King Tat: Shaun Doyle and Mally Mallinson

Foster, Stephen (2005) King Tat: Shaun Doyle and Mally Mallinson.

Abstract

We have all dreamed of finding hidden treasures, another Tutankhamun, or a Terracotta Army. But what if, searching closer to home, we unearthed the decaying crypt of a man, preserved for eternity in his own flat? In the murky depths of the gallery, artists Shaun Doyle and Mally Mallinson have created the tomb of a modern recluse – a man they call King Tat.


Enter the gallery and a corridor leads you to the antechamber. Gaping holes in the walls afford views into a room, scattered with flimsy household goods. Grimy mattresses loll against peeling flock wallpaper and a small car nestles in a corner, a carriage for the afterlife. Two four-foot high polystyrene dogs guard the burial chamber, which is barred by breeze-blocks

The corridor leads on to reveal the burial chamber itself, dominated by a hulking chest-freezer, the sarcophagus. The chamber is adorned with housing estate murals and gaudy street-racing imagery, visions of a ‘live fast’ modern culture, a distorted echo of Egyptian tomb decoration. The corridor leads out into the gallery, where the exterior of the construction is visible

King Tat has been organised by the John Hansard Gallery.
Project Room film courtesy of Lux.


King Tat has been financially supported by Arts Council England

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