It may be the latest victim of East End gentrification but after 23 years on Copperfield Road in Mile End, Matt’s Gallery left the building on Saturday night (23 April) in characteristically celebratory artist-centric style. Artists Behind Bars was not a mass-incarceration but a bibulous extravaganza in which more than 25 artists created and tended specially devised one-night-only bars with predictably uproarious results. Devised by the artist Kitty Finer in association with Eleanor Vonne Brown of X Marks the Bökship (who spent the evening propelling a cleaning trolley kitted out with bleach and vodka) the mass barhop was presided over by legendary Matt’s major-domo Robin Klassnik, whose white hoodie became increasingly emblazoned with messages from well-wishers as the evening wore on.
Many treats on offer included Lindsay Seers draped in a full black burqa with Masonic motifs and doling out Bloody Marys from a teapot; a “Britain is not an Island” EU referendum bar offering a choice of “Leave’” plum sours for £10 and “Remain” prosecco strawberry cocktails for 50p; and Benedict Drew dispensing an assortment of drinks, flasher-trader style, from the lining of his overcoat. The performance icon Brian Catling took the Artists Behind Bars title more literally as, with caged head and taped mouth, he lurked in a dark corridor shaking a moneybox and offering whiskey sips from a chipped mug.
There was rent-boy curry on offer from Spunkflakes and appropriately wholesome veggie fare served through the stringed apertures of the BARbara Hepworth by Silvia Ziranek and Tatty Devine, as well as a versatile combination of karaoke, jelly shots and “sex on the beach” purveyed by Laura Dee Milnes. In between these and a multitude of other imaginative offerings: the milling crowds were also treated to fly-swat spankings, (voluntary) baptisms carried out by a decidedly bogus priest in a paddling pool and some flamboyant displays courtesy of a pan-gender line-up sporting wimples, tattoos and pink furry slippers. On a more serious note there was a stunning resurrection of the legendary Bow Gamelan Ensemble with Anne Bean using sparklers to create burnt circular wall drawings with percussive accompaniment by Richard Wilson. Afterwards, the pyrotechnic duo served bowls of flaming sambuca to those brave—or foolhardy—enough to risk self-immolation. Burning down the house, indeed. Hopefully there will be an equally merry housewarming when Matt’s Gallery moves to its temporary home south of the river on Decima Street, Bermondsey, in September.