Remembering Rose Finn-Kelcey (1945-2014)

‘Glory was performed at the Serpentine Galley in 1983… A cast of 100 cardboard cut-outs gradually fills the table-top stage. Political leaders such as Lenin, Churchill and Thatcher, whose Falklands War inspired the piece, are joined by soldiers, cowboys and indians, a bucking bronco, hangman’s nooses and a vast array of weaponry from knives, scimitars, axes, maces and bows and arrows, to canons, hand grenades, submachine guns, missiles and atom bombs.’ – The ArtsDesk

Rose Finn-Kelcey, Here is a Gale Warning, 1971. Courtesy the Estate of Rose Finn-Kelcey

‘In 1987, Van Gogh’s painting of sunflowers sold at auction for the record price of £24.5 million: a canvas that he had failed to sell for £25 had become a collector’s item. This dramatic shift in status inspired Finn-Kelcey to transform the picture into money – literally – since once an artwork is perceived as an investment opportunity, it is hard to view it in any other way.
Ironically, though, she couldn’t afford the £1,100 of loose change needed to create the image, so she had to construct it piecemeal, a section at a time. Later that year, though, Bureau de Change (pictured below and detail above right) was realised in full with borrowed cash that had to be returned to the bank once the exhibition was over. Arranged in two layers on a false floor, hundreds of old ten pence pieces, shillings and pound coins create an astonishingly good likeness of the painting.’ – Via

It Pays To Pray by Rose Finn-Kelcey
Mar 2005

Life, Belief and Beyond, an examination of the multiplicity of ideas and art practices which preoccupied the late Rose Finn-Kelcey

And above – Via UnVarnished

‘Complete uplift’- Rose Finn-Kelcey’s The Restless Image- a discrepancy between the felt position and the seen position, 1975. Photograph- Courtesy the Estate of Rose Finn-Kelcey

Sad And Lonely, 2006. Wood, paint, aluminium, fairground lights. 7.4 x 3.7 x 1.5m.

‘The actual sight must have stopped traffic’- Rose Finn-Kelcey’s Power for the People (1972). Photograph- Courtesy the Estate of Rose Finn-Kelcey

Rose Finn-Kelcey, Untitled- Bullfighter, 1986 https://www.creativeboom.com

Rose Finn-Kelcey, Funny Business, 1984

Rose Finn-Kelcey, Power for the People. Documentation Photograph #1, 1972

Jolly God, 1997

House Rules, 2001