Sunday 17 February 2019

Simon Brewster - Love Tokens and Bad Pennies


Simon Brewster

Does love endure forever? Does a bad penny always turn up? During this Valentine month the artists and writers from CollectConnect explore this flip-sided theme with an exhibition of 32 miniature sculptures. These objects are placed in public places (#unsettledgallery), helping us to remember those who we hold dear - or cast off those who we would rather forget. Every day throughout February we will be featuring one of these tokens/pennies on this website. A writer will also use the art as inspiration to create something new and fresh.
Art - Simon Brewster / Words - Natalie Low

D. I. S. C. O.  A. L. L. E. G. O. R. Y.

I’m partying disco-style, funkin the floor,
Such good times and all of the people want more.
The man in the mirror is dancin real fine,
His hips are the devil’s, the smile is all mine.

No stopping me now on this soul train it seems,
For there on the floor is the girl of my dreams.
Blame my boogie wonderland, super sexy,
But it ain't no surprise when she gets down with me.

I’m groovin and grindin, I’m drivin her wild,
“You’re usin me up boy”, she says with a smile,
“Wearin my bell out, hot stuff, lovin best,
You’d love even better in this tank-top vest.”

On goes the vest and I’m so Daddy cool
As cool as you can be in lurex-rich wool
That chill’d jerky rhythm is something I’ve got
But the vest makes my heart and my body red hot.

My three-times-a-lady ain’t happy at that
And now she freak-styles me a super-brimmed hat.
But wearing this hat as I turn round the beat
Oops upside my head means I can’t see my feet.

My woman is taking me back to my roots
So now I am wearing some gold platform boots.
I feel mighty tall like a god in a cloud
But the heels leave me trippin and stumblin around.

She’s screaming at me to strut my funky stuff
But with vest, hat and boots on, the going is tough.
And there in the mirror now what do I see?
A fool that can’t dance and that don't look like me.
Simon Brewster's Penny in Wood Street

Simon's Penny sits atop a high wall next to the railway bridge outside Wood Street Station. Wood Street Station in Walthamstow is on the Chingford to Liverpool Street Line. The train line passes through Walthamstow Central and then across Hackney Marshes, Hackney Downs and Bethnal Green. The railway bridge outside Wood Street Station has its own mini eco system provided by the dark and damp conditions and the generous application of pigeon fertiliser.
Simon Brewster Since completing an Arts residency at Canary Wharf last year, Simon’s Fine Art practice has begun to make more overt references to political and environmental issues. The series of works made over the past year or two are small and intimate, yet aspire to evoke dark themes such as slavery, corporate capitalism and systems of power and control. Simon is interested in notions of Art as a commodity. He celebrates qualities such as impermanence and fragility and often uses found, appropriated or degraded raw materials.


Natalie Low enjoys putting words on paper and believes that everyone has a book of some sort inside them. She has published two chapbooks, Dementia (2015) and School Run (2017). She also appears in this exhibition as an artist/maker.

Don't forget to submit to our next exhibition. The Art of Caring is accepting submission until the 7th April 2019. More at http://collectconnect.blogspot.com/p/submit.html

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