Read Online Ten Second Staircase by Christopher Fowler - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Christopher Fowler
Tags: Historical Mystery
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that?'
'All right, point taken,' agreed May, if only to head his partner off from a lengthy diatribe about the world's ills.
'A tenner a ticket, that's what the public are paying to be shocked at this exhibition, and now they've got something to be shocked about,' said Bryant. 'We need to wrap this up quickly, before any details slip out. I want Oswald Finch to get the body opened as soon as possible. What do you know about any of these artists?'
'Just what I gleaned from the TV documentary and the article in the Guardian. Calvin Burroughs seems to be more than just their mentor. He has complete control over his protégés, because he's invested a lot of time and money in his big three. They were all unknowns before he began grooming them for this new venture. His first discovery was also the oldest, Sharinda Van Souten. She's half American, born in India, probably the most traditional member of the group. She built the giant entwined ceramic bodies at the far end of the gallery. She's been re-creating classical Indian statuary in the context of modern Indian society for some years now. It was Burroughs who encouraged her to place her figures in updated sexual poses, something that has brought censure from the present Indian government. They're pretty strong stuff for the uninitiated; the art pupils were allowed to see the figures but not to make sketches. Apparently the teacher was less worried about upsetting his kids than getting complaints from their parents. Van Souten also produced the Burning Bride statue that drew attention to attacks on Indian women by their husbands. She's fighting for new legislation dealing with the problem.'
They turned and began to head off along the twisting corridor, moving deeper inside the great wooden honeycomb. 'Burroughs's second find was McZee,' May continued, 'a former Glaswegian hiphop artist who switched to multimedia art after studying psychologically repressive regimes. He couldn't get any more financial support in his native Scotland—some kind of long-running feud with his funding body—and came south. He's exploring the links between fear and power in the torture of political prisoners. Good stuff, solid and committed to human rights, but shocking all the same, and the right-wing press don't like some of the links he makes with members of the British cabinet. He also created a piece modelled on Picasso's Guernica, about trial without representation, and entitled it Guantánamo, which has upset the American ambassador.
'Saralla White has the highest profile; since she started sculpting, she's been living out her private life in the public eye, using various elements in her art: boyfriends, miscarriages, sexual traumas. She's a mouthy East Ender with a couple of drug busts behind her, turned up drunk on TV, that sort of thing. Apparently, her mother was an illegal abortionist who was incarcerated in Holloway for a time in the sixties. The babies in the tank are intended to represent six abortions undergone by her friends, other artists whose lives would have been altered if they had become mothers. Saralla White is a liberal and naturally proabortion, which opens her to attacks by the religious right and pro-family hardliners.'
'You're a mine of information; I'm glad you were paying attention,' Bryant said with a smile. 'I tend to fall asleep within minutes of Alma putting her TV on. Think it was murder?'
'The fact that the PCU got the call suggests that somebody thought it was. Still, they delayed passing it over. It should have come through within minutes of the general emergency code going out, instead of sitting on a desk while the plods checked its validity.' The detectives made their way back along the passageways towards the main chamber. 'But I also think we might be looking at some crazed form of suicide. Anyone who purchases illegal abortions and places them inside an art installation might be considered unstable.'
Bryant's wry smile caught him by surprise. 'I
'All right, point taken,' agreed May, if only to head his partner off from a lengthy diatribe about the world's ills.
'A tenner a ticket, that's what the public are paying to be shocked at this exhibition, and now they've got something to be shocked about,' said Bryant. 'We need to wrap this up quickly, before any details slip out. I want Oswald Finch to get the body opened as soon as possible. What do you know about any of these artists?'
'Just what I gleaned from the TV documentary and the article in the Guardian. Calvin Burroughs seems to be more than just their mentor. He has complete control over his protégés, because he's invested a lot of time and money in his big three. They were all unknowns before he began grooming them for this new venture. His first discovery was also the oldest, Sharinda Van Souten. She's half American, born in India, probably the most traditional member of the group. She built the giant entwined ceramic bodies at the far end of the gallery. She's been re-creating classical Indian statuary in the context of modern Indian society for some years now. It was Burroughs who encouraged her to place her figures in updated sexual poses, something that has brought censure from the present Indian government. They're pretty strong stuff for the uninitiated; the art pupils were allowed to see the figures but not to make sketches. Apparently the teacher was less worried about upsetting his kids than getting complaints from their parents. Van Souten also produced the Burning Bride statue that drew attention to attacks on Indian women by their husbands. She's fighting for new legislation dealing with the problem.'
They turned and began to head off along the twisting corridor, moving deeper inside the great wooden honeycomb. 'Burroughs's second find was McZee,' May continued, 'a former Glaswegian hiphop artist who switched to multimedia art after studying psychologically repressive regimes. He couldn't get any more financial support in his native Scotland—some kind of long-running feud with his funding body—and came south. He's exploring the links between fear and power in the torture of political prisoners. Good stuff, solid and committed to human rights, but shocking all the same, and the right-wing press don't like some of the links he makes with members of the British cabinet. He also created a piece modelled on Picasso's Guernica, about trial without representation, and entitled it Guantánamo, which has upset the American ambassador.
'Saralla White has the highest profile; since she started sculpting, she's been living out her private life in the public eye, using various elements in her art: boyfriends, miscarriages, sexual traumas. She's a mouthy East Ender with a couple of drug busts behind her, turned up drunk on TV, that sort of thing. Apparently, her mother was an illegal abortionist who was incarcerated in Holloway for a time in the sixties. The babies in the tank are intended to represent six abortions undergone by her friends, other artists whose lives would have been altered if they had become mothers. Saralla White is a liberal and naturally proabortion, which opens her to attacks by the religious right and pro-family hardliners.'
'You're a mine of information; I'm glad you were paying attention,' Bryant said with a smile. 'I tend to fall asleep within minutes of Alma putting her TV on. Think it was murder?'
'The fact that the PCU got the call suggests that somebody thought it was. Still, they delayed passing it over. It should have come through within minutes of the general emergency code going out, instead of sitting on a desk while the plods checked its validity.' The detectives made their way back along the passageways towards the main chamber. 'But I also think we might be looking at some crazed form of suicide. Anyone who purchases illegal abortions and places them inside an art installation might be considered unstable.'
Bryant's wry smile caught him by surprise. 'I
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