Rue Britannia 2024
Ikon Gallery
Ikon presents the first major solo exhibition and an ambitious off-site commission by British artist Dion Kitson in partnership with English Heritage.
Kitson grew up in Dudley, in the heart of the Black Country and studied at Birmingham School of Art. Incisive, enterprising and laced with sharp wit, Kitson’s artistic practice dissects British class and identity, reshaping its visual hallmarks and traditions across sculpture, installation, film and found objects. Kitson’s work is both playful and provocative, providing a candid account of the everyday and the banality of life. Joe Lycett, comedian, painter and television presenter, writes in his essay for the exhibition catalogue that Kitson “understands the state of our nation better than anyone, and why it is the way it is: funny, and beautiful, and dumb.”
The visual environment of Kitson’s exhibition at Ikon draws on the artist’s experiences of growing up in Dudley, a market town which prides itself as the birthplace of the industrial revolution and, as such, is replete with ruination – a metaphor for the wider state of British towns. Visitors to Rue Britannia are invited into the architectural installation Council House of Kitson (2024), which recreates both the façade and interior of his father’s house, who’s living room was also pebbledashed. In contrast with the large-scale pebbledash installation, Ode to Rubbish Mountain (2022) is a miniature recreation of the iconic landfill pile that was removed from Brierley Hill in the Black Country in 2016 after a 5-year local battle to have it taken away.
Kitson grew up in Dudley, in the heart of the Black Country and studied at Birmingham School of Art. Incisive, enterprising and laced with sharp wit, Kitson’s artistic practice dissects British class and identity, reshaping its visual hallmarks and traditions across sculpture, installation, film and found objects. Kitson’s work is both playful and provocative, providing a candid account of the everyday and the banality of life. Joe Lycett, comedian, painter and television presenter, writes in his essay for the exhibition catalogue that Kitson “understands the state of our nation better than anyone, and why it is the way it is: funny, and beautiful, and dumb.”
The visual environment of Kitson’s exhibition at Ikon draws on the artist’s experiences of growing up in Dudley, a market town which prides itself as the birthplace of the industrial revolution and, as such, is replete with ruination – a metaphor for the wider state of British towns. Visitors to Rue Britannia are invited into the architectural installation Council House of Kitson (2024), which recreates both the façade and interior of his father’s house, who’s living room was also pebbledashed. In contrast with the large-scale pebbledash installation, Ode to Rubbish Mountain (2022) is a miniature recreation of the iconic landfill pile that was removed from Brierley Hill in the Black Country in 2016 after a 5-year local battle to have it taken away.