Showing from 20th – 28th April 2018 11:00am-7:00pm Daily, First Floor, Lazinc, 29 Sackville Street, Mayfair
Rose McGowan and Dame Vivienne Westwood attended the launch of the ‘Ash From Chaos’ art exhibition by Joe Corré, the son of Sex Pistols Founder Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood last night.
A reserve price of £6 million, has been put on the ‘pile of ash’ from the highly controversial punk memorabilia burn by Lazinc Gallery in Mayfair – which is now immortalised in a dramatic artwork.
Lazinc’s reserve makes the ‘Punk Ash Art’ worth more than the artefacts’ original value of £5 million.
Lazinc director Steve Lazarides is best known for being the agent of Banksy. He says: “We are very proud to be exhibiting Corré’s art work. His incredible work defines an era.”
The work will be on display in Lazinc’s first-floor viewing room until 28th April 2018.
The artwork will also incorporate Malcolm McLaren’s death mask. Sculptor Nick Reynolds, who created the original, was instructed by Joe Corré to recreate the mask for his art presentation.
On the 40th Anniversary of the release of Anarchy In The UK, 26th November 2016, Joe Corré, who co-founded Agent Provocateur, torched his entire punk memorabilia collection including bondage gear, Johnny Rotten’s trousers and a tiny swastika-sporting Sid Vicious doll. It followed a year of punk celebrations orchestrated by the Museum of London, the British Library, the British Film Institute, the British Fashion Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund as well as the Mayor of London.
Corré was highly critical of the shameless commercialisation of punk by the State and corporate sector. “With Virgin Punk credit cards, Punky McNuggets, Punk Fairy Liquid, bondage trousers from Louis Vuitton and punk car insurance, something needed to be done to put a stop to the rot” he says.
“This expensive pile of ash commemorates the demise of Punk but also society as we know it,” says Corré. “Punk was hijacked by corporations and the Establishment, it’s potency rendered meaningless”.
Corré has double-hijacked Punk back, killing it off as an act of kindness.
“NO NINSDOL! Punk became new wave. Punk became tame, conformity in another uniform. Punk needed to be destroyed so it’s spirit could be set free,” remarks Corré.
According to Corré: “Punk is dead, it is used by corporations to offer people an illusion of an alternative choice to sell them something they don’t need. It’s been hijacked but I’ve hijacked it back and we can now use that opportunity to see things for what they really are. Now we’re talking about the value of ash.”
All of the profits from the sale of this ‘Ash From Chaos’ artwork will go towards the Humanade charity to continue the fight against fracking, support some of London’s youth organisations as well as environmental protection.
This unique display will feature as one of the last chapters in a series of events culminating in the Burn Punk London Documentary, which will be released later this year and will explain the reasons behind the burn.