SMURFNET

John Cake and Darren Neave aka The Little Artists

Fri 11 Apr 2008 - Sat 17 May 2008

Cake and Neave are growing up from their 'The Little Artists' project, and moving on from the Lego recreations of iconic sculptures such as Hirst's Shark Tank and Emin's Bed.

Their latest work identifies with the actions, strategies and mythology of the deceased German artist Martin Kippenberger.

Core to this is the 'Smurf', the iconic blue character, created by Peyo in Belgium 50 years ago they have become an image understood world-wide but whose name is different in every language. (Schtroumpfs - French, Y Smyrffs - Welsh, Schlümpfe - German etc.) As in the cartoon or comic-strip, when speaking, 'Smurf' can be used to replace a word in a sentence but understanding is not lost.

Pieces in this new body of work include:
Paintings that are actual London tube maps that have had the station names and wording covered with Tippex/Liquid Paper and replaced with collaged 'Smurf' head stickers. Progressive maps have further meticulous obliteration, the coloured tube lines and then the surrounding blank paper, resulting in a textured monochrome surface - negating the function of this 'design classic'.

A series of collages combining ripped-out pages from the catalogue for Kippenberger's retrospective at Tate Modern and obscured with more of the objét-trouvé 'Smurf' stickers.

A theme throughout Cake and Neave's work is their interest in aggressive branding, logos, sponsorship and merchandise, and poignantly for them, the 'Smurf' and National Garages were the first commercial product tie-ins they were conscious of. The duo has previously worked with Scalextric ('Taking a Line for a Drive') and Pictionary for the 'Contemporary Artists Play Pictionary' event.

About the Artists
Cake and Neave have been selected to take part in the first Tatton Park Biennial in May 2008, curated by Danielle Arnaud and Jordan Kaplan from the commissioning group Parabola.

Forthcoming Solo shows include the newly opened Hive Gallery in South Yorkshire in Summer 2008, Galerie Markus Winter in Berlin, and 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe in 2009.
Recent solo exhibitions include The Walker Gallery, Liverpool and Kulczyk Foundation, Poznan.
They have also featured extensively in group shows across Europe including; Space/Galerie Priestor, Bratislava (curated by Juraj Carny), Galerie Good Friday, Brussels, Krinzinger, Vienna and The Kunsthall, Bergen(curated by Dr Sabine Dorscheid).

www.littleartist.co.uk