Eyeblog

Vic Reeves opening Wednesday 6th June

The evening of Wednesday 6th June saw the opening of Vic Reeves: My Family & Other Freaks here at the Eyestorm gallery.

As usual with preparing an exhibition we were all working frantically to get everything finished on Monday and Tuesday, ready for Wednesday afternoon when the press preview was scheduled. After placing and hanging most of the work on Monday, two of my colleagues suggested painting the gallery floor, which at first I was apprehensive about due to the fact that it may not be dry in time for the opening. After much persuading on their part however, we decided to go for it and stayed late to finish the job, and I am glad we did as it made the world of difference and I think we all agreed that the gallery looked amazing when it was all completed.

The highlight of the press viewing on Wednesday afternoon was Grayson Perry doing an interview with Vic about the exhibition for his weekly column in The Times. Shortly after arriving at the tradesman’s entrance on his bicycle, Grayson proceeded to pull one of his plates from his bag and present it to Vic as a present. Made 15 years ago, the plate features The Man With The Stick, a character from Vic Reeves’ Big Night Out, Vic’s first TV show from the early 1990’s. Vic was delighted to receive a present from Grayson; I think he was even more delighted when I told him how much it was probably worth!

As soon as 6pm came, so did the visitors. Many were there to support Vic, including his beautiful wife Nancy Sorrell and her parents, the comedian Paul Whitehouse, who purchased a couple of works, and legendary artist Colin Self who has become a friend of Vic’s through a mutual respect for each other’s work. By 6.30pm there was a large crowd, and by 7pm it was packed. The mild evening meant the party was able to spill into the outside area, where guests sat at the fetching pink ‘Better Bankside’ chairs and tables that also grace the space outside Tate Modern.

All in all it was a successful night; a great turn out and sales of work. The wine was once again running dry by 9pm but it wasn’t until Vic’s car turned up to take him and his family home at 10pm that the crowd started to disperse (with the help of some clever light flicking on and off by tired Eyestorm staff that wanted to go home!). Another Eyestorm opening survived by all.

Angie Davey

Curator of exhibition and head of artist liaison.

In Association with the Institute of Contemporary Arts

Eyestorm is the leading online gallery of limited edition contemporary art. Founded in 1999, Eyestorm came under new management in 2006 and has refined its operations to make buying the finest contemporary art easier and more enjoyable than ever before.