PENNY PLAIN, TWOPENCE COLOURED
10th December 2020 - 20th March 2021
Unit 92, Queensmere Observatory Shopping Centre, High St, Slough SL1 1LN
The exhibition will be accessible to the public within the Shopping Centre's opening hours.
Subsidiary Projects, in collaboration with Harlesden High Street, is proud to present Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured, a solo exhibition by British artist Tom Platt.
Inspired in the 1884’s essay about toy theatre’s “Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured” by British author Robert Louis Stevenson, Platt’s work has taken over a disused shop inside Slough’s Queensmeere shopping centre. The unit has been converted into a theatre stage, occupied by a cast of wooden characters and props.
When approaching the shop window, the viewer encounters a collection of simultaneously disturbing and comical creatures that are engaged in the activity of consuming and being consumed. Located on a soon to be closed shopping centre, his figures are reminders of the bustle that once reigned there.
Borrowing imagery from classic horror movies, Platt has generated hybrid figures from materials such as MDF, canvas, house paint, glitter and found objects. The artist will visit the location throughout the duration of the show, transforming the installation into an ever-changing set inhabited by his monster-like sculptures.
Tom Platt is a London-based artist born in Leicester, UK. In his practice painting, sculpture and performance merge together to create vibrant immersive installations. His work borrows imagery from science fiction, horror movies and romantic literature, distorting it to create a new narrative.
He finished his MA Fine Art at City & Guilds of London Art School in 2016. Since then, his work has been included in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2017 as well as several exhibitions such as This Too Shall Pass at The Function Suite (London, 2019), Open-Ended Questioning, Interview Room Gallery (London, 2018) and Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Te, Perimeter Space (London, 2018) to name a few.
Harlesden High Street is a POC run space with a mission to bridge social and cultural gaps within the field of contemporary art, by working with and providing resources for under-represented artists. They operate across several sites in London.