YOL.POSSET.LLOYD
Between Gas Canisters and Personal Identity Lanyards

Living in an era in which art is derided as a waste of time by many, and is even seen in the educational curriculum as surplus to requirement, we need to look beyond the constraints of conventional Wisdom and imagination, or lack thereof, and work out for the next generation the biggest of all questions. For what purpose are we being educated? How do people that are essentially creative by nature, fit into a system that does not give them the opportunity to actively participate? Can other industries and fields of endeavour truly flourish if they have neglected to educate people creatively?

These are questions that spring to my mind when considering the recent project by Toby Lloyd formerly of Artist House 45 based in the Garnets, Hunslet between 2015 and 2017. The project by Lloyd Wilson looked at what happens when artists are given the opportunity to operate in a fairly unfettered way within a community. Latterly Wilson has been engaged in another project, ‘Between Eating and Sleeping’ which has posed the questions “What would you do if you had a year off?”, “What gets you out of bed in the morning?” And “What did you want to be when you grew up?” The recent project at BasementArtsProject ‘Between Gas Canisters and Personal Identity Lanyards’ featuring Hull based artist Yol (real name), and Newcastle based artists Posset (not his real name) and Lloyd (I’ll let you make up your mind on that one), has visualised some of the ways in which actual life collides with idealised versions of life. The exhibition revolves around the life of a Hull park bench, the inhabitants, the detritus and the difference between who we want to be, who we feel we should be and who we are forced to be by dint of our occupations.

Bruce Davies