Sarah Baker: A portrait of Bill May - curation within the context of the independent gallery space.

The research field is curation within the context of the independent gallery space.This solo exhibition of American artist Sarah Baker’s exploration of stereotypes and associations of masculinity and femininity focuses on the American synchronised swimmer Bill May. As a child Baker, a synchronised swimmer herself, competed against May and her research focused on depicting him as a glamorous male equivalent of a star in the Busby Berkely ‘aqua-musicals’ of the 1940s and 50s that featured Esther Williams. Seitz curated the exhibition and associated publicity in the gallery 1,000,000 MPH. A gallery he co-founded in 2002. The gallery, now with charitable status and registered with Tower Hamlets Council, is located in Old Bethnal Green Road, London E2. Seitz and Esther Williams are the curators, either separately or together. The rationale for the exhibition space featuring new artists such as Simon Bedwell and more established figures such as Richard Wentworth, is that it be non-commercial and encourage experimental art in any media. To this end it has recently exhibited digital artworks by Jane Prophet. The curation included use of a heavy rap soundtrack (by Usher and D12) for the film to echo the male stereotype the artist makes allusions to and a poster (48” X 56”) which shows May in a monogrammed tracksuit seated in a gold chair. A gold swimmer’s nose clip was also exhibited and worn by May in the poster as a ‘bling-style’ ring. The background echoes Louis Vuitton’s exclusive but much counterfeited monogram repeat pattern designs (http://www.re-title.com/artists/Sarah-Baker.asp and http://www.aeroplastics.net/ORACLE_of_TRUTH/Sarah_Baker.html .1,000,000 MPH is a venue also used by ‘Local Operations’ under the auspices of The Sackler Centre of Arts Education, The Serpentine Gallery. For example ‘Pimps and Hookers and a Salon’ (16th June 2007) comprised debates on art as a culture industry, the later including Sarah Baker.