Serpentine Graphics 73

Serpentine Graphics 73 was the final exhibition in the summertime series of 1973 and consisted of a selection of works by 26 young artists.

The exhibition consisted of a selection of over 300 prints, drawings and watercolours by 26 young artists. The artists in the exhibition were felt by selector, Edward Lucie-Smith, to be adding something new in technique, or imagery to their selected mediums. Figures and landscapes were popular genres, though the approach to these was eclectic.

The whole North Gallery was devoted to Denis Masi and Ian Colverson’s joint project, For Otiose Sailors and Girl Guides Only… The work documented a project by the artists to demonstrate the possibilities for presenting art and making exhibitions beyond the gallery walls. Throughout July 1973, 300 of Masi and Colverson’s giant offset litho prints, Art Sign, could be seen on 54 commercial billboard sites in 15 cities throughout Great Britain, as well as on the sides of buses on several main London routes. In this way, approximately 800,000 people around the country saw them. In the gallery, the two artists presented documentation of the project in the form of photographs, the original poster-image, and tapes of interviews recorded at each poster-site.

Serpentine Graphics 73 carried the subtitle of Image, Reality and Superreality and comprised works acquired for the Arts Council collection.