Georg Wilson
Anything that behaves mischievously and in its own best interest, that is bold and all body, could be a goblin.
- Jen Calleja
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Goodnight Goblin, 2021, oil on canvas, 18 x 13cm
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Georg Wilson interrogates the gendered roles found in European folklore, by humorously inverting or distorting their narratives. Her most recent works tease out strange, playful moments enacted by sulky, awkward characters who clumsily dominate the compositions – they are called her ‘goblins.’The goblins roam wild across the English countryside, gorging themselves on fruit and vegetables, stealing whatever they can find. If you move your eye away from the painting for a moment, the goblins might slink away, never to be seen again. Wilson’s practice is directly informed by England’s changing seasons, the colour and sense of light in the work changing synchronously from Autumn to Spring. An awareness of these natural cycles can hopefully encourage us to live in the present, rather than always looking forward, and to feel more closely connected to our fellow earthly critters and the passing of time.
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The Juniper Tree, Brothers Grimm illustration by Maurice Sendak
On children’s books
'I keep a stack of books in the studio which my parents used to read to me when I was young – books such as Maurice Sendak’s ‘Where the Wild Things Are,’ ‘Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor’ and The Brothers Grimm ‘Juniper Tree’ collection of fairy tales. The illustrations in these books are weird, magical and most importantly, so comical and uncanny at the same time. These books continue to influence my work, decades after they were first read to me as a child. The strange characterisation and bizarre creatures that populate these stories seem even more playful and enchanting when I read them now. '
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Tapestry of Goblin, 2021, oil on canvas, 75 x 50 cm
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Harvest Moon, 2021, installation, dimensions
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The Omen, 2021, oil on canvas and collage, 25.4 x 30.4 cm
Morning and eveningMaids heard the goblins cry:“Come buy our orchard fruits,Come buy, come buy:Apples and quinces,Lemons and oranges,Plump unpeck’d cherries,Melons and raspberries,Bloom-down-cheek’d peaches,Swart-headed mulberries,Wild free-born cranberries,Crab-apples, dewberries,Pine-apples, blackberries,Apricots, strawberries;—All ripe togetherIn summer weather,—Morns that pass by,Fair eves that fly; -
Goblin Knows Something, 2021, oil on canvas, 75 x 50 cm
Come buy, come buy:Our grapes fresh from the vine,Pomegranates full and fine,Dates and sharp bullaces,Rare pears and greengages,Damsons and bilberries,Taste them and try:Currants and gooseberries,Bright-fire-like barberries,Figs to fill your mouth,Citrons from the South,Sweet to tongue and sound to eye;Come buy, come buy.”- excerpt from The Goblin Marketby Christina Rosetti -
Goblin Ridden, 2021, oil on canvas, 100 x 40 cm
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Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, LJS 419, fol. 42r.
And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.
― Where the Wild Things Are -
Back To Its Roots, 2021, oil on canvas and collage, 24.5 x 30.4 cm
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Georg Wilson in a Schembart carnival-inspired headpiece
On Schembart carnival
'A significant inspiration for my recent work has been a manuscript I came across online, illustrating costumes from the 16th century Schembart carnival. This carnival was held in a small German town called Schembart every year by the local butchers. The carnival dancers are adorned in the strangest outfits: robes of hazelnuts, foliage, and bearing flaming fireworks shaped like artichokes. The meaning behind these organic costumes is still debated, but I feel they are important for representing a society that, compared to contemporary Europe, was much more intimately connected with the production of their own food and by consequence, the processes of the natural world. I have been recreating elements of these costumes to wear myself in my studio, because I think they are hilarious, and I hope that by wearing their clothes I might be able to subconsciously channel this weird intimacy with nature that was so clearly celebrated by the butchers of Schembart.'
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Illustrations from a 16th-century manuscript detailing the costumery of Nuremberg's Schembart Carnival
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photo by Brynley Davis
Georg Wilson, b.1998, is a London-based painter and the co-founder of artist-led All Mouth Gallery. She has a BA in History of Art at the University of Oxford (2020) and is currently enrolled on the Painting MA at the Royal College of Art (2022). Her work has been exhibited at Guts Gallery and Arusha Gallery amongst others, and published in ArtMaze Magazine (2020). She is a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant (2020).
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further reading
