So in these uncertain times I was pleased that David Dunico’s new exhibition was going ahead on November 5th at the AIR Gallery, The Warehouse, 30 Grosvenor Road, Altrincham.
But of course we are now about to enter the November lockdown, with David emailing me "Not surprisingly my exhibition has been postponed because of the lockdown – Assuming it ends on 2nd December, the exhibition will open on Saturday 5th December.
“The Cenotaph features in a new art exhibition about remembrance, which appropriately and not without coincidence, opens the week the Whitehall war memorial reaches its Centenary.
Manchester artist David Dunnico’s exhibition is called ‘War Works’ and runs from 5th to 28th November at Air Gallery in Altrincham. It includes prints, video and installations, which take a critical look at how the First World War was memorialised and how this affects the way we look at later conflicts including the ‘war on terror’.
In 1919, architect Edwin Lutyens was commissioned to design a monument for the route of the Allied Victory Parade which was to march through London. He quickly produced the deceptively simple cenotaph, which was made of wood and plaster and only intended to be in place for a few weeks.
However, it immediately became the focus for the Nation’s mourning and was replaced in 1920 with the present permanent structure of Portland stone. 100 years on, it is still the most important and well known of an estimated 100,000 war memorials in the UK.
In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, there was a craze for collecting ‘Crested Ware’ – small, white porcelain ornaments, decorated with the heraldic crest of a town or city. These were made in simple shapes of familiar objects. During the First World War designs included tanks, battleships and artillery, after the War, the Cenotaph was a popular subject.
The different towns and cities displayed on these mementos reflects the fact that there was barely anywhere in the country that was not mourning local people who had been killed or injured in the war.
Dunnico has used over 75 examples amassed from eBay in one installation. They are laid out in the shape of Britain and make a comment about the place war memorialisation has in this country.
The Cenotaph also features in a large print called ‘Empty Tomb’ the literal translation of the word from the Greek. Other pieces include a video of the Two Minute Silence – which makes you realise how the city is never silent, especially when the gun signaling the start of the Silence sets off car alarms near and far.
A couple of the exhibits were shown in Dunnico’s ‘Flag of Convenience’ photography exhibition held
last year at Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery, being shown for the first time is ‘A War Imagined’ – What seem to be granite memorial plaques carved with the names of war dead, which on closer viewing turn out to be acrylic sheets, engraved with the cast lists of British films about the Second World War. Dunnico said: “The Second World War seems central to the English national identity, but people’s understanding of it largely comes from half-remembered movie dramas. History is understood literally and figuratively in black and white”.
‘War Works’ an exhibition of art by David Dunnico
December 6th 2020- January 2021
AIR Gallery
The Warehouse
30 Grosvenor Road
Altrincham
WA14 1LD
0161 941 1129
Opening times: Wednesday – Friday: 11am – 6pm
Saturday: 12noon – 5pm. Free
Because of the COVID restrictions people are asked to book the day before visiting the exhibition through Eventbrite:
No comments:
Post a Comment