| Part title |
Trevor and Simon Tai Chi |
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| Part identifier |
P00000025 |
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| Part type |
Gesture |
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| Part creator |
Layzell, Richard |
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| Part medium |
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| Part description |
Richard says “...and on youth TV, couple of Saturdays ago, there were these two comedians who on Saturday mornings do these sketches. And they did one where they were artists, you might know them they are called, I think, Trevor and Simon. The week that I saw it they weren't just being artists, splashing paint around, before they made the pickles. They make pickles every week. They do things like that. And you know they're quite funny really. But when it came to art this week they had the paint and they were artists, Trevor and Simon as artists. And they said they were performance artists, look at us were doing Tai Chi, cuppa tea, try it like me, Tai Chi, performance artists and it did ring a chord, because I do do Tai Chi and I am a performance artist. And I had never seen the two as being inter-changeable. One feeds the other. But I've rarely demonstrated bits of it, because it is a demonstration, its not a performance, and this is what I always say when I teach people. So I felt personally strange and amused but also annoyed, because it took the p*ss out of two things that are important to me personally. Well done Trevor and Simon. But also great that performance art is mentioned even on Saturday morning TV, in whatever context. Moving into the mainstream ?” During this gesture Richard begins a Tai Chi sequence, facing the audience his right hand on his chest. When he refers to artists splashing paint around Richard lifts and waves his arms in a comic action, his body moving from side to side. His waving gestures become more exaggerated when he refers to performance artists, his arms drop and his body is at rest. Richard pauses as says “And it did ring a chord”. His right arm jerks forward with forceful emphasis on “moving into the mainstream?”. Richard explains later: “I'm being personable with the audience, chatty, I'm talking about popular culture. Trying to be funny by demonstrating Tai Chi in this context with rumbles of trains overhead Richard Layzell: trying to get at inappropriateness by doing it”. |
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| Provenance |
Description compiled via interview with Richard Layzell, University of Bristol, 2008. |
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