In Medieval England (c. 1050) it was reported that Queen Edith, wife of Edward the Confessor, had a secret order of artists she kept sequestered in the bowels of her castle for her own private purposes. It was rumoured that these artists had been given the royal commission to produce artworks to satisfy the Queen's unusual and somewhat erotic inclinations due to her husbands widely known vow of celibacy. The queen managed to employ artists who were under the care of the Augustinian brethren, being treated for St. Anthony's fire and St. Vitus dance, both afflictions which were propagated by ingestion of toxic grain and ergot. Prone to hallucinations and fits of psychosis the artist produced many fantastic and disturbing pieces for the queen. One grotesque portrait was said to have turned a chambermaid's hair to pure white upon seeing it. Very few works produced by these artists have survived the ages and those that have are highly sought after items, rarely circulated and never catalogued at auction. The notion of artmaking that goes against the grain and embraces taboos continues today. It was in this spirit that Her Majesty's Secret Art Assembly was born.
From a city built around an "assembly-line" mentality, a by-product of the production of automobiles, Windsor offers an unusual perspective of the world today. A Canadian city, nestled in the crotch of the industrial womb of the United States, extracting the implications of Americana from a peeping-tom perspective, Windsor affords a view of pop-culture unlike that of any other city on the planet. Seeming to contrast sharply with the trends of contemporary thought and theory, a city borne out of industry appears at first glance inhospitable to the world of modern technology that dominates our collective global image. In reality the contemporary concepts of Neurobiology, Nanotechnology and Artificial Intelligence employ many traits found in the linear mechanics of industry. And while our identities may be only the products of the meat-mechanics of our brain we still seek the magic and spiritual connection to a world that can only be transcended by art. Enter Her Majesty's Secret Art Assembly. Five artists from the city which has harboured the father of Vorticism, Wyndham Lewis and the father of Media, Marshall McLuhan.
Intent on reclaiming the magic of cave-art in a contemporary frame, with all the richness of inspiration that our time in history offers, Her Majesty's Secret Art Assembly tackle themes unique to the experience of humanity, as the rate of information and change accelerates to the point of unconsciousness.
HMSAA began in Windsor, Ontario Canada as a result of the meeting of Gino Gesuale and Steve Gibb in the mid-1990s. It began as a concept of uniting artists of similar ilk that were producing and exhibiting in far-flung exhibition spaces (cafes, clubs, warehouses) and consolidating a group effort towards a more ambitious end.
Artists working in the shadow of the industrial cities of Windsor/Detroit in the late 1990s were distinguishing themselves by spontaneously creating a similar style that echoed the despair and incongruity of living in the information age while remaining firmly strapped to the assembly-line mechanism of the industrial age. From this hotbed of contrasts came a force of creativity unlike any other - embracing sublime images rich in irony, distortions of human form, grotesque blending of mind and machine, bristling with bold, psychotropic colours and all the while, subtle elements of black humour percolating from the slag heap.
By uniting, HMSAA sought to evaluate, discuss, reject or improve on the cultural inputs and stimulus that bombard them like gamma rays every moment of their lives.
The group started with core members Adrian Fuerth, Jan Noestheden and Aldo Barreto along with Gesuale and Gibb by organizing group events that usually pivoted around compelling themes.
As the resulting success grew, HMSAA decided to take the concept beyond the borders of Windsor/Detroit and establish inroads into other cities.
HMSAA starts where the Venus of Willendorf left off - and boldly moves backwards. |
