What happened to Joe Bloggs?
A solo presentation by Lisa Penny at lm6a Project Room
It's the second summer of Love and I'm stood in a field, god knows where, with a lot of Happy Faces.
There's a warm breeze and a gang of us have just bundled out of a four seater from Leeds.
You're twisting my melon man. I kid you not.
Some lads lean against the wall, swigging bottled water, wearing loose fitting Joe Bloggs jeans; fisherman
hats and sweatshirts - Large and Baggy.
AND matching…Purple on Purple, Green on Green, Red on Red. Heads nodding.
I’m now stood in a huge dilapidated building, a guy tells me its used for a Gymkhana - speed, pattern,
equestrian events. I smile. HA, that’s us I SHOUT.
There's a guy dancing topless on a huge sound system, with a massive hard on .
HE’S WELL GONE. The crowd cheer him. He’s on repeat. So am I, on my Lucky Strikes.
I’m dizzy with excitement and something else…
The sun is rising …Hundreds of us now, swaying with our arms up in the air - I know I can count on you.
Sweatshirts tied around the hips, ‘curtains’ flat against the face, I don't want it to stop. Remix after
Remix…..Layer on Layer….Higher and HIGHER.
Joe Bloggs with your baggy casuals you made your millions and my youth...Where are you now?
Lisa Penny 2017
Penny continues to explore through expanded painting the poetics and language of sartorial references of
80’s and 90’s. Beyond the implied humour in Penny’s work there exists a greater awareness of the
relative cultural value of objects, their physical and conceptual properties and how these then affect, or
are affected by, the context of painting. There is a genuine attempt to disrupt conventional norms and
explore beyond the very parameters that define and perhaps limit our ideas of what painting can be.
Penny wants to go further by offering up new configurations in which painting can be revealed. However,
the act of dismantling a canvas and reconfiguring it often comes close to assemblage or wall based
sculpture. When does painting cease to exist and become something else? Painting is no longer simply
synonymous with a flat picture plane hung on a wall or tied to a specific medium. It has moved away from
a being a clearly defined practice.