Jonathan Baldock: Facecrime at Bluecoat in Liverpool

Sara Jaspan, Exhibitions Editor
Jonathan Baldock Facecrime
Jonathan Baldock, Facecrime, Bluecoat Installation View, 2020.2

Jonathan Baldock Facecrime at Bluecoat, City Centre 30 July — 1 November 2020 Entrance is free — Visit now

A simple clay pot from as early as 14,000BC may have primarily been made as a practical item, for cooking, eating or drinking out of. But when we observe an object like this, even of the most utilitarian kind, it also acts as a form of communication – as a bridge, connecting us with the past and the lives of our distant ancestors. Moreover, the cuneiform-inscribed clay tablets used by the Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia are believed to have provided the first writing medium, and the examples that survive carry not just historical records but works of literature within their wedge-shaped marks.

It is these early tablets that inspired the landscape of towering ceramic columns that form the centrepiece of artist Jonathan Baldock’s current solo exhibition, Facecrime, at Bluecoat in Liverpool. The show explores the potential of clay to create communication tools that still connect with us today, and his four-metre high monaliths have a distinctly contemporary twist, featuring their own private language of expressive faces and stamped emoji symbols (perhaps the most basic, universal and fastest-growing form of modern communication). They converse audibly, too, emitting groans, whistles and chuckles among themselves through concealed speakers that echo around the gallery walls.

The exhibition takes its title from the pages of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, in which the invented term (or ‘authorism’ – a neologism coined by an author that has entered wider language) describes an ‘unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself’ suggesting that there was something to hide. This points to a fascinating subtext within the show, as much as we might attempt to keep our faces set like clay when placed in difficult or dangerous situations, language has a way of seeping out into the world in whatever form it need take. Facecrime looks likely to be a show with plenty to unpack.

Jonathan Baldock Facecrime at Bluecoat, City Centre 30 July — 1 November 2020 Entrance is free Visit now

Where to go near Jonathan Baldock: Facecrime at Bluecoat in Liverpool

Probe Records record shop in Liverpool
City Centre
Shop
Probe Records

For more than 40 years, Probe Records has stocked an immense selection of music and provided a hangout for vinyl addicts and musicians alike.

Photo of the shop's front window
City Centre
Shop
Bluecoat Display Centre

The Bluecoat Display Centre in Liverpool is a contemporary craft shop – and it’s been doing its thing for over 50 years – despite funding cuts and recessions.

Mamasan Liverpool
City Centre
Mamasan Liverpool

Mamasan is a new three-floor South East Asian inspired restaurant and bar based in Liverpool One. It also has exciting cook-at-home options.

City Centre
Theatre
Epstein Theatre

The Epstein Theatre in Liverpool, formerly known as the Neptune Theatre, was renamed in honour of The Beatles’ Manager Brian Epstein.

Liverpool
Restaurant
Bacino

Bacino pizza and cicchetti bring a slice of Naples cuisine to Liverpool. With tasty dishes and lots of drinks options.

What's on: Exhibitions

Culture Guides