© Raymond Dean
As this year marks the 20th anniversary of his death, the career of Derek Jarman, the influential British artist and film maker is being widely celebrated across London with a host of events.
Amongst these is Pandemonium, which recently opened at Somerset House and was curated by Mark Turner, English Professor at King's.
Covering the spectrum of Jarman's career and showcasing the innovative nature of his work, We took a few moments to discuss Mark's inspiration and focus behind celebrating the vastly talented artist and former King's student.
© Raymond Dean
Pandemonium is part of a year-long event programme in London that highlights just how significant an artist Derek Jarman was. What was it about Derek’s work that first drew you in to curating this exhibition?
Firstly, Jarman was a student, long ago, at the university where I teach, King’s College London. To mark the 20th anniversary since his death, it seemed natural for the university to honour his work and memory. I also wanted to demonstrate two things – how his studies here at King’s (English literature, History and Art History) helped to shape and influence his later work and thinking, and how his living in London, in particular in warehouses along the Thames in the 1970s, was central to his artistic vision and output.
The title ‘Pandemonium’ naturally suggests an air of chaos and confusion. Is this representative of the variety of work on show as much as it is of Derek’s approach to art?
In his final film, ‘Blue,’ Jarman writes about a ‘pandemonium of images’ and you get that sense of layered imagery in a number of the works on show in the exhibition. For example, in the short Super 8 film ‘Garden of Luxor’ and in the feature film ‘The Last of England.’ With the feature film, we are showing it across 5 different screens, so that you can see the film at different points, but all at once. It’s a deeply immersive but somewhat chaotic way of seeing the film, completely different from seeing it in a linear way.
Jarman was a crucial figure in British gay politics throughout his career. How far does this stem beyond just the visual impact of his work?
Jarman’s commitment to ending homophobia and to challenging norms and conventions – particularly in the 1980s during the Thatcher years (which he calls a ‘reign of terror’!) – was a strong element of his work and public persona. He writes a great deal about queer rights in his journals, and in addition to his feature films, it’s probably in the writing that he is much direct and uncompromising about queer politics and politics more generally.
Derek has been highly praised for his work across a variety of artistic fields in the past. Is opening yourself up to numerous creative directions something that you feel all artists should look to do?
I think it depends on the artist and what they have to say. Most artists tend to specialise and art school training encourages that kind of specialisation – in painting, or sculpture or digital media or whatever. Jarman was unusual in the breadth of media across which he worked – painting, sculpture, set design, film (of various kinds), writing. It can be challenging to think about an artist’s work across so many different forms, but it’s also one of the most exciting things.
The exhibition displays work from Derek’s years as a King’s student through to his later offerings. How challenging was it to condense such an extensive amount of art?
A real challenge! The hard part was finding a clear, concise way to give the visitor a journey through his work, given that there is so much of the work, and it is so varied. The exhibition includes early work – painting and the covers he designed for the student magazine at university – plus set designs, Super 8 films, a feature film, and more paintings from his later periods. What holds the exhibition together, I hope, are the two strands – his education and his London life. The works on offer deepen our understanding of these two aspects of his life and art.
Was there a period in Derek’s life or selection of works that you were most eager to display?
Yes, the 1970s! This is when he lived in warehouses along the Thames, at places like Bankside and Butler’s Wharf. Those areas of London housed lots of different types of artists, before the re-development of the warehouses and the land in the 1980s under Thatcher. It was a really interesting period in London’s artistic history – a period still little known to many people – and it was here that Jarman really explored the potential of inexpensive, Super 8 filmmaking, which I particularly admire.
What can visitors expect to take away from experiencing the exhibition?
My hope is that they’ll either learn about Jarman for the first time and want to know more – or they’ll learn something new about Jarman, and want to know more. What good exhibitions should do is provoke curiosity. They shouldn’t be ‘final words’ on an artist or their work, rather spurs to further engagement. Go buy one of his books if you don’t know them. Watch a DVD or read the great biography of him by Tony Peake. There's lots to do!
Derek Jarman: Pandemonium is located at the Inigo Rooms, Somerset House East Wing, Strand WC2R 2LS
The exhibition is open to the public until the 9th March. The gallery is open daily 12.00-18.00 (until 20.00 on Thursdays).
Presented by the Cultural Institute at King's. Curated by Mark Turner, Professor of English.