In 1985, a group of very naughty boys wreaked absolute havok on Cork Street. Back then, this little Mayfair road was the heart of the London art world and its galleries (Redfern, Bernard Jacobson, Mayor, etc) were the White Cubes and Gagosians of their day. That night, each one got splattered and sprayed with huge amounts of grey paint. Very naughty.
The vandals were the Grey Organisation, a group of East London art miscreants, hellbent on pranking the art world and sticking it to the man. Now, 37 years later, the evidence of that night’s shenanigans have been plastered over the walls of this gallery: one of the very places they vandalised that night. All is forgiven, I guess?
There are photos of the paint-smeared galleries on display here, shown alongside police statements, letters from lawyers, news clippings and a tin of grey paint. The photos show the stiff, uptight, exclusive world of London art reduced to a huge ramshackle mess, and it’s great.
Other photos show the Grey Organisation with cabbages on their heads, or lined up looking moody in a corridor: surreal, silly, British iconoclasts. There’s also artwork on show, including a version of the cover art they did for De La Soul’s iconic ‘3 Feet High and Rising’ album and some smashed, burnt cans of holsten. It’s super interesting, but there’s just not enough, and it makes you want to see a way bigger, more in-depth show of the Grey Organisation's art.
There’s definitely a sense of selling out that comes with watching punk rebels getting embraced and celebrated by the very establishment they railed against. But maybe it shouldn’t be that black and white: maybe everything’s just shades of grey.
