Viktor_Wynd

Viktor Wynd

Viktor Wynd

British artist and gallery director


Viktor Wynd is a British artist, author, and curator, known for his collections of curiosities.

Quick Facts Birth name, Born ...

Artwork

Wynd established The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History in London's East End, a cabinet of curiosities featuring two-headed lambs, Fiji mermaids, unicorns, taxidermy, dodo bones, erotica, old master etchings, surrealist, occult and outsider art,[1] and celebrity faeces.[2] The museum was featured in a BBC Four documentary on cabinets of curiosity.[3][non-primary source needed]

He previously ran a curiosity shop, Viktor Wynd's Little Shop of Horrors, dealing in taxidermy, shrunken heads and other oddities,[4] including the erect mummified penis of a hanged man.[5] In 2010 it was reported that Jonathan Ross's wife Jane Goldman had bought the skeleton of a two-headed baby from the shop.[6]

He has curated around 50 exhibitions at his gallery, Viktor Wynd Fine Art, including exhibitions on Mervyn Peake,[7] Tessa Farmer,[8] Leonora Carrington,[9] and Stephen Tennant.[10]

In 2005, Wynd had an exhibition entitled "Structures of The Sublime: Towards a Greater Understanding of Chaos" at Ingalls & Associates in Miami, featuring drawings and video.[11][non-primary source needed]

In 2007 he had another exhibition in Miami entitled "The Sorrows of Young Wynd" (in reference to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) based around a waxwork figure of himself hanging by a noose from the middle of the gallery, and many other images of him committing suicide.[12][non-primary source needed]

He founded The Last Tuesday Society with David Piper in 2003,[citation needed] which became known in London for its halloween parties and masked balls,[13] often with literary themes.[14] He also organised Wyndstock, a festival held at Houghton Hall in Norfolk,[15] and runs a long-running literary salon in London.[16]

Other work

Wynd is the author of two books: Structures of The Sublime: Towards a Greater Understanding of Chaos, a fragmentary, modernist anti-novel published in 2005 in Miami, and Viktor Wynd's Cabinet of Wonders, published by Prestel/Random House in 2014.[17][non-primary source needed]

Wynd wrote an essay about his friend Sebastian Horsley for Yale University Press's book Artist/Rebel/Dandy: Men of Fashion, compiled by Kate Irvin and Laurie Anne Brewer.[citation needed]

He has made several TV appearances, including the National Geographic documentary series Taboo.[citation needed] He has also lectured about cabinets of curiosities, his book and his museum at The Lost Lectures,[18] the British Library,[19] Manchester University,[20] 5x15,[21] and the Barbican.[22]

He is a committee member of the London Institute of 'Pataphysics.[23]


References

  1. Wainwright, Oliver (28 October 2014). "A two-headed lamb and ancient dildos: the UK's strangest new museum". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  2. "Celebrity Poo". National Geographic Channel. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015.
  3. "Little Shop of Horrors". Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  4. "Mr Wynd and The Little Shop of Horrors". Vogue.it. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  5. "Jonathan Ross' wife buys two-headed skeleton". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  6. "The Fairies Are Coming - Tessa Farmer". Magpiemag.tumblr.com. Magpie Magazine. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  7. "Leonora Carrington show!". Phantasmaphile.com. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  8. "Stephen Tennant at Viktor Wynd Fine Art Gallery". Rachaelgibson.co.uk. 16 April 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  9. "Ingalls Current Exhibitions". Ingallsassociates.com.
  10. "Ingalls Current Exhibitions". Ingallsassociates.com.
  11. "Viktor Wynd's Cabinet of Wonders". Prestel Publishing. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  12. The Lost Lectures. "Viktor Wynd". Thelostlectures.com.
  13. "Viktor Wynd". 5x15stories.com.
  14. "Barbican - Exhibition Tour with Viktor Wynd". Barbican.org.uk. 30 March 2023.

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