Work by George Storm Fletcher premiered in exhibition at Leeds Art Gallery
A new piece by Leeds alumni and MA Fine Art student George Storm Fletcher features in the Found Cities, Lost Objects exhibition which opened at Leeds Art Gallery in January.
Found Cities, Lost Objects is a new Arts Council Collection touring exhibition curated by Turner Prize-winning artist and cultural activist Lubaina Himid CBE. Works on display explore the urban environment through the eyes of women and gender non-conforming artists.
Running to 21 April, the exhibition addresses themes ranging from safety and navigation to concepts of belonging and power. It acknowledges the privileges which allow some people to roam freely, while also considering the boundaries that may curb the experiences of others.
Found Cities, Lost Objects features works from the Arts Council Collection and Leeds Art Gallery’s collection, together with works by artists based in Leeds and Yorkshire.
George Storm Fletcher’s new piece – ‘The Second Rule of Assertiveness’ – is on display alongside the work of 40 other artists, including recent Turner prize winner Jesse Darling, Phyllida Barlow, Cornelia Parker and Mona Hatoum, as well as current A2A Artist in Resident Michelle Duxbury and fine art alumna Manuela Amey.
George Storm Fletcher, The Second Rule of Assertiveness, November 2023 (Edition 1 of 3). Acrylic, beeswax and plywood lightbox with digital photograph of emulsion on canvas. 60x42.5x16cm.
George Storm Fletcher is a current part-time MA Fine Art student in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, due to graduate this September.
A BA Fine Art alumni of the University of Leeds, George self-describes as a Menace and performance artist. They work with plywood, emulsion-based paints and printmaking to create site-specific works that often feature text and their own body.
Fletcher’s piece ‘The First Rule of Assertiveness’ featured in their final year BA Fine Art Degree Show – Sitting With It – and was chosen as the winner of the inaugural Head of School Prize in 2022.
George Storm Fletcher with The First Rule of Assertiveness, Ely, 2022. Plywood, acrylic and beeswax lightbox, 32x44x15cm. Edition of 3. Installed in the Common Room for Sitting With It, June 2022.
A working sketch for ‘The Second Rule of Assertiveness’ was selected by curator Lubaina Himid in September 2023 for the Leeds iteration of Found Cities, Lost Objects. Fletcher then approached Ely College in October to install and create the piece in November 2023. The new lightbox sculpture was completed and ready for display in January of this year.
Photograph of Needham Tower, taken September 2023 with 35mm film. Credit: George Storm Fletcher.
Fletcher said:
“When I drew up the sketch for ‘The Second Rule of Assertiveness’, I created it thinking the piece could never be made, due its scale and location within a school.
“The piece takes Needham Tower as a stage for my latest intervention. I hand paint fabric with Magnolia vinyl matt and text, and hang the words behind the windows of the building, photographing the work from the outside.
One of the panels from George Storm Fletcher’s The Second Rule of Assertiveness as seen from inside Needham Tower, November 2023. Fabric with Magnolia vinyl matt.
“This piece involved 90 square metres of fabric, over 84 windows. It is by far my largest piece to date, second only to Passage, which was installed along one of the iconic walkways at the University of Leeds in November 2022.
“Needham Tower forms part of my Secondary School, Ely College. The building was due to be demolished as part of the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme, but the work never happened as the policy was axed by Michael Gove just months before it was due to start.
“Whilst I was at school there, the building held infamous status for Maths, Languages and English which were located vertically, each classroom off a very 1960s corridor. Serendipitously the building is now currently under scaffolding, as part of a multi-million pound scheme to convert the three story tower into a new Sixth Form Centre.
Photograph of Needham Tower, taken September 2023 with 35mm film. Credit: George Storm Fletcher.
“The timing of being asked by Lubaina Himid to create this work for her show meant that the working sketch became a reality on 8 November 2023: I attended the school at 8.30am – like I used to over ten years ago – hung the work, photographed it and deinstalled, all ready for home time by 4.30pm.
“It was an enormous task for me to do alone but the effect of seeing my hard work in the windows – 2ND RULE OF ASSERTIVENESS/I CAN TAKE MY TIME TO MAKE A DECISION – was a knockout moment in my career.
George Storm Fletcher with the finished The Second Rule of Assertiveness at Needham Tower, Ely College, November 2023.
“I am so excited to premiere the piece in the final iteration of this Arts Council Collection touring exhibition. It has spurred me on to relook at some of my sketches and think ‘hey, maybe this is possible as well’.
“My thanks go to Rachael Mustill and Claire Lucas for their support in organising my access to the building, and of course to Lubaina Himid CBE for seeing the potential of my working sketch.”
George Storm Fletcher, The Second Rule of Assertiveness, November 2023 (Edition 1 of 3). Acrylic, beeswax and plywood lightbox with digital photograph of emulsion on canvas. 60x42.5x16cm.
Dr Cesar Cornejo, Programme Leader for MA Fine Art and Associate Professor in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, said:
“George’s work commissioned for this show, while discrete in its gallery size, is of monumental proportions. George’s determination to bring it to fruition can only be matched by their talent and hard work.
“This is certainly a major step forward in a career which is already showing more than great promise, a level professionalism and excellence only found at the highest spheres of contemporary art practice.”
More information
Found Cities, Lost Objects runs from 26 January to 21 April at Leeds Art Gallery. Full details can be found on the Leeds Art Gallery website.
Find out about the wider Arts Council Collection Touring Exhibition series.
Follow George Storm Fletcher on Instagram.
Feature image
Detail from George Storm Fletcher, The Second Rule of Assertiveness, November 2023 (Edition 1 of 3). Acrylic, beeswax and plywood lightbox with digital photograph of emulsion on canvas. 60x42.5x16cm.
