Mark Leckey
Encyclopedia
Mark Leckey is a British
artist, working with collage art, music and video. His found art and found footage
pieces span several videos, most notably Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999) and Industrial Lights and Magic (2008), for which he won the 2008 Turner Prize
.
, in 1964. In a 2008 interview in The Guardian
he described how he grew up in a working class family and became a ‘casual’
in his youth. He left school at 16 with one O Level, in art, and at 19 became obsessed with learning about ancient civilizations. In the Guardian interview he described himself as an autodidact, "That's why I use bigger words than I should. It's a classic sign." Following a conversation with his stepfather he took his A Levels
and went to an art college in Newcastle
but didn’t enjoy it: "It was the early 1990s, when critical theory had swept the nation. The place was full of hippies from down south who were reading Mervyn Peake
and Tolkien, and suddenly they were made to read Barthes
and Derrida. It was like a Maoist year zero. I became very suspicious of the merits of critical theory…”
He is a Film Studies professor at the Städelschule
, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany
.
has described his work as “possess[ing] a strange nonartlike quality, operating, as it does, on the knife's edge where art and life meet.”
He exhibited alongside Damien Hirst
in the 1990 New Contemporaries
exhibition at the ICA
but afterwards dropped from view, before making a "comeback" with Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore in 1999.
In 2004 he participated in Manifesta
5, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art. In 2006 he participated in the Tate Triennial and his works are held in the collections of the Tate
and the Centre Pompidou.
from the 70s, 80s and 90s underground music and party scene in the U.K. It follows on the path of several previous appropriative art video artists and critics have remarked on its similarities with William S. Burroughs
' technique of cut-ups
, a literary technique whereupon a text’s sentences or words are cut up and later randomly re-hashed into a new text. Through “found and original footage of discos and raves across Britain during the 70s, 80s and 90s” he “chronicle[s] the rites of passage experienced by successive generations of British (sub)urban youth”.
Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore patches up several videos of young people dancing, singing and partying. It starts with the disco scene of the 70s, touches upon the Northern soul
of the late 70s and early 80s and climaxes with the rave
scene of the 90s. One underlying soundtrack plays during the whole video, giving a sense of unity and narrative to the video. At one point an animated element - a bird tattoo image - appears as if released from the hand of a dancer, then carried into the next shot finds its place on the arm of another of the film's nightclubbing subjects. Some dance moves are played on loop for a few seconds, some are played in slow motion. Writing about Leckey’s first few video pieces, which in addition to Fiorucci… include We Are (Untitled) (2000) and Parade (2003), the art critic Catherine Wood said that they “represent the human subject striving to spread itself out into a reduced dimensionality. His subjects dance, take drugs and dress up in their attempts to transcend the obstinate physicality of the body and disappear in abstract identification with the ecstasy of music, or the seamlessness of the image.”
’ Rabbit (1986), which is placed in the center of the empty room. The video was transferred to 16 mm film and “is presented on a pedestal, like a sculpture.” The shiny surface of the sculpture reflects the room clearly, but there is no reflection of the camera, after a while the viewer realizes that there was never a bunny in the studio: it is a computer-generated image of Koons' work.
Leckey is an admirer of Koons and has talked about what it is that attracts him to his work: "I like the idea of something that's almost inhuman in its perfection, like Bunny. It's as if it just appeared in the world, as if Koons just imagined it and it appeared. I always get too involved in the work."
comic strip from Viz Magazine
, written by Barney Farmer and illustrated by Lee Healey. Leckey filmed the comic strip, added close-ups and jump-cuts reworked into a stop-motion like video. Leckey has removed all the speech bubbles and replaced them with a dialogue read verbatim from the comic by himself and Steven Claydon, a member of his band JackTooJack. He also added aural effects with burping, vomiting, slurping, among others and fades to black between episodes.
The piece is projected on a white wall in a completely white room, a clock projected in the outside of the room moves between from three to four, before returning to three and repeating the cycle. The comic and video itself lack color, so the only two colors in the room are black and white. As some of his previous work, it deals “with hedonistic time-wasting as a means of (temporary) escape from the strictures of capitalism and adult responsibility.” Roberta Smith noted “Mr. Leckey conveys an oppressive sense of the drinker's irresistible drive for oblivion, excavating the painful realities that often spur comedy.” In this act of appropriation, Leckey did not get official permission to use the material from Viz Magazine, “which, in a rare instance of corporate enlightenment, granted him permission retroactively.”
.
for his exhibition Industrial Lights and Magic. It included the piece Cinema-in-the-Round a video lecture where “the artist offers a compilation of his talks on film, television and video about the relationship between object and image.”
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
artist, working with collage art, music and video. His found art and found footage
Found footage
Found footage is a filmmaking term which describes a method of compiling films partly or entirely of footage which has not been created by the filmmaker, and changing its meaning by placing it in a new context. It should not be mistaken for documentary or compilation films. It is also not to be...
pieces span several videos, most notably Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999) and Industrial Lights and Magic (2008), for which he won the 2008 Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
.
Life
Leckey was born in Birkenhead, near LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, in 1964. In a 2008 interview in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
he described how he grew up in a working class family and became a ‘casual’
Casuals
The casual subculture is a subsection of association football culture that is typified by football hooliganism and the wearing of expensive European designer clothing. The subculture originated in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s when many hooligans started wearing designer labels and...
in his youth. He left school at 16 with one O Level, in art, and at 19 became obsessed with learning about ancient civilizations. In the Guardian interview he described himself as an autodidact, "That's why I use bigger words than I should. It's a classic sign." Following a conversation with his stepfather he took his A Levels
GCE Advanced Level
The Advanced Level General Certificate of Education, commonly referred to as an A-level, is a qualification offered by education institutions in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Cameroon, and the Cayman Islands...
and went to an art college in Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
but didn’t enjoy it: "It was the early 1990s, when critical theory had swept the nation. The place was full of hippies from down south who were reading Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J. R. R...
and Tolkien, and suddenly they were made to read Barthes
Roland Barthes
Roland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...
and Derrida. It was like a Maoist year zero. I became very suspicious of the merits of critical theory…”
He is a Film Studies professor at the Städelschule
Städelschule
Städelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, is a contemporary fine arts academy in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.- History :The Städelschule was established by a foundation set up by the Frankfurt merchant Johann Friedrich Städel in 1817...
, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Work
Mark Leckey's video work has as its subject the "tawdry but somehow romantic elegance of certain aspects of British culture," He likes the idea of letting “culture use you as an instrument.” but adds that the pretentiousness that artists sometimes fall into is destructive to the artistic process: “What gets in the way is being too clever, or worrying about how something is going to function, or where it's going to be. When you start thinking of something as art, you're fucked: you're never going to advance." Matthew HiggsMatthew Higgs
Matthew Higgs is a British artist, curator, writer and publisher. His contribution to UK contemporary art has included the creation of Imprint 93, a series of artists’ editions featuring the work of artists such as Martin Creed and Jeremy Deller...
has described his work as “possess[ing] a strange nonartlike quality, operating, as it does, on the knife's edge where art and life meet.”
He exhibited alongside Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
in the 1990 New Contemporaries
New Contemporaries
New Contemporaries is an organisation that works to support emerging artists at the beginning of their careers by introducing them to the visual arts sector and to the public through a variety of platforms, including an annual exhibition...
exhibition at the ICA
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
but afterwards dropped from view, before making a "comeback" with Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore in 1999.
In 2004 he participated in Manifesta
Manifesta
Manifesta, the , is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale, described in 2010 by the as "stunning in its scope and uncompromisingly experimental in its approach".-Manifesta History:...
5, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art. In 2006 he participated in the Tate Triennial and his works are held in the collections of the Tate
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
and the Centre Pompidou.
Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999)
Mark Leckey rose to prominence in the art world with his video Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore. The video is a compilation of found footageFound footage
Found footage is a filmmaking term which describes a method of compiling films partly or entirely of footage which has not been created by the filmmaker, and changing its meaning by placing it in a new context. It should not be mistaken for documentary or compilation films. It is also not to be...
from the 70s, 80s and 90s underground music and party scene in the U.K. It follows on the path of several previous appropriative art video artists and critics have remarked on its similarities with William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
' technique of cut-ups
Cut-up technique
The cut-up technique is an aleatory literary technique in which a text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. Most commonly, cut-ups are used to offer a non-linear alternative to traditional reading and writing....
, a literary technique whereupon a text’s sentences or words are cut up and later randomly re-hashed into a new text. Through “found and original footage of discos and raves across Britain during the 70s, 80s and 90s” he “chronicle[s] the rites of passage experienced by successive generations of British (sub)urban youth”.
Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore patches up several videos of young people dancing, singing and partying. It starts with the disco scene of the 70s, touches upon the Northern soul
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...
of the late 70s and early 80s and climaxes with the rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
scene of the 90s. One underlying soundtrack plays during the whole video, giving a sense of unity and narrative to the video. At one point an animated element - a bird tattoo image - appears as if released from the hand of a dancer, then carried into the next shot finds its place on the arm of another of the film's nightclubbing subjects. Some dance moves are played on loop for a few seconds, some are played in slow motion. Writing about Leckey’s first few video pieces, which in addition to Fiorucci… include We Are (Untitled) (2000) and Parade (2003), the art critic Catherine Wood said that they “represent the human subject striving to spread itself out into a reduced dimensionality. His subjects dance, take drugs and dress up in their attempts to transcend the obstinate physicality of the body and disappear in abstract identification with the ecstasy of music, or the seamlessness of the image.”
Sound System (2002)
Leckey has made ‘immersion’ pieces that offer aural and visual stimuli to the audience, such as his work Sound System (2002).Made in 'Eaven (2004)
This video takes place in Leckey’s empty London studio. The camera rotates around Jeff KoonsJeff Koons
Jeffrey "Jeff" Koons is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces....
’ Rabbit (1986), which is placed in the center of the empty room. The video was transferred to 16 mm film and “is presented on a pedestal, like a sculpture.” The shiny surface of the sculpture reflects the room clearly, but there is no reflection of the camera, after a while the viewer realizes that there was never a bunny in the studio: it is a computer-generated image of Koons' work.
Leckey is an admirer of Koons and has talked about what it is that attracts him to his work: "I like the idea of something that's almost inhuman in its perfection, like Bunny. It's as if it just appeared in the world, as if Koons just imagined it and it appeared. I always get too involved in the work."
Drunken Bakers (2006)
In this video Leckey appropriates the Drunken BakersDrunken Bakers
The Drunken Bakers are characters in the British adult humour magazine Viz created by Barney Farmer and Lee Healey.The two bakers run a bakery together. Their names have never been mentioned; one has sparse black hair, the other has a bulbous nose and large phiz of fair hair...
comic strip from Viz Magazine
Viz (comic)
Viz is a popular British comic magazine which has been running since 1979.The comic's style parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably The Beano and The Dandy, but with incongruous language, crude toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and either sexual or violent storylines...
, written by Barney Farmer and illustrated by Lee Healey. Leckey filmed the comic strip, added close-ups and jump-cuts reworked into a stop-motion like video. Leckey has removed all the speech bubbles and replaced them with a dialogue read verbatim from the comic by himself and Steven Claydon, a member of his band JackTooJack. He also added aural effects with burping, vomiting, slurping, among others and fades to black between episodes.
The piece is projected on a white wall in a completely white room, a clock projected in the outside of the room moves between from three to four, before returning to three and repeating the cycle. The comic and video itself lack color, so the only two colors in the room are black and white. As some of his previous work, it deals “with hedonistic time-wasting as a means of (temporary) escape from the strictures of capitalism and adult responsibility.” Roberta Smith noted “Mr. Leckey conveys an oppressive sense of the drinker's irresistible drive for oblivion, excavating the painful realities that often spur comedy.” In this act of appropriation, Leckey did not get official permission to use the material from Viz Magazine, “which, in a rare instance of corporate enlightenment, granted him permission retroactively.”
Felix Gets Broadcast (2007)
In his work, Felix Gets Broadcast (2007), Leckey features one of the earlier figures of Felix The CatFelix the Cat
Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in the silent film era. His black body, white eyes, and giant grin, coupled with the surrealism of the situations in which his cartoons place him, combine to make Felix one of the most recognized cartoon characters in film history...
.
Industrial Lights and Magic (2008)
He won the 2008 Turner PrizeTurner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
for his exhibition Industrial Lights and Magic. It included the piece Cinema-in-the-Round a video lecture where “the artist offers a compilation of his talks on film, television and video about the relationship between object and image.”
External links
- Mark Leckey's MySpace page
- The Turner Prize 2008 on the Tate web site Mark Leckey was one of four nominated artists
- Works by Mark Leckey in the Tate Collection