Bexleyheath seems to be the place right now to view interesting art in a pleasing country house setting. Just down the road in the DA5 postcode is Lee Hyung-koo at Hall Place and Gardens. And in Danson House DA6, which the Bexley Heritage Trust describes as “a beautifully restored Georgian villa where sumptuous interiors tell the story of a country house built for entertainment”, Shin Mee-kyoung soap vases form part of an interesting exhibition entitled Couriers of Taste.
Sounds like a day out in Bexleyheath is called for.
Couriers of Taste
1 April – 31 October
Free with admission to Danson House
Danson Park, Bexleyheath, Kent DA6 8HL
Couriers of Taste explores the relationship between international trade, global consumerism and cross-cultural influences. through drawings, photographic prints, maps, masks, installations and sculptures, the exhibition also reflects on Danson House’s past as a place built for leisure and decadence, which is steeped in the history of 18th-century trade, with links to a slave-run plantation in the West Indies.
The artworks on show will take visitors on a journey from China to Africa and to fantastical places of the imagination. Each room, found on the top floor of the house, has a theme: territories, contemporary chinoiserie, the trader, consumerism and an opium den.
Curated by Day + Gluckman. Featuring work by: Gayle Chong Kwan, Stephanie Douet, Ed Pien, Meekyoung Shin, Susan Stockwell, Karen Tam, Laura White, WESSEILING and seeds collected from Ai Weiwei’s spectacular work Sunflower Seeds which filled Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.
