22—MARYLEBONE JOURNAL
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TOUCH
Every few years the Wallace Collection appoints an associate artist – someone to study the collections and then exhibit work that takes its cue from them. This year, it is Dr Kevin Coates, the pioneering goldsmith whose work has graced everywhere from cathedrals to Downing Street. Clare Finney pays him a visit
Like most journalists, I find it tempting to generalise artists – to wrap them up in 800 words of labels and cliché. Kevin Coates, however, eludes every neat category I have. Neither musician, nor goldsmith, nor mathematician, the Wallace Collection’s latest associate artist is all these things and much more – as his new exhibition, Time Regained, plainly shows. We meet at his home, a picturesque
townhouse perched daintily atop the leafy heights of Primrose Hill. The inside is startling: Persian rugs, antique mirrors, and Greek pottery make a museum out of the front hall, while the miniature portraits on the staircase wouldn’t look out of place in the National. Yet these treasures, though beautiful, pale into insignificance next to the Aladdin’s cave that is the Coates’ music room. Yes, music room: the elegant
abode of not just an 18th century piano, but also a host of lutes and mandolins, a 17th century violin and a harpsichord put together by Kevin himself. It was this harpsichord that led him to his musician wife, Nel, who played it in its debut concert at Wigmore Hall. They’ve been living – and playing – together ever since, she on the harpsichord and he on one of the many Baroque string instruments he adores. Yet it was also through this
instrument that Kevin deepened his understanding of the relationship between music and his third great love, mathematics. “I have quite an intense
relationship with design geometrics” he smiles, “and there is a particular musical beauty in the harmonies you find when you look at the
geometrical systems used in designing instruments. I’ve written about those quite a bit and I employ them in my work – because I believe there is an unheard music in mathematics.” By “quite a bit” Kevin means
an entire book: he’s a doctor of philosophy, and his thesis was based on this subject. Yet while maths and music are both central to Kevin’s aesthetic, what I really want to know is how they help him to transform some of the greatest items in the Wallace collection into gold. To demonstrate, Kevin picks
up a finely painted box – an ironic starting point for a man who metaphorically avoids boxes, but one whose influence quickly becomes clear. “This box was made in 1790, and it’s decoration was inspired by the painting The Grand Turk Giving
LINKS
Time Regained 23 June – 25 September
The Wallace Collection Manchester Square
wallacecollection.org
a Concert to his Mistress by Vanloo,” he explains. “In the painting we can identify the harpsichordist as a famous singer of the time, and that she is playing Si, Caro, Si – an aria about misunderstandings between a married couple.” Extensive research revealed this lady was actually married to the painter; even closer scrutiny suggested that, lurking in the shadows, is a self-portrait of the painter looking on. And Kevin’s own interpretation, a small brooch in a wall mount, “deals with the relationship, their misunderstanding, and its resolution in music”. To describe this process, Kevin
labels his creations Penumbrae, meaning the “outer shadows”. These are cast “not just by the thing, but by all the people who have viewed it”, so at the centre there’s the painting, outside that is interpretation – “all those other people who have owned the painting or looked at it” – and on the edge is Kevin, collating and translating all these ideas via his understanding, his research and his gold. “I think that all creation is, like
you’re doing now, an analysis of the component information – which
CULTURE
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 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100