Dexter dusts off the 1980s (From York Press)

Dexter dusts off the 1980s

11:36am Friday 20th January 2012 in Exhibitions

MERYL Streep’s Golden Globe-winning turn as Lady Thatcher in The Iron Lady at City Screen, York, has prompted York memorial plaque artist Dexter to dust off his interpretation of Thatcher’s Eighties for the cinema’s café bar walls.

Dexter, alias social and cultural commentator Jonathan Bonner, specialises in creating Dexter World text installations of post-Fifties “cultural icons and obscurities”, decade by decade.

For his roll call of recollections of his and our lives during the Thatcher era, he has sunk a subliminal image of Mrs Thatcher in her Prime Ministerial pomp into the background, creating a haunting reminder of the decade when she declared “there was no such thing as society”.

“Thatcher’s 80s!,” exclaims Dexter. “Thirty years on and close examination of the piece shows that little has changed. The gap between rich and poor continues to widen as started by the ’loadsamoney/yuppies’ ethos and continues today with a deregulated banking system rewarding itself for failure with millions of pounds in bonuses.

“Even on today’s news it looks as if we’re going back into the Falkland Islands. The Eighties’ Brixton, Southall and Toxteth riots have now been seen all over the country in 2011.

“And as ‘video killed the radio star’, downloading has killed the music industry. It wasn’t Dexter’s favourite decade – but at least Kate Bush lives on…”

Welcoming the chance to re-examine Dexter’s World Of Eighties, City Screen’s art exhibitions co-ordinator, Adam Keay, says: “We’re always pleased to encourage local artists to display their work, especially in this case when the art is so relevant to a film we’re showing.”

For more information on Dexter’s rolls of honour and dishonour, visit his website, dexterworld.com

“Each installation is a collection of the earlier parts of our lives now at risk of being forgotten,” he says.