The Arts Council Collection’s new national touring exhibition, In My Shoes: Art and the Self since the 1990s, opens at Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park on 30 March, before touring to venues in Leicester, Stratford-upon-Avon, Aberystwyth and Nottinghamshire.
The exhibition explores the ways in which UK-based artists have represented themselves in their work since the 1990s and features works by more than 25 artists including Hayley Newman (work pictured), Jananne Al-Ani, Tracey Emin, Ryan Gander, Emma Hart, Michael Landy, Sarah Lucas, Rachel Maclean, Jonathan Monk, Grayson Perry, Marc Quinn, Donald Rodney, Veronica Ryan, Stewart Home, Gavin Turk, Mark Wallinger, Gillian Wearing, Bedwyr Williams. and Jesse Wine.
Self portraiture maintains an enduring presence throughout art history; in recent years artists have revolutionised and extended the genre by incorporating action, performance, narrative and explorations of identity. Encompassing a range of media including film, photography and sculpture, In My Shoes draws primarily from the Arts Council Collection, with key loans from other UK collections, to investigate these dynamic approaches.
This exhibition offers a timely opportunity to consider the legacy of a key aspect of 1990s British art. The show begins with key early works by so-called ‘Young British Artists’ including Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and Gavin Turk, who received international attention for putting themselves in the frame with bold and confrontational works.
The exhibition also includes work by a younger generation of artists including Rachel McLean and Bedwyr Williams who have each established an active role within their work, as well as a number of recent works to enter the Arts Council Collection, some on public display for the first time since acquisition.
Longside Gallery will host a number of public events and talks programmed alongside the exhibition, including a series of free exhibition tours and drop-in workshops open to all ages.