Cornelia Parker: surreal terrorist, mad scientist and alchemist
Cornelia Parker approaches her art with a sense of humour. Her artworks, like Cold Dark Matter and wrapping up Rodin’s The Kiss in bondage and string, have been an inspiration to many, including Arts Hub’s resident comedian, Sam Stone. In 1997 Cornelia Parker was shortlisted for the Turner Prize. Despite her status as one of the movers and shakers of the BritArt scene, unlike some of her contempor
2 May 2007 12:00
Sam Stone
[This is archived content and may not display in the originally intended format.]
Visual Arts
In 1997 Cornelia Parker was shortlisted for the Turner Prize. Despite her status as one of the movers and shakers of the BritArt scene, unlike some of her contemporaries, she was taught at Wolverhampton Poly and has never been collected by Saatchi.
Cornelia Parker is best known for her large scale installations such as, Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, made up of the splintered debris of a bomb-exploded shed, reconstructed around a central hanging light bulb; and Thirty Pieces of Silver, consisting of tons of silverware steamrollered into thirty, giant, flat circles suspended in perfect symmetry. She is also known for having collaborated with actress Tilda Swinton on The Maybe at the Serpentine Gallery and for having wrapped Rodin’s The Kiss up in string at the Tate.
Sam Stone left school at the age of 14 without qualifications to support herself. She started working as runner on film sets. Quite glamorous, but she got tired after a few miles. She worked her way up the food chain and began producing tv commercials at the age of 18. She then decided to pursue a career in Media, discovered L.S.D and was found trying to fax herself to the Home Office muttering ... "Bill Hicks told me to kill myself. Bill Hicks told me to kill myself" Naturally, she quit her high powered job in advertising and her decent salary and started slinging plates as a waitress. She did other things too such as working as a cook on a cargo ship. Being the only English speaking person on the ship of Germans, she had to resort to war-film German. She didn't make many friends. She often had to mime what was for dinner. Chicken was her favourite. Spaghetti a bit more surreal. But the ship stayed in dry-dock and she started to feel she just wasn't going anywhere. She worked as a stripper for a number of years on and off, on and off - anything up to 30 times in a single shift. She also spent several years working as a Storyteller in schools, libraries and literature festivals - dabbling in myth, fairytale and a courdoroy waistcoat. She began writing comedy material in April 2006. [Photo: Claes Gellerbrink]
