On the way to illegal raves in the 90s we would play music on cassettes in the car, roll spliffs using Rizla and chew gum whilst on speed. We carried condoms in case we got lucky and we ate breakfast at greasy spoons where we loaded on the sauce from sachets. Then we went home, ate sweets and played computer games until the Es wore off.
The Old Bank Vault is proud to present James Talon’s new exhibition Sweet Lord
Talon’s new exhibition; Sweet Lord, is an extension of his previous work cataloguing his life in consumer items. Taking the small everyday objects from his past and blowing them up into the iconic cultural tokens that represent him and by extension many others of his generation. “I like to transform the ordinary, making people renew how they see an object so that it goes from unnoticed to thrilling.”
Each piece represents a part of the story that makes up Talon’s life. “On the way to illegal raves in the 90s we would play music on cassettes in the car, roll spliffs using Rizla and chew gum whilst on speed. We carried condoms in case we got lucky and we ate breakfast at greasy spoons where we loaded on the sauce from sachets. Then we went home, ate sweets and played computer games until the Es wore off.”
The bright colours and bold graphics of these everyday brands reignite Talon’s memories of these defining times. While the objects were clearly poignant to Talon, they certainly draw a lot of attention from passers by who stop to admire them and take a moment to reminisce and consider their own associations, little pieces of a bygone era supersized and framed, icons to be idolised and a piece of nostalgia turned into a large scale, three-dimensional graphic sculpture encapsulating a culture and framing them like the icons they are.