| SECRETS & LIES : HER MAJESTY'S (IVORY) TOWER
Secrets & Lies III by Chris Diedericks, 2005.
The original Queen Victoria sculpture used by Chris Diedericks for his Secrets & Lies sculptural works.
Skeletons in my Closet, sculpture, 2005. Chris Diedericks.
Famous quotes by Queen Victoria
"We are not amused." (attributed)
"Please understand that there is no one depressed in this house; we are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist."
"Move Queen Anne? Most certainly not! Why it might some day be suggested that my statue should be moved, which I should much dislike." (about moving a statue of Queen Anne for Victoria's Diamond Jubilee)
"The Queen is most anxious to enlist every one who can speak or write to join in checking this mad, wicked folly of "Woman's Rights", with all its attendant horrors, on which her poor feeble sex is bent, forgetting every sense of womanly feeling and propriety."
"The important thing is not what they think of me, but what I think of them."
His purity was too great, his aspiration too high for this poor, miserable world! His great soul is now only enjoying that for which it was worthy!
"When I think of a merry, happy, free young girl - and look at the ailing, aching state a young wife generally is doomed to - which you can't deny is the penalty of marriage."
"I feel sure that no girl would go to the altar if she knew all."
"An ugly baby is a very nasty object, and the prettiest is frightful when undressed."
"I don't dislike babies, though I think very young ones rather disgusting.
"I would venture to warn against too great intimacy with artists as it is very seductive and a little dangerous."
"Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves."
"He speaks to Me as if I was a public meeting". (of Mr. Gladstone)
Chris Diedericks,
September 2005.
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PRESS ARTICLE
Secrets and Lies (Her Majesty's [Ivory] Tower)
November 2005
Secrets and Lies: Her Majesty's [Ivory] Tower will be Chris Diedericks' 21st solo exhibition, and his first in the stable of Gesseau Art, Isa and Kevin Gesseau's beautiful art gallery in Craighall. The exhibition will open on Wednesday 9 November @ 18:30 @ Gesseau Art, 11 Chandler Drive, Craighall Park.
In his most recent work, still partly assuming the role "artist as thief", Chris Diedericks uses existing images, in this instance, original 1895 lithographs from a set of books titled: Her Majesty's Tower, purchased from a flea market at the beginning of the year. He then changes the existing context and meaning of the lithographs, by using watercolours, and over-printing (linocut- and Perspex engraving). Diedericks also often refers to other recognizable mythological characters, saints, martyrs, literary and legendary characters, Chris has taken contexts which viewers are familiar with, but reworked them into a new amalgamated context which will create discomfort and, hence, inquiry about identity and our assigned "place/standing" in society. Queen Victoria becomes the leading character in this naughty narrative, which is often very humorous and tongue-in-cheek, NOT to be taken too seriously.
Context
Queen Victoria's reign spanned nearly sixty-four years of British history, 1837 to 1901. Those years are remembered as the Victorian Age, which encompassed tremendous changes for Great Britain. Change occurred in nearly every aspect of British life, political institutions and structures, economic and social conditions, trade, science, and technology.
The international position of Great Britain was strong upon Victoria's succession, as the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 had guaranteed Britain a prominent role in the shaping of European politics. The British Empire, while it had suffered a setback half a century earlier with the loss of the American colonies, was expanding throughout the world with great success. By the end of Victoria's reign, Great Britain was in possession of the Indian sub-content, Australia, Canada, substantial portions of Africa, parts of the Middle East, lands in South America, and numerous islands all over the world. It was a fact that, as late nineteenth century phrase expresses, "The sun never set on the British Empire." No nation in the history of the world had ever achieved such global domination.
At home in Britain the proper position of all the parts of government, the monarchy, Parliament, and especially the common people, was being debated hotly. After living through the mental illness of King George III, who died in 1820, and the generally disliked reigns of his sons King George IV and King William IV, many British subjects had grown dissatisfied with the monarchy as an institution. Some even pushed for stripping it of all official power in favor of making Britain a republic. This feeling was exacerbated by republican revolutions throughout Europe. As Queen, Victoria had to contend early on with anti-monarchist public opinion, but by the end of her reign she had endeared herself to her people and secured the future of the Crown. She achieved this control by lessening the direct power of the Crown. Victoria was aware that new democratic nature of the government required that her position be more symbolic than directly powerful.
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the middle classes in Britain were gradually expanding to prominence, primarily as a result of increased activity in manufacturing and business enterprises. Urbanization was another important aspect of industrialization, and made the old property requirements for voting seem archaic and unreasonable. The expansion of the middle classes held great cultural implications: social position began to rest less on family and inheritance and more on financial and business success. The virtues of thrift and professional diligence were elevated to a central place in the Victorian mind.
The Victorian age is famous for its circumspect conception of virtue. Honesty, hard work, extreme modesty in dress, and decent public and private behavior are a few of the virtues that gained cultural currency in the nineteenth century. The Queen herself believed strongly in the importance of these virtues, and promoted them by her public example.
While Queen Victoria's reign was a time of great material prosperity and economic growth, industrialization and urbanization brought new social difficulties. Urban poverty and the poor treatment of many in the working classes were major results of the newly capitalized and industrialized economy, and political pressures mounted throughout the nineteenth century to address such problems before they amounted to a great crisis. The threat of socialist revolution, while not as imminent in Britain as elsewhere in Europe, was a source of concern and consternation for the ruling classes. Also, the ever- miserable condition of poor Roman Catholics in British-ruled Ireland was a major cause of unrest. One of the worst stories of the Victorian age was the willful neglect by the British government of millions of starving Irish during the potato famine of 1845/1846. Violent revolutionary movements sprouted in Ireland throughout Victoria's reign, and were the single greatest source of domestic strife in the Britain at the time.
Steam power, trains, telegraphs, indoor plumbing, electricity, and countless other advancements changed British life dramatically while Victoria was Queen. She and her husband, Prince Albert, promoted such advancements as much as they could. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was a watershed event for the development of technology.
Diedericks' exhibition: Secrets and Lies: Her Majesty's [Ivory] Tower will consist of five installations of mostly intimate, and some large images investigating the secrets and lies existing in our history, and the present, jest fully portraying the Victorian era, Queen Victoria herself, and the British Empire as the "enfant terrible".
Chris focuses on issues of identity, body politics, stereotypes, exclusion, and selective inclusion of groups of people and individuals from history.
The five installations will put five specific groups of people: women, gay people, people of colour (race), heterosexual men (the last group of people in the proverbial 'closet' according to the artist); and people affected by geography/place, under the critical spotlight. Each installation of work will consist of graphic prints, sculptures, ink and wash drawings on Giclée prints, found objects and images, original 1895 lithographs,
Giclée prints with oil on canvas, and other intriguing objects/objects de art. The artist also often employs real reminders of the Victorian era to enhance the impact of the work, for example tea-stained papers, and lace handkerchiefs. The work of American artist Raymond Pettibon, whom he discovered at the 51st Venice Biennial in Italy on a recent trip, inspired Diedericks to embark on this specific visual journey.
We have always come to ourselves as a rich raw material for creation. The idiosyncratic, everyday person is a subject (in this exhibition a queen), with no act or feeling too intimate, too trivial to be shaped
into biography – or autobiography. Diedericks tackles a period in history, in all its vagrancy, and after reworking it, illustrates it anew – a saturated wilderness of misery and strange beauty, epic memories, bitter struggles, stereotypes, exclusionary issues of class and social standing; and unexpected exhilaration. From this vantage point are specific vistas, created by the artist, rarely addressed or revealed before.
Chris Diedericks,
September 2005.
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