Parkside Vitrine: Luca George

AG: Hi Luca! What are you exhibiting in the vitrine? 

LG: Hello Andrew! Well, the work is titled, ‘Untitled (Imagine), 2025’, and it’s a cardboard Amazon box with a balsa wood pole barn frame protruding out the top of it. 

People say it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of Amazon. But a couple of years ago I did start to imagine what the end of Amazon might look like.

I’d been helping my friend - and great artist - Andy Holden build a large sculpture on a farm near Bedford. I’d never really spent a prolonged period of time on a farm before. I grew up in a city, I’d obviously visited farms as a child, school trips and on camping holidays with family, but not like this. It’s not like we were actually farming or doing anything useful, Andy knew the farmer well and we were using one of his large agricultural barns to make art. It felt incongruous but there was something magic about being in this big empty barn, I loved it. 

Anyway, when I was back in my studio in London I couldn't stop thinking about this barn. I started making miniature barn frames from balsa wood and then one day I was moving stuff about on my studio table and I rested one of the barn frames on top of an Amazon box and there it was...

I’ve collected Amazon boxes since the pandemic, at the time I was living in a shared house with 7+ people who were constantly ordering stuff. We had so many Amazon boxes piling up in the kitchen, I started using them to make crude sculptures in my bedroom which I then uploaded onto Instagram. I was pretty prolific. These days I have a studio and collect Amazon boxes from the recycling bins in the studio car park. It’s durable cardboard and very easy to manipulate. I’ve been making work out of Amazon boxes for years now, miniature houses, cars, boats, animals…you name it. A couple of months ago I did a performance in front of a few hundred people inside a big Amazon box, the box had four holes cut out of it, I stuck my arms and legs through them and then crawled around the stage for a bit, it was all about the delivery.

Anyway, where was I?! I rested the barn frame on top of the Amazon box and it came to me immediately, the cardboard box looked like an Amazon warehouse - you know the massive ones that started popping up at the side of the motorway in the UK about 10 years ago - and the balsa wood barn frame made it look like the warehouse was being converted into something else, an agricultural barn maybe? I started to imagine what would happen to all these humongous warehouses if Amazon went bust and there I was imagining the end of Amazon. You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. 

I do recognise that this all sounds a bit far-fetched and naive, but I guess I’m channelling the Hollywood actors who infamously covered John Lennon’s Imagine during the pandemic when they sang Imagine no possessions, it isn’t hard to do. I mean what were they thinking even John Lennon knew that song was a load of bullshit! I’m rambling here… Ask me another question! Quick!

AG: Recent Activity’s Nomadic Vitrine made use of a redundant display case and I liked the idea of this dormant object being given a new life, activated by artists and artworks in different settings. I feel like your practice has this approach too – objects, materials and sites being given new life… Staging a work in a display case comes with all kinds of art historical and museological nods, references and hierarchies. I came across your work on Instagram. Where and how do you enjoy exhibiting your work?

LG: I’m not sure I ever enjoy exhibiting my work! When I was 10 I did a performance at my school’s talent show where I mimed along to Robbie Williams’ Rock DJ. I loved Robbie Williams when I was growing up and this song, along with its music video, had a huge effect on me. The music video ends with Robbie Williams literally ripping off his skin and slinging it above his head in a desperate bid for attention. It’s a bit of a stretch to say that I found this critique of machismo relatable as a 10 year old, but I do remember spending many years finding Robbie Williams incredibly inspiring. He seemed so fallible but so at ease with being a show off, dancing, singing, sticking his tongue out and shouting look at me! I was into it.

There’s a slightly harsh quote from the brilliant Mark Fisher which describes Robbie Williams as, “The ‘as if’ Pop Star - he dances as if he is dancing, he emotes as if he is emoting, at all times scrupulously signalling - with perpetually raised eyebrows - that he doesn’t mean it, it’s just an act.” 

Anyway, all that is to say, I didn’t rip off my skin at the school talent show…. but I did rip off my shirt to reveal fake tattoos and a six pack my mum had helped me draw on, everybody started screaming and clapping, I enjoyed that.

But when it comes to exhibiting objects I get a bit nervous and uncomfortable. I'm getting better, but I do feel like I should stand next to them and dance or sing or fall over on purpose in an attempt to make people laugh. 

Which might explain why I’ve ended up doing so many performances over the years. I originally started making performances to compensate for these feelings of shame around the artwork I was putting out into the world…

I always feel a bit guilty when I exhibit an object under the presumption that people should come and see it.

AG: I enjoy the economy attached to inviting artists to exhibit within the limits of a small container. Could you say a little about the sense of economy in your work?

I really enjoy making artwork from materials I find in the bin. That way I can’t get too upset if people think it’s rubbish. 

AG: The vitrine projects I organize are always deliberately fleeting, lasting for a few weeks, days or even just a night. There’s a transience to your work too and an interesting exploration of legacy and time…

We first met whilst teaching. You led a fantastic workshop for the students in Birmingham, asking them to establish their own gallery in an hour and make their own art world. Is this sense of urgency important to you?

LG: Yes!