Jeremy Deller at the British Council

Posted: 29 July 2013 by Eleanor Mills RA Magazine

Jeremy Deller's work is intrinsically English. As part of his newest installation, ‘It’s a Kind of English Magic’, for the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale this year, he has paid homage to a variety of aspects of English culture. And to whet people's appetite, the British Council have distilled the essence of the Venice installation, before it tours the UK in 2014.

As you enter the British Council building, just minutes away from Trafalgar Square, you'll hear the summery harmonies of the British steel band that Turner prize-winning Deller has formed. They play on a video screen as part of the display here. Although traditionally Jamaican, steel bands have now become part of modern Britain's multi-cultural fabric.

_{Jeremy Deller - It's A Kind of English Magic: Notes from the Venice Biennale. Installation View, July 2013. Photo by James Gifford-Mead; © British Council}

Deller is famously inclusive with his art and involves people from all walks of life, from steel band musicians, to prisoners. The latter he asked to submit drawings they'd made while serving time in Her Majesty's prisons across England. And what's on display at the British Council shows great talent. The drawings depict British media and political moguls like Rupert Murdoch and Tony Blair, alongside sensitive portrayals of war and what life is like inside prison.

_{Jeremy Deller - It's A Kind of English Magic: Notes from the Venice Biennale. Installation View, July 2013. Photo by James Gifford-Mead; © British Council.}

Deller is also famously pro-cycling, and created a mural for Venice on this theme. In the British Council show, this has been recreated as an A4-sized stamp. It shows a giant hen harrier clasping and flying off with a Range Rover in its talons, called A Good Day for Cyclists. A second stamp – titled We Sit Starving Amidst Our Gold – shows the socialist designer William Morris lifting Roman Abramovich's yacht and dunking it into the sea to a watery death. Deller didn't make the original murals, neither did he draw the drawings, nor does he play the steel drums; he invites other people to be part of creating art, which makes it all the more enjoyable. And on that note, yes, you can even make your own art by printing the stamps when you visit.

_{Jeremy Deller - It's A Kind of English Magic: Notes from the Venice Biennale. Installation View, July 2013. Photo by James Gifford-Mead; © British Council.}

The phrase 'art for all' springs to mind, and as his bouncy Stonehenge continues its year-long tour around the UK (it just returned to London as part of the Open East festival in the Olympic park last weekend) it seems particularly relevant to say that every aspect of Deller's work is injected with a bit of good old-fashioned fun. His art is child friendly. It's art world friendly and it's public friendly. There aren’t many artists who inspire people as much with their artwork. And if that’s a kind of English magic, long may it live on.

Read an interview with Jeremy Deller published in the Summer issue of RA Magazine here

Jeremy Deller's British Council commission is at La Biennale di Venezia until 24 November and will tour nationally in 2014. It’s A Kind of English Magic, A small display relating to the commission is at the British Council Gallery, Spring Gardens, London until 21 September 2013

Eleanor Mills is the Assistant Editor of RA Magazine