David Brinkworth

The Fine Art Service Industry

Saturday 23rd September

The Fine Art Service Industry was formed by David Brinkworth to umbrella a number of service related works that we have developed over the last few years. Through these services we try to articulate and create a dialogue around the invisible
hands and mechanisms that have such a fundamental influence on the surface of what we see and how we see it.
The stance and position of The Fine Art Service Industry is to uphold the belief that great art should be cared for and
cherished in a loving caring way, we bow down and place great reverence on the transformational voodoo of the space -
this space that has the capacity to transfigure actions, objects, ideals into art and high culture.

Archive David Brinkworth The Fine Art Service Industry Performed Saturday 23rd September Penlee Park

David spent the last day of Tract dressed in a sombre grey suit and cap, playing the part of a security guard patrolling the galleries of Penlee House. The occasional tourists and local people meandering through the rooms largely ignored him, but he was noticed and commented on by those who were regular visitors.

The house is a large Victorian building that shows predominantly Newlyn School paintings: owned, loaned or bequeathed to the collection. Some were donated by the artists themselves, and by any reckoning are highly valuable.

It was this, and the fact that there is comparatively little security at the gallery that David’s performance seemed to highlight. But it also questioned in more general terms what it is that imparts value to a work of art, why others might want to steal or damage it, and how these considerations might affect the perception of the work