Chimps in Space?

Sometimes Paul uses the monkey as a kind of ‘innocent’, an early human who reflects back the absurdity of our ‘progress’. His monkey in the exhibition “Conflict” (Room Upstairs, Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, 2004) was given his own little TV room, some booze and nuts and left to watch a constant stream of bizarre TV clips set to music. The images start with a monkey strapped into a space capsule shaking his head in disbelief. There follows a collection of culture and politics from around the world leaving you wondering at the sheer oddness of it all. Who is the “Performing Monkey” us or him?
His brother Mark was the source of all the clips and for someone who doesn’t seem to watch that much TV he has gathered an extraordinary library of strangeness - these were just the tip of the iceberg...