Friday 5 February 2010

Porporpeius at The Museum of Small Things

Opening from the 5th February until the 7th March, 'The Museum of Small Things' is being held at Ultralounge inside Selfridges, London, and it is one hell of a show. Here is the skinny on the exhibition.

The Museum of Small Things will inspire visitors to open wide their eyes and to slowly look, and then look again, at the world they inhabit. M.O.S.T. will house priceless gems too subtle to compete with the show-stopping technology of the modern world. Modest masterpieces under-valued in cultures where biggest is better and mega, if achievable, is best, will be centre-stage. The variety on display in this museum will dynamically demonstrate how the lines between all forms of visual expression have become blurred. Exhibits range across images, objects, moving pictures, ideas, detritus and treasures.

I was asked to design a Deity mask that would be built for the exhibition by the extremely talented Felix Wentworth. Here is Porporpeius himself, the drug addled half-brother of Neptune, god of water and air, bodiless and pathetic!
Here is the legend of Porporpeius.

One of the little-known God Deitys of water and air is Porporpeius, who you may remember from his booming music career during the Blues revival of the 1960s. Heavy drug use and a failed suicide attempt during the late 1970s drove Porporpeius to confront his half-brother Neptune about his rights to the Kingdom of Atlantis. Unfortunately, Porporpeius fell off the wagon just before this confrontation and after causing a dreadful scene at Neptune's son's birthday party, Neptune decided to sever Porporpeius' head and hide his body in the darkest depths of the sea. For the past 40 years, the bodiless Porporpeius has been strung out on cheap liquor and cheaper drugs, searching every square inch of the Earth for his missing body but to no avail.

Whilst at the preview for the show, I made a film of how the mask is viewed because I couldn't do it justice with just a photograph.
The photos below are to demonstrate how amazing Felix's skills are and to help give a better impression of the depth and layering of the mask.
I'd like to say a big thank you to Ali, Valentina and Nicola at Pocko and Kit Grover for the huge amount of energy and time they put into making the show look so incredible and also, for asking me to take part in it.