What would it be like if children ruled the world? We'd finish work at 3pm and spend the afternoon on playdates or just sitting upside down on the sofa. Petit Filous would be our national dish. We'd all sing a lot more (as long as it's not Wind the Bobbin Up count me in). We'd have to travel around on those weird scooter things that they're all obsessed with. And justice would be a lot harsher, eked out with a pinch or even a bite.
You can't help think about kids as miniature overlords when you look at their powerful, ribald and sometimes, if I'm honest, a little creepy artwork on show at Islington Arts Factory. The 200 or so paintings, drawings and sculptures by 4-18 year olds display a directness, a freedom of imagination and a brutish control of materials, all dispatched with unapologetic assuredness. ALL the attributes really which you spend so long trying to rediscover at art school.
Take the below for example. It's from a workshop called Imaginary Cities, age-group 7-11. It looks like a more visceral Paul Noble. I love how the artist has distilled the terror and noise of modern cities into three of its most potent progeny: cars, planes and bombs.
Try wearing this Cinderella. Is it an object or a sculpture? Surely all sculptures are just objects at the end of the day. This work steps right into this debate with all the delight of a green frog-eyed welly into a brown puddle. I love how it seemingly invites you to put it on. I would not like to try wearing this.
Then there's this soulful painting. So much pathos in so few details – eyes, nose, mouth. It makes you realise what great artists Munch and Guston were.
I could go on. I have the pleasure of walking through this show several times a week since my studio is at the back of the hall. Sometimes it has felt like looking at the relics of a society where all the adults have left and no-one's sure when they're coming back. The objects are odd, thrilling, and just because they're made by children, no less true.
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