MICHAEL LANDY, R.A. | We Leave the Scum No Place to Hide

Thomas Dane, London
Karsten Schubert, London, where acquired by the present owner in 1994-5

London, Waddington Galleries, The Making of Scrapheap Services, 1996, un-numbered exhibition.

The work is composed of four separate sheets of paper. The sheets are then affixed to the mount with tabs in each corner of the work and also in several other places throughout the work. There are minor undulations and faint creases to the sheet throughout. There is some time staining to the extreme edges of the sheet and the ink may have very slightly faded in keeping with the artist's materials. In addition there is a very small area along the left vertical edge in the lower third at the joint between two sheets where the ink has faded, this is most likely due to the adhesive used. There is tipex in several areas of the composition, consistent with the Artist's working method and materials. Subject to the above the work is in overall very good condition. The work is window mounted and held behind glass in a simple wooden frame. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The career of Michael Landy (b.1963) has been driven by a series of of notable installations. These have included Market (1990), Closing Down Sale (1992), Scrapheap Services (1996), Break Down (2001) and H2NY (2006), all of which engendered much documentation such as drawings, photographs, publications and videos. The present work belongs to a group of drawings made in relation to Scrapheap Services, a large-scale installation acquired by Tate in 1997. This was Landy’s most imaginative work in which he invented a waste-disposal firm with the object of cleansing society of undesirable members in a ruthlessly efficient way, while retaining a bright and sunny landscape as its visual logo and smartly uniformed workers. Thousands of cut-out figures (made from street rubbish) are swept up and fed into an alarming shredding machine called the ‘Vulture’.

The group of highly detailed ink drawings, recording the work’s evolution and fabrication, remind us in turn of an obsessive ‘mad scientist’, a child’s delight in page-filling and a medieval monk illuminating a manuscript. All combine a comic riff on advertising with mordant social satire. They are unprecedented among works on paper by Landy’s YBA contemporaries.