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Corbin Shaw’s work is an on-going exploration of British national identity. In the past few years, the Sheffield-born artist has seen his star rise pretty quickly, staging a slew of exhibitions, collaborating with Fred Perry and even directing a music video for The Pet Shop Boys. Striking the perfect balance between nostalgia and satire, Shaw’s educational work holds a mirror up to what it means to exist in Britain today, forcing viewers to think and ask themselves, is it really that Great?
Keen to ask those across the channel the same question, Shaw has collaborated with Umbro and Italian brand Slam Jam to open his latest exhibition, Eurotrash, in the Spazio Maiocchi gallery in Milan. Sharing a name with the Jean Paul Gaultier-hosted satirical ’90s news show, Shaw’s display repurposes traditional symbols of identity, highlighting his fascination with how patriotism (or anti-patriotism, for that matter) moulds British people and the traditions and rituals they keep. Within, Union Jacks and EU flags drained of their colour flap from above, casting a shadow over a landscape peppered with oversized 50p Brexit coins. “It’s about pride and shame… It’s about having no say in what’s happening,” Shaw explains. Wanting to show the dichotomy of how “things are continually getting worse, yet the traditions and ceremonies still seem to persist”, Shaw intends for the display to act as “a slice of modern England, transplanted into Milan”.
Fashioning the exhibition like a makeshift airport, Shaw focuses on motifs of quintessential British life – the kind we all love and love to hate. “Long queues, oversized, macho public sculptures and monuments…” Shaw says, highlighting more of the features he’s transported into the space to make it feel just like home. “There are urinal fountains adorned with stone pint glasses and flags. It’s very much me, but on a larger scale – more British, more grotesque and with love.”
Shaw’s inspiration for Eurotrash came from the work of seminal writer George Orwell – specifically his essay The Lion and the Unicorn, a WWII-era dissection of Britain’s outdated class system. “I read it back in August when far-right riots were happening across the country, with large numbers of disillusioned white British people taking to the streets to incite violence against non-white people and non-white-owned businesses,” says Shaw. “I thought it was fitting to compare a text written about the English in 1941, at a time when Britain was fighting fascism against the Italians and Germans, to the present day when the ideology Britain once opposed is growing at home. Orwell’s main point is that the British – or English – are a hypocritical people, the kettle calling the pot black. [It’s this idea of] ‘Oh, it couldn’t happen here.’ But yes, yes it could. And it is.”
The project also sees Shaw join forces with spoken word poet, musician and cultural commentator James Massiah, whose soundtrack will play as visitors meander around the space, making the exhibition a more full-bodied experience. “I thought it would be interesting to incorporate his words in that space,” says Shaw, “maybe breath life, love and criticism in to [it].” Noting how having South London-born Massiah on the project platforms “two different perspectives on a modern British landscape”.
The show comes with extra significance, as it marks the first time has shown outside the UK. “I want [non-Brits] to sample a corner of the warped British landscape. I’m interested to hear their opinions on the exhibition and the British. I’m ready for it,” he says.
Intelligent, provocative and brilliantly ironic, Eurotrash emphasises the peculiar purgatory of a contemporary British identity – the love and the hate, the division and the unity. Weird and not particularly wonderful. It’s set to be a Brit-Italo crossover like no other.
Eurotrash runs until November 11 at Spazio Maiocchi. Discover more here.
Photography by Andrea Bratta.
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Corbin Shaw’s work is an on-going exploration of British national identity. In the past few years, the Sheffield-born artist has seen his star rise pretty quickly, staging a slew of exhibitions, collaborating with Fred Perry and even directing a music video for The Pet Shop Boys. Striking the perfect balance between nostalgia and satire, Shaw’s educational work holds a mirror up to what it means to exist in Britain today, forcing viewers to think and ask themselves, is it really that Great?
Keen to ask those across the channel the same question, Shaw has collaborated with Umbro and Italian brand Slam Jam to open his latest exhibition, Eurotrash, in the Spazio Maiocchi gallery in Milan. Sharing a name with the Jean Paul Gaultier-hosted satirical ’90s news show, Shaw’s display repurposes traditional symbols of identity, highlighting his fascination with how patriotism (or anti-patriotism, for that matter) moulds British people and the traditions and rituals they keep. Within, Union Jacks and EU flags drained of their colour flap from above, casting a shadow over a landscape peppered with oversized 50p Brexit coins. “It’s about pride and shame… It’s about having no say in what’s happening,” Shaw explains. Wanting to show the dichotomy of how “things are continually getting worse, yet the traditions and ceremonies still seem to persist”, Shaw intends for the display to act as “a slice of modern England, transplanted into Milan”.
Fashioning the exhibition like a makeshift airport, Shaw focuses on motifs of quintessential British life – the kind we all love and love to hate. “Long queues, oversized, macho public sculptures and monuments…” Shaw says, highlighting more of the features he’s transported into the space to make it feel just like home. “There are urinal fountains adorned with stone pint glasses and flags. It’s very much me, but on a larger scale – more British, more grotesque and with love.”
Shaw’s inspiration for Eurotrash came from the work of seminal writer George Orwell – specifically his essay The Lion and the Unicorn, a WWII-era dissection of Britain’s outdated class system. “I read it back in August when far-right riots were happening across the country, with large numbers of disillusioned white British people taking to the streets to incite violence against non-white people and non-white-owned businesses,” says Shaw. “I thought it was fitting to compare a text written about the English in 1941, at a time when Britain was fighting fascism against the Italians and Germans, to the present day when the ideology Britain once opposed is growing at home. Orwell’s main point is that the British – or English – are a hypocritical people, the kettle calling the pot black. [It’s this idea of] ‘Oh, it couldn’t happen here.’ But yes, yes it could. And it is.”
The project also sees Shaw join forces with spoken word poet, musician and cultural commentator James Massiah, whose soundtrack will play as visitors meander around the space, making the exhibition a more full-bodied experience. “I thought it would be interesting to incorporate his words in that space,” says Shaw, “maybe breath life, love and criticism in to [it].” Noting how having South London-born Massiah on the project platforms “two different perspectives on a modern British landscape”.
The show comes with extra significance, as it marks the first time has shown outside the UK. “I want [non-Brits] to sample a corner of the warped British landscape. I’m interested to hear their opinions on the exhibition and the British. I’m ready for it,” he says.
Intelligent, provocative and brilliantly ironic, Eurotrash emphasises the peculiar purgatory of a contemporary British identity – the love and the hate, the division and the unity. Weird and not particularly wonderful. It’s set to be a Brit-Italo crossover like no other.
Eurotrash runs until November 11 at Spazio Maiocchi. Discover more here.
Photography by Andrea Bratta.
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