FaceValue2: Q&A with Gary Mansfield
“That night, in my cell, I not only fell completely in love with conceptual art but I was rehabilitated, there and then.”
Gary Mansfield’s route into conceptual art was somewhat unconventional. At the age of 26 he was given a prison sentence for drug possession. Having no prior interest in, or first-hand experience of, the art world, it was during prison art classes that he discovered conceptual art. At first he dismissed the art form – “I saw it as ‘that's not art, anyone can do that’” – but then he read an artist’s statement. It struck a chord with Gary and enabled him to view the artworks in a new way.
From inside prison Gary began to write letters to hundreds of artists. The likes of Bridget Riley, Cindy Sherman, Vivienne Westwood, Rachael Whiteread, Antony Gormley and Tracey Emin wrote back to him in scores, sending letters of advice and encouragement, as well as exhibition catalogues and occasionally small artworks. “I had found people that respected what I was trying to achieve and was told how someone in my position was more than welcome in their world,” says Gary.
Today Gary is a practicing artist making artworks that explore the concept of “identity interrupted.” He is also the organiser of FaceValue, an exhibition hosted at Jealous gallery in Shoreditch (of which the second iteration is due to open on 9 March). FaceValue aims to explore the effect that an outside influence can have on one's identity and takes a distinctively literal approach. Twenty-five donor artists are paired with twenty-five manipulating artists to create twenty-five collaborative artworks. Although the work is collaborative, each artist will work on the piece of work independently.
Donating artists include Sarah Lucas, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Lee Ainsworth and Linda Hubbard while artists tasked with manipulating the artworks include Camille Walala, James Unsworth and Harriet Riddell. Gary himself will be donating and manipulating.
Gary, needless to say, tells his story better than we ever could. Below he offers a candid insight into his journey as an artist.
What involvement had you had with art before you went to prison? Did you enjoy it at school?
Other than a few counterfeit £20 notes, I had no previous involvement with art prior to my sentence. The only memory I have of my art classes at school is once being given a piece of charcoal and being asked to draw an artist’s mannequin. Other than that, our art class was used more as a break during the school day.
At what point did you realise that you wanted to pursue being an artist?
During a prison art class, I was given the Sensations catalogue to read. I saw conceptual art as a “that's not art, anyone can do that” kind of art form, but I read the text for Mona Hatoumn's No Way II, which was a colander that had a nut and bolt in every hole, that represented all avenues of returning home being blocked. It resonated with me and enabled me to view the artworks in a completely new way. That night in my cell, I not only fell completely in love with conceptual art, I was rehabilitated, there and then.
Your work explores the realities of prison. Can you tell us a little about those realities and how you reflect them in your work?
I try not to focus directly on the darker elements of prison life or on the system as a whole; the violence, depression, loneliness, apathy, lack of trust and self-worth etc. To be frank, a high percentage of the public feel that people get what they deserve, which is quite a hard stance to reverse by looking at an artwork. I tend to take one of those elements and present it in disguise, introducing the viewer to a multi-layered artwork that brings the empathy to the surface. As each new layer is revealed, the empathy increases slightly until the viewer finds themselves at the core of the concept, with a heart full of empathy staring at my prison related issue.
How has art changed your life?
It taught me to think.
During your time in prison you wrote to lots of artists. Can you tell us a little about this? Why did you decide to write to them? What encouragement did they give?
After reading the Sensations catalogue, I had an instant need to know more. The prison library had the odd few “How to...” book by Bob Ross, Tony Heart and (ironically) Rolf Harris. In the back of Sensations was a list of the artists and who represented them so I wrote to around 30 of them pleading for any information on them or their work. After a week, I got the first reply from Sarah Lucas and Angus Fairhurst, then Gavin Turk, Mona Hatoumn, Marcus Harvey, Mark Wallinger, Rachael Whiteread and so on. Other than knowing they were in the Sensations exhibition, I knew hardly anything about most of the artists that I initially wrote to. Many would drop me a line every few months asking how I was doing, or with a catalogue from a show that they had attended. I had found people that respected what I was trying to achieve and was told how someone in my position was more than welcome in their world. I joined the cult and became a born-again artist.
FaceValue2 is an interesting concept. What inspired the exhibition, and what are you looking to achieve?
I met the American actor Michael K. Williams for a coffee to discuss a project that I wanted him to be a part of. He has a diagonal, linear scar from forehead to jawline and we discussed how both of us have had our identities changed by the hands of another. FaceValue and FaceValue2 emerged from that.
Whose artwork you will be manipulating?
I am both a donor and manipulator for this show. Mark Titchner is changing the identity of a sculpture I gave him called I'mPerfect and I am changing the identity of Sarah Lucas's sculpture Tit-Bricks. Tit-Bricks was used in the first show and was the reason I created the second. Before I had the concept for the current show, Sarah and I agreed that if there was to be another, her piece should be used again. This time it is a metaphor for a woman that returns into an abusive relationship, believing it'll be better this time. It wasn't and is now entitled Look what you've made me go & do... Again.
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