An Art Programme for Great Portland Estates

Art Acumen are working with Great Portland Estates to develop an ongoing art programme to nurture a creative culture for The Hickman

The Hickman is a new development by Great Portland Estates. “Designed for the new ways we are working – with collaboration, creativity and socialising at the core. The Hickman melds an old industrial building with the best in technology and environmental standards”

We are kicking things off with an artist in residence programme, which includes an onsite exhibition space and artist talks. Our first artist in residence is Heath Kane, showcasing his series “Portrait of Heroes”

“Napoleon said ‘history is written by the winners’. He might also have said ‘And painted for the rich’. The result is a gross distortion of our past.

Classical art was a means for wealthy individuals to portray how they wanted to be seen. In their portraits skin is always perfect and clear, they are handsome, beautiful and strong, but the reality was most likely very different. The subverted “Portrait of Heroes” pieces playfully suggest that maybe the classical portrait artists of the past were really the Photoshop and Instagram filters of their time. Today we all have the ability to take selfies and live our lives through social media. But how much of what we share is real and how much are we all trying to hero-ise our lives?” Heath utilises the iconic mask of Mexican Wrestler, Blue Demon. He was known to never, ever take off his mask, meaning that for most of his career, many of his fans never saw his face. Neither his collaborators nor his crew knew what he looked like, nor did he take the mask off during private meetings.

Here’s a short film of the artist at work which we have shared with the tenants