‘As long as it lasts’ is Simon & Tom Bloor’s first large scale solo exhibition in their home city. The show consists of a body of new works inspired by the artists’ interest in (public) modernist sculpture and flawed utopias set amongst an indoor grove of Silver Birch trees.
The Bloors have produced a series of new sculptures as unrealised proposals for public artworks inspired by the concrete ‘play sculptures’ of artists Bryan Blumer and John Bridgeman, commissioned in the 1960’s by the City of Birmingham Public Works Department as part of schemes for new housing estates in the city. The Bloors’ interest in failed utopian potential has led to the use of sculptural elements within the exhibition as plinths and planter forms surrounding twenty silver birches, trees often planted around urban development areas.
The title, ‘As long as it lasts’ is taken from Lawrence Weiner’s text sculpture AS LONG AS IT LASTS (2008), a semi-permanent wall work installed at Eastside Projects for the gallery’s inaugural exhibition. The exhibition also includes an exterior billboard and limited edition print designed by James Langdon quoting Lady Allen of Hurtwood.
