Exhibitions2018The Revelation of the Head

The subject of this exhibition at Messums Wiltshire was the central focus of our lives, the hub of all our senses: the head. The earliest work in the exhibition was an enigmatically smiling portrait of an elite government official from ancient Egypt carved out of diorite marble more than 2,500 years ago. The exhibition also featured works by contemporary artists who explored notions of fragmented identity through the destruction of a sculpted head.

Gavin Turk, Glynn Williams and Laurence Edwards, had all created heads that are spliced, smashed and rebuilt as metaphors for the human struggle including Turk’s Ragut Kirn (2010). The piece was one of a series of 72 self-portrait heads in clay and then invited members of the public to come and distort them with the result that the sculpture exhibited here was one of many that had a hole gouged out where facial features should be.

PARTICIPATING GALLERIES: Ariadne Galleries Bowman Sculpture Ben Brown Fine Arts Daniel Katz Gallery Marlborough Fine Art Pace Gallery Pangolin London Tomasso Brothers Fine Art Rupert Wace Ancient Art

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: Ralph Brown Peter Burke Antonio Canova Ellen Christiansen Keith Coventry John Davies Laurence Edwards Abigail Fallis Elisabeth Frink Kevin Francis Gray Sean Henry Eric Kennington RA David Mach Christy Symington Brian Taylor Nuria Torres Gavin Turk Glynn Williams Jonathan Yeo Emily Young