LOOK out for a giant inflatable sculpture of a psychedelic crab and colourful digital wallpaper of a pair of lovers, inspired by Peasholm Park, in Jason Wilsher-Mills’s larger-than-life exhibition at Woodend Gallery, Scarborough.
His colourful explosion of artwork characters, revealing the stories of his memories of childhood seaside holidays, 1970s’ working-class experience and disability, will be on show from September 14 to January 4 2025.
The Scarborough Crab sculpture features a tattoo design, 1970s’ psychedelic prints and seagull sidekick. The Scarborough Love digital fabric print wallpaper is themed around a willow pattern, utilising the story of two doomed lovers that decorates many blue-and-white plates.
“I love the fact that here in Scarborough there is a place that has been dedicated to this love story, so I decided to update the story and make it even more ‘Scarborough’,” says Jason, a Yorkshire-based disabled artist, who was born in Wakefield.
“My willow pattern features some of the designs I saw in Peasholm Park, alongside seaside ephemera, such as rope and seashells, and references to the north, with the Yorkshire Rose featured in the border.
“I’ve created my own Scarborough lovers, who meet and fall in love: the rocker with his Kiss Me Quick hat on, and the blonde, with her beehive hair, and Mod jacket, adorned with a target, which was so favoured by the scooter fashionistas that visited the town in the 1960s and ’70s.”
Visitors also should seek out Wilsher-Mills’s Scarborough Triptych: a three-panel wallpaper featuring argonaut characters inspired by his Jason And His Argonauts exhibition. Among them is the Manchester Argonaut, inspired by Joy Division singer Ian Curtis.
Sarah Oswald, interim chief executive at Scarborough Museums and Galleries, says: “We’re really excited to have welcomed Jason to Scarborough over the past few months as he developed his response to the town’s heritage, character and people.
“We believe everyone, young and old, will find something to connect with in this exhibition. In Scarborough Crab and Scarborough Love Jason has created two new iconic pieces that capture the essence of Scarborough and his own experience and memories.”
Wilsher-Mills will give a talk at Woodend Gallery on October 12 on how he captures childhood memories, popular culture and social history through his psychedelic, pattern-clashing inflatable sculptures and wallpapers.
His large-scale, humorous, challenging work embraces cutting-edge technologies, vibrant use of colour and disabled activist messaging that transcends into individual characters, who carry a story and journey to each new town. “When asked what my work is about, I simply say, ‘Think I, Daniel Blake meets the Beano’,” says Jason.
Summing up Jason Beside The Sea, he says: “Ultimately, it’s a story about love, a reminder of the magic of younger times and caring for everybody.”
Keep an eye on scarboroughmuseumsandgalleries.org.uk for further details of the talk.
Jason Wilsher-Mills: Jason Beside The Sea, Woodend Gallery, The Crescent, Scarborough, September 14 to January 4 2025, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm; Saturdays, 10am to 4pm. Gallery entry is free. His exhibition Jason and The Adventure Of 254 runs at Wellcome Collection, London, until January 12 2025.
Did you know?
JASON Beside The Sea is part of Connecting Coastal Cultures, an Arts Council England-funded project, delivered by Scarborough Museums and Galleries in partnership with Crescent Arts, to raise the profile of art in the north, providing opportunities for artists from the area to exhibit in regional venues.
Did you know too?
EARLIER this year, from February 24 to June 2, Wilsher-Mills exhibited Are We There Yet? at Ferens Gallery, Hull. Created in response to disabled communities in Hull, Wakefield and Manchester, his theatrical portraits and sculptures reflected aspects of his personality, memory and disability. This year too, he has exhibited The Argonaut at Dusseldorf’s Balloon Museum.