Last night, we were invited to the Hayward Gallery above London’s Southbank for the opening of their new exhibition, the Alternative Guide to the Universe. It’s a fascinating journey of art through the minds of many select, self-taught artists and architects, fringe physicists and visionary inventors, all of whom offer bracingly unorthodox perspectives on the world we live in.
The biggest surprise of all, found between the numerical masterpieces of George Widener, and the alien-obsessed numerical pattern art from Paul Laffoley, is the “Letter Racers” sculpture by the late New York hip hop musician/graf writer Rammellzee. The art piece itself is made up of many Vision Skateboards Gonz decks (and others) hanging from the ceiling, and all laid out like a fleet of battleships in space. The decks have all been cut down from their original 10′ widths to form a slimline cut, and are then sliced in half, and stitched back together to form a kind of longboard, similar to what we have all just witnessed in A Golden Egg‘s extended decks recently. These structures all come equipt with 80s nose guards and skid plates, stacked high with various objects that look to be recyled from a plethora of household goods – from vacuum cleaner parts to empty tubes, to toy dolls and much, much more. It’s a fascinating sight and quite overwhelming.
Labelled with letters, the Racers are intended to pit each individual letter in galactic battles against each other, symbolically challenging the accepted standards and functionality of the 26-letter alphabet.
Go and see it for yourself. It used to sit in Rammellzee’s loft and can now be viewed at this incredible exhibition showcasing the strongest of the strange from the outsider art world. The Alternative Guide to the Universe exhibition runs at the Hayward gallery from Tuesday 11th June until Monday 26 August 2013. Admission is free if you are a member, or £11 (with £1.75 booking fee) if not.
