Novemeber 2020 | Page 17

To all those who are thinking of going to the Joseph “ beuys ” Fine art gallery please bear in mind there are certain rules that have to be adhered to

( 1 ) If there is a torrential downpour outside and you happen to receive a phone call whist within the gallery please have the good sense to take your call outside . This is a good policy as you will be asked to do so anyway .

( 2 ) Ask no questions regarding artists prices or work as they will not be answered .

( 3 ) Do not venture into other parts of the gallery that clearly display works of art as you will be told that there is no artwork to be seen there

( 4 ) Upon leaving please restrain yourself from opening your umbrella within the confines of the gallery have the courtesy to follow rule five

( 5 ) Stand inside the torrential downpour and only then deploy your umbrella

( 6 ) There is little need to close the door behind you as it will be slammed against your back

There are other rules ( probably many ) but as we were so politely ushered from the gallery we hadn ’ t had the time to find out what there were . Landlords are ultimately the unofficial curators of the street , therefore they get the final say on what is allowed to be exhibited on their walls . Landlords are not in the business of curating unconventional cutting edge art exhibitions , so when asked to pick between the mural of a happy face or the klansman painting a self-portrait , the Landlord is going to pick the happy face mural hands down every time . The Street art movement is centred around the concept of “ providing a voice to the voiceless ” to bring about change , however I fail to comprehend how a conglomerate of prosaic murals depicting happy faces in multiple colour variants provides a voice to the voiceless . Besides even if there was a landlord courageous enough to display a groundbreaking avant garde masterpiece the council would just come along and whitewash it away .