Kisses from MK

MK Gallery presents a new installation by Bedford based artist Andy Holden within the MK50 anniversary exhibition, A New City Comes to Life in Middleton Hall, the centre:mk, from Monday 16  to Sunday 23 January.

The artwork, is based on a series of staged photographs of young couples kissing against iconic public sculptures in Milton Keynes. These photographs are hung on large-scale cut-outs of the sculptures, creating a mini sculpture park, which the artist imagines as a stage set for more activities and interaction.

Some of the most well-loved public artworks in Milton Keynes are featured in the installation. Elisabeth Frink’s Horse, Essence by Wendy Taylor and The Space Between by Eilis O’Connell sit alongside replicas of three classic works by Bernard Schottlander. Andy Holden’s interpretation of these MK landmarks is part of the body of work, MI!MS (Maximum Irony! Maximum Sincerity), a manifesto for art practice that Andy and a group of four friends developed when they were in their teens. A film and paintings from MI!MS, can be seen in MK Gallery’s Project Space until 28 January.

Describing why he chose Milton Keynes as the backdrop for his romantic photographs, Holden states: “It intuitively made sense to me. It came from a photo I’d taken of a couple kissing on the base of a public sculpture when I was travelling in Germany eight or nine years ago. It was complete chance, but looked staged. I wanted to re-create this and Milton Keynes’ strange abstract sculptures, lurking in corners I’d discovered whilst roaming around, were always at the back of my mind. It was certainly in tune with how Milton Keynes had seemed to me as a teenager.”

Andy Holden discusses public sculpture in Milton Keynes with Anthony Spira, Director of MK Gallery in the first issue of the City Club newspaper.