Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
'Harringay Art' in Ally Pally park mistaken for rubbish
A contemporary artwork worth £1,000 was almost destroyed when park workers mistook it for trash and dumped it on a passing truck.
A contemporary artwork worth £1,000 was almost destroyed when park workers mistook it for trash and dumped it on a passing truck.
The maxim ‘modern art is rubbish’ was literally played out when confused Alexandra Park staff disposed of a dirty old mattress, not realising its artistic credentials, on Saturday (May 28).
The work by artist Johnny Doe called The Legendary Flower was on display at the Art Free For All exhibition around Alexandra Park Boating Lake.
Exhibition organiser Tony Peakall said: “A little truck goes around picking up rubbish for the park and we were sitting there and they just chucked it on the back of the van and drove off.
“My friend legged it up the road and managed to stop them and they had to come and put it back where it was. They almost got out of the park, that’s how far along they were.”
An Alexandra Palace spokeswoman said it was an “honest mistake” as park staff thought the mattress was “something that shouldn’t be there”.
The artwork was not damaged.
Like contemporary art before it – such as Tracey Emin’s My Bed – it was perhaps intended to be controversial.
“I mentioned this to the artist and he said, ‘Oh good, that’s just what I wanted’,” said Mr Peakall. “He’s a bit of a shock artist. So we did what he wanted us to do – which was assume it was rubbish and take it away.”
Other artworks dotted in greenery around the lake until June 7 include beautiful fabric roses that blend into real bushes and sculptures hanging from trees.
The boating lake was also the scene of a separate TV stunt, as men who had lived like beavers emerged from their lodge after 36 hours for a Nat Geo Wild channel programme.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by james walsh on
-
My 10 year old could have done that (written the hornsey journal article)
-
-
Could Johnny Doe or the 'Exhibition' organiser come on here and tell us how a dirty Harringay mattress is art, worth £1,000 just because he calls it The Legendary Flower? I have a historic interest in this as I failed Art throughout my junior secondary schooling, never topping 32%. I wish they'd told me back then as I could have become famous and made a mint. Or are Haringey's park workers and Veolia street sweepers our best critics?
-
Permalink Reply by Hugh on
-
(Probably not a genuine Harringay mattress OAE. That was poetic licence. Likely just a cheap imitation.)
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
