Ikon Icons sees the return to Ikon Gallery of five key British artists from an exhibition programme that has extended over five decades – including John Salt, Ian Emes, Cornelia Parker, Yinka Shonibare MBE and Julian Opie. A presentation of work by each takes place, consecutively, throughout 2014 in Ikon’s Tower Room.
Yinka Shonibare MBE’s exhibition at Ikon Gallery in 1999 was seminal. Now the gallery is exhibiting Five Under Garments and Much More, 1995, an early suspended installation that prefigures Shonibare’s mannequin works. Each piece mimics the structured corsetry of period noble dress but the dramatically enlarged proportions and exuberant textiles suggest a provocative de-robing of social and class constructions.