(Above) The important message Modern Toss brings to the world could prove even more vital in the current economic slowdown
Exhibition: Modern Toss – Buy More S*** or We're All F****d, Ink_d Gallery, Brighton, until May 31 2009
With the wealth of new work and merchandise on sale, you have to wonder whether the Modern Toss show is a sage summing-up of the economic downturn, or a personal finance appeal.
Nevertheless, the brash cartoon duo’s second year at the Brighton Festival Fringe is a marked improvement on their first. This collection is more polished, yet it retains their characteristic sarcasm and penchant for satirising the mundane. We get the usual screen print favourites but their content is updated – a new collection of zeitgeist “Work” pieces ridicule Twitter and Facebook.
This is the popular duo's second slot at the Brighton Festival Fringe
Elsewhere pencil drawings by the artists hang next to a pulley-operated 50-year calendar and, in the corner, a stack of t-shirts, prints and cards are displayed. Offensive sign painter Mr Tourette is a particular highlight, and we get a chance to see him doing his bit for international relations.
The Modern Toss version of Keep Calm and Carry On
The all-new pieces intend to restore a sense of national morale in these dark economic times, boosting consumer buying power. By the looks of things, Modern Toss’s addition to this year's festival has worked well. Most pieces sport their own mini-collections of red stickers.
For sale, a cloth bag emblazoned with the show title updates the typically British Keep Calm and Carry On wartime slogan. Fitting, as what was first started as a project by Jon Link and Mick Bunnage is now practically an institution.
The independent Ink_d Gallery houses the show until the end of May 2009
With the future of the British economy (and possibly even Modern Toss) resting on the public and their spending habits, you'd do well to pay them a visit before the exhibition closes its doors.
Open 10am – 6pm (except Sunday). Ink_d Gallery and Studio, North Road, Brighton. Call 01273 645299 or visit Ink_d online.
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