![]() The organ grinder’s monkey emerged in the early 1900s and again captured the popular imagination. Singerie motifs became popular across the decorative arts, featuring extensively as part of the 18 th century French Rococo interior. Singerie was marked by a distinctly anti-establishment tone, with the monkey representing the persistence of mankind’s more duplicitousness and base instincts – particularly at the higher end of the social order. The monkeys are often dressed in fashionable attire, as the paintings aimed to parody the most elegant and powerful in society. The Flemish painter David Teniers the Younger was particularly active in the genre, completing hundreds of paintings of monkeys at ale-houses, smoking parties, concerts and barbershops. ‘Singerie’ emerged as a genre of satirical painting, in which monkeys were depicted ‘aping’ human behaviour. The monkey is a longstanding motif within European art and design since at least the 17 th century. The name Monkey Business, with its references to illicit and illegal behaviour, further arouses suspicion about the monkey engaging in a surreptitious act. One wonders what the monkey is up to: is he shielding or is he stealing the treasures concealed within? The position of his fingers prevents the trunk from closing, subverting its essential function of protecting its contents. He is straddling the top of the trunk, his fingers clasped around its lid, with an expression of surprise painted across his face. The monkey is encrusted in Swarovski crystals and wearing a small red hat with a golden tassel, in the style of a fez. Described as a ‘shimmering sculpture’ by the designers, it is a large gilded bronze trunk, LED-lit from within, adorned with a monkey. Monkey Business by Studio Job is the type of object that raises exactly these sorts of questions. What is it about an object that makes it luxurious? In ascribing luxury to an object, what definitions and values are being prioritised, and by whom? Furthermore, in any given context, the meaning and value of an object can be multivalent and ultimately ambiguous. Another challenge is that objects are not inherently luxurious, and are only ascribed with luxury in relation to their use, interpretation and perceived value within a social context. On the one hand, there are so many extraordinary examples of objects from within the museum’s own collections which have a deep resonance with contemporary understandings of luxury – far too many to be contained within one exhibition. While luxury is often marketed and understood in the media through objects – produced by designers and brands notable for their heritage, prestige and sophistication – selecting objects that enabled us to interrogate the concept of luxury in an exhibition format became one of our greatest challenges. ‘Monkey Business,’ Studio Job, 2013 (c) Studio Job
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