Memory Palace is a “walk-in story” at the V&A that brings to life a new work of fiction by the author Hari Kunzru: An “immersive exhibition experience” has been created through a series of commissions by 20 internationally acclaimed illustrators, graphic designers and typographers including Le Gun, Oded Ezer, Erik Kessels and Luke Pearson.” I spoke to Neal Fox of Le Gun to find out how they brought a book to life in three dimensions…
What’s the most important thing to know about Le Gun?
Le Gun are a group of five artist/illustrators (Neal Fox, Chris Bianchi, Robert Rubbish, Steph von Reiswitz and Bill Bragg) and two designers (Matt Appleton and Alex Wright) who work together to make maximalist and absurd collaborative drawings, sculptures and installations as well as a self titled book of graphic art which comes out every couple of years. We are also planning our own theme park.
Who inspires you?
Hyronamus Bosch, Hawkwind, George Grosz, JG Ballard, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Crumb, John Cooper Clarke, Hunter S Thompson, Tim Capello, William Burroughs, Jon Maus, Gerard Depardieu… they all walk with fire.
What appealed to you about Hari Kunzru’s story? What is it about the concept that makes it work particularly well visually?
It imagines a post apocalyptic London and also comments on society today, such as the dismantling of the NHS. The idea behind the story was that memory has been banned, things have become distorted over time, which meant we could twist all kinds of different influences into one crazy melange. It suits the way we work as a group all bringing different ideas into one piece of work.
How did you start the process of coming with ideas for the installation?
I read the story the on the bus to the studio… our section of it was about doctors roaming around the city and helping the sick.. I had an idea about an ambulance that looked like a chariot… the doctor as a heroic mythical figure. Bill had been looking at photos of tribal witchdoctors, and I think Steph had the idea of a fleet of urban foxes. Things came together from there…
Where did you draw inspiration aside from the book itself?
We went off on different tangents, I think we were most inspired a lot by the Wellcome collection which is a Victorian ‘wunderkammer‘ of curiosities… with the drawings for the V&A shop we were influenced by old drawings which illustrate the idea of the Memory Palace, which is a technique for remembering things. You picture a room and fill it with objects which represent the different things you want to remember.
How does your creative process work?
It is quite intuitive, we all just chat and come up with a rough concept very quickly and then just go for it… we add to each others drawings and its all quite freestyle… you can’t have too much of an ego about it, it becomes more like a collective imagination.
What has to happen before you’re ready to put ink to paper on the final piece?
We sketch it out pretty roughly, and then we like to get inking very early on. “The magic happens when the ink flows across the page,” as our old tutor Andrzej Klimowski used to say.
How do different members of the team work differently? How do your skill sets complement each others?
Bill Bragg is the most practical one he was taking the lead with the practicalities of building the ambulance, but with the drawing we all blend together into one many armed inky organism… like a squid you might say! Working together we probably get more imaginative because we go in directions none of us would come up with on our own. We are probably braver as a group because we know if it all goes wrong we will go down together laughing!
What was the most fun part and the most challenging part of this project?
The most challenging part is to take a mad idea you come up with as a drawing and then turn it into a life size three dimensional object without cutting corners when you get tired! The most fun part was seeing all the different elements finally coming together in the gallery after weeks of imagining how it might look.
What’s your favourite part of the final installation?
I really like a poster that Steph drew for the ambulance, asking “Are you suffering from a spiritual growth?”… and a creature with tentacles and a Noel Edmonds beard attaching itself to someone’s face!
What does it mean to you to be involved with a project like this with an institution such as the V&A?
For us its quite a big deal because for years we have putting on our own shows with tiny budgets in spaces in the East End. Thousands of people who have never heard of us before are going to see our stuff. I got a bit emotional after a few drinks at the opening because about nine years earlier we all met and started doing Le Gun drawings in the bar at the RCA just down the road and now it looks like we might be starting to get somewhere at last…
The exhibition is in The Porter Gallery at the V&A until Sunday 20th October 2013.
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- interview :: stolen form
- interview :: oki sato
- interview :: jude dennis
- interview :: seven gauge studios
