BUMs
SKIP Gallery X Dio Horia Mykonos
Baker & Borowski founded SKIP gallery on the principle of non-elitism and universal accessibility, while also collaborating with witty, mischievous artists creating nonetheless intelligent artworks. After both falling in love with a glorious Celia Hempton painting of a reclining man’s bum, Lee suggested curating an exhibition on the theme of ‘Bums’ which would be an extension of their philosophy in both subject matter and artists. Throughout art history, as a representation of strength or voyeur-istic eroticism; from Michelangelo's frescoes to Velasquez’s 'Rokeby Venus’ bums have been a universal and accepted subject, but rarely have art shows dedicated themselves to the subject alone. There is nothing so fundamental and deep-rooted in our psyche as a bum: evolution has dictated that we cannot escape its profound attraction. When Baker and Borowski met, Lee declared himself a bum man. This flummoxed Borowski because she’s a boob woman and hadn’t ever even looked at her own bum. This led to some deep introspective thinking, observation (and coming to terms). Borowski made a sculpture addressing this new reality called Tits as Ass, and set about trying to see the world of bums through Baker’s eyes.
This would be a cheeky (no pun intended) egalitarian subject for the artists they immediately thought of for the show - a fabulous balance of girls and boys. A global mash-up of cutting edge, visually sumptuous people ranging from those doing their first show and early/mid career, to established artists. First they thought to show the works in skips, but inspired by their hero Jeremy Deller's 'Open Bedroom' they decided the show was would take place in Catherine’s house with artists taking over various rooms inc bathroom and staircase as performance spaces, but Covid put paid to that! However, back in 2017 after writing and performing music for a David Shrigley show in Hydra, Baker & Borowski had met and stayed in touch with Marina Vranopoulou from Dio Horia Gallery. She offered them an opportunity to curate the BUMs show for their space in Mykanos. Now it's actually happening, the fact that Jeremy Deller agreed to be in the show, feels like things have come beautifully full circle.
Participating artists: Aggtelek, Sports Banger, Markus Birdman, Jeremy Deller X Flying Leaps, Maja Djordjevic, Paul Kindersley, Dion Kitson, MC Llamas, Sarah Maple, Elizabeth Prentis, Ally Rosenberg, Sol Golden Sato, Stuart Semple, David Shrigley, Max Siedentopf, Xu Yang