Waterfront Issue 11

Against
the Odds
et to cast his trained artistic eye over local
artistic talent at the upcoming Best of
Manchester Awards, to be held at Urbis,
Jeremy Deller can appreciate the voyage
that young, talented, contemporary artists must
go on in order to push the boundaries and
perceptions within the industry. His career path
has also had its fair share of trials and tribulations
along the way.
T_he journey of an artist is never a straightforward
one and this was never truer of Turner Prize
Winner, Deller. Much lauded for his 2004
winning collective, ‘Memory Bucket’, the multi-
talented artist did not, rather controversially, start
out as a student of art.
An old boy of renowned independent boys’ school
Dulwich College, Deller was never allowed to
study the subject, instead steered towards other
disciplines in which he would meet the require-
ments of the elite school and stay within the top
15 per cent of the academic range. By his own
admission, he, “…wasn't so much advised not to
take the O level as not allowed to do it. I couldn't
draw, paint or sculpt.”
Undeterred by this, Deller went on to study Art
History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, taking
a figurative leap into the unknown and contra-
dicting everything that was believed of him. A
world class place of study for artists, the Institute
became a centre in which Deller could focus his
talents.
Moving beyond his aﬄuent roots, his work
channelled the troubled political landscape of 80s
48 waterfrontmagazines.co.uk
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14 | Page 15 | Page 16 | Page 17 | Page 18 | Page 19 | Page 20 | Page 21 | Page 22 | Page 23 | Page 24 | Page 25 | Page 26 | Page 27 | Page 28 | Page 29 | Page 30 | Page 31 | Page 32 | Page 33 | Page 34 | Page 35 | Page 36 | Page 37 | Page 38 | Page 39 | Page 40 | Page 41 | Page 42 | Page 43 | Page 44 | Page 45 | Page 46 | Page 47 | Page 48 | Page 49 | Page 50 | Page 51 | Page 52 | Page 53 | Page 54 | Page 55 | Page 56 | Page 57 | Page 58 | Page 59 | Page 60 | Page 61 | Page 62 | Page 63 | Page 64 | Page 65 | Page 66 | Page 67 | Page 68