The Tarkus Spring – Art, Optimism & Revolution
A new exhibition presented by Morecambe’s newest contemporary art gallery The White Elephant Gallery in Morecambe’s Arndale Centre.
From May 5th – June 9th at The White Elephant contemporary Art Gallery in The Arndale, Morecambe.
Opening Night Sat 5th May 4pm-7pm
Some Clarifications…
Tarkus first came to us in the dying years of the old century. First as a whisper, later as a roar. For twenty years and more the accretions had built up layer upon layer eventually blotting out the sunlight to all below. Since that time many people have asked ‘what is Tarkus?’ Ah, if only it were that easy, I have spent many a lonely evening pondering that simple yet knotty question.
Nevertheless, some things over time have become clear. Tarkus has a presence and purpose all of its own, it is at once familiar and yet somehow strange. Tarkus is not a thing like an object, in that it cannot be nailed down or placed in a specimen jar. Rather it is best thought of as a phenomenon, an experience. Yes, Tarkus has a recognizable image, but this is merely an outward manifestation within whose form entire worlds of meaning are held together.
Tarkus is like a tunnel, a tower block, a toy.
Tarkus is like lying on an analysts couch.
Tarkus can get tongued tied in any language under the sun.
Tarkus is like the tide of history on the turn.
Tarkus is like a slice of toast in the machine.
Tarkus is like an egg placed on a powder keg.
Tarkus is like a spinning top.
Tarkus is like a pocket of loose change.
Tarkus is like a corporal putting a snorkel into use.
Tarkus exists somewhere between a quagmire and a funeral pyre.
Tarkus is like a piece of lost property.
Tarkus is like a Walrus fighting a duck-billed platypus.
Tarkus is like an engine set to explode.
Tarkus is a horse trader, a house painter, a smuggler and a thief.
Tarkus is a survivor of the cappuccino wars, with all the requisite battle scars.
Tarkus is a geezer who will not fade or rust.
Tarkus likes chocolate, coffee and cigars.
Tarkus is a gunslinger a poet and a thief.
Tarkus knows how to accumulate orgone by the bucket load
Tarkus is a telescope, a trampoline and a heliotrope.
Tarkus is a symptom, a symbol, a swivel chair.
Tarkus is the cough before the Big Bang.
Is Tarkus a hairdryer, a time machine or both?
Tarkus is, Tarkus is, Tarkus is….
Oulan Nagardo
Budapest, April 2018
