only in the Christian Church but also in other spheres of our society: politics, the media, the workplace…
The sculptural design of Father and Son reveals the influence of Spanish Baroque sculpture. A heritage that he adapts to ancient and contemporary codes, from the family portrait to the corporate picture, often used as a means of legitimization in the context of an entrepreneurial dynasty. This work, which burns and self-destructs, can be seen as a kind of politically engaged vanitas or memento mori.
Installation view, Whitney Bedford, solo show, 2004
Installation view, Whitney Bedford, solo show, 2004
Installation view, Whitney Bedford, solo show, 2004
Installation view, Whitney Bedford, solo show, 2004
Installation view, Whitney Bedford, solo show, 2004
Installation view, Whitney Bedford, solo show, 2004
Sacrilege, 2012, inflatable plastic structure, 30m diameter (6 elements), 12 fans, 1 generator, single edition. Presented on the occasion of the FIAC 2012, Paris/FR.
Jeremy Deller developed Sacrilege as a reproduction of the famous megalithic site, Stonehenge, located in the United-Kingdom. He chooses a subversive perspective, challenging the sacrality and the accessibility of religious, political and identity emblems. With this inflatable and playful version in contrast to the rigidity of the original stone, he confronts History and the idea of heritage, sacrificing the monument symbolically. A sacrifice allowing the exaltation of a mass creative potential, offering a collective artistic experience.
This sculpture is a participative artwork, accessible to all, reviving the landmark listed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage selection. A renewed Stonehenge reconnecting with its first purpose, offering a space to share and build a community. Jeremy Deller reminds us the importance of investing spaces to give them new meanings and uses. Sacrilege was once displayed on the Invalides’ lawn, in Paris, during the FIAC 2012. The same year, the installation gave birth to an independent photographic series, titled “English Magic”.
English magic series, 2012, photographs, lambda prints laminated on dibond, 8-pieces polyptych, 40×50 each.
Those few photographs immortalize the pirouettes of young gymnasts within the inflatable megalithic temple. Through playfulness, the idea is to bring together two cultures, separated by several centuries.
