INTERVIEW WITH LARRY BANE

Sebastian Muff.

In the photograph at left, Arturo de Vard, Larry's assistant in the early 1990s, prepares the ground for one of Larry's pieces. The photograph at right shows Arturo with Clackton Leyland, art historian and biographer of Bane. Photographs courtesy Randolph Humphry Whipps III.

Note: selected extracts from this interview originally appeared in a review by Ethel Strange. Here is the interview in full.

Sebastian: Larry, here we are, a pair of 'old wankers', if you'll pardon the expression, and..eh..well, I was going to say..oh yes! Why is this the time for a retrospective?

Larry: Well, I resent being called an old wanker, but I'll answer the question anyway. Lets be frank! What was earth-shaking in 1985 is old hat now. My work did rattle a few cages in its time, d'yefollowme. But now, and it pains me to say it, I look around at the scene and all I see is a bunch of grasping opportunists. Look what took the Tate prize this year: an empty room for heavens sake...I mean, am I the only one to get the joke?

Sebastian: What joke?

Larry: What joke? An empty room! The Empty Store!

Remember the Sergeant Bilko episode in which Ernie can't borrow money from his men, so he invests in an empty store. And when they find out, they are puzzled; then puzzlement is overcome by greed. They beg for some of the action. Then, at the end, when they ask Ernie to let them in on the secret, he says, well, I was being open with you guys. You all own part of an Empty Store!

Sebastian: So its all a scam.

Larry: Yes, the old empty store scam recycled, and more power to his wee wheels! Look Muff. If an empty room wins the Tate his year, what is mext. It's obvious! Next year's prize will go to somebody un-suspecting, not even an artist. Yes, to keep pushing the frontier, they will have to do that. They will pick some poor idiot. Here's 70,000 quid, or whatever it is. What for says he? Its the Tate prize my son. You supremely creative act was to..well..create nothing. The ultimate in installation art.

Sebastian: Larry, let's be positive. Your willingness to explore new materials is legendary. What's next?

Larry: Well, I liked the 'coat made of beef' lark, and that Mexican chappie in Canada who has been ejaculating into vials, but he can't keep doing that forever. Personally, I am moving into the digital world, d'yefollowme. This retrospective will go on the web, but I plan to go beyond that to actual digital installations....

At this juncture, Arturo de Vard (Vardy) enters, and is greeted by Larry. Arturo is a slight fellow, taanned from a recent trip to the far east. They have not worked together for a few years now. Arturo has been gaining recognition as an artist in his own right. He works mostly in polystyrene and photocopy graphics, but has made several forays into the world of audio-visual installions. If he is slightly irritated by the success of his former assistant, or even, dare I say it, jealous, Larry conceals it.

Larry: (addressing Arturo). Boul lad! How's about yer big eye?

Arturo: (unintelligible)

Sebastian: Larry, Randy Whipps wrote in his biography that while your work addresses multiple issues at multiple levels, it also speaks to a latent contempt for your audience.

Larry