Viktor Wynd
Viktor Wynd is an artist, author, lecturer, impresario and committee member of The London Institute of 'Pataphysics.[1]
Artwork
As an artist, Wynd created The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History in London's East End, a strange reinterpretation of a Renaissance wunderkabinet, stuffed with two headed lambs, Fiji mermaids, unicorns, taxidermy, dodo bones, erotica, old master etchings, surrealist, occult & outsider artworks[2] and celebrity faeces.[3] The museum has featured in a BBC4 documentary on Cabinets of Curiosity[4] and is ranked 28 out 1237 speciality museums in London on trip advisor[5]
In 2005 he had an exhibition entitled 'Structures of The Sublime; Towards a Greater Understanding of Chaos' at Ingalls & Associates in Miami featuring drawings and video[6]
In 2007 he had another exhibition in Miami, called, in reference to Goethe, 'The Sorrows of Young Wynd' based around a waxwork figure of himself hanging by a noose from the middle of the gallery surrounded by a cloud of tropical butterflies and many other images of him committing suicide[7]
As an impresario he founded The Last Tuesday Society with David Piper in 2003. He went on to put on Halloween parties in London for many thousands of guests[8] often with literary themes[9] and other over the top parties such as his masked balls[10] The Animal Party at The Old Vic tunnels where people were told to 'Dress Like a Beast Dance Like a Beast[11] and a festival Wyndstock held at Houghton Hall in Norfolk[12] He also runs what may be londons longest running literary salon with over 500 events in the last ten years[13]
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[14] described by the filmmaker John Waters as being 'An insanely delightful how-to guide on becoming a mentally ill, cheerily obsessive eccentric hoarder told with lunatic humor and absolute joy. Viktor Wynd is a sick orchid who seems like the perfect man to me'.
He wrote an essay about his friend Sebastian Horsley for Yale University Press's book Artist / Rebel Dandy[15]
He has made several TV appearances on documentaries and programs, and National Geographic included him in their "Taboo" documentary series.[16]
As a lecturer he talks about cabinets of curiosities, his book and his museum at The Lost Lectures,[17] the British Library[18] Manchester University[19] 5x15[20] and the Barbican.[21]
He previously ran a curiosity shop Viktor Wynd's Little Shop of Horrors, dealing in taxidermy, shrunken heads and other oddities[22] including the erect mummified penis of a hanged man[23] in 2010 it was reported that Jonathan Ross's wife Jane Goldman had bought the skeleton of a two headed baby from the shop.[24]
and curated some 50 exhibitions at his gallery Viktor Wynd Fine Art including exhibitions on Mervyn Peake[25] Tessa Farmer[26] Leonora Carrington[27] & Stephen Tennant[28]
References
- "The London Institute of 'Pataphysics - Introduction". Atlaspress.co.uk.
- Wainwright, Oliver (28 October 2014). "A two-headed lamb and ancient dildos: the UK's strangest new museum". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
- "Celebrity Poo". National Geographic Channel.
- "BBC Four - Secret Knowledge, Wondrous Obsessions: The Cabinet of Curiosities". BBC.
- "The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History". Tripadvisor.co.uk.
- "Ingalls Current Exhibitions". Ingallsassociates.com.
- "Ingalls Current Exhibitions". Ingallsassociates.com.
- A DANSE MACABRE - Two Halloween Balls of the Utmost Magnificence 2013. YouTube. 18 November 2013.
- "Five of the Best: Halloween Parties in London". Elleuk.com.
- "Lives Less Ordinary: meet the dilettante". Time Out Blog.
- "The Animal Party". Heyevent.uk.
- "KING'S LYNN: Wyndstock weekend's woody wonderland". Lynnnews.co.uk.
- "Morbid Anatomy: The Viktor Wynd Museum: A New Museum of Curiosities in London Needs Your Help!". Morbidanatomy.blogspot.co.uk.
- "Viktor Wynd's Cabinet of Wonders". Prestel Publishing. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
- Browne, Edited by Kate Irvin and Laurie Anne Brewer; With essays by Kate Irvin, Laurie Anne Brewer, Christopher Breward, and Monica L. Miller; Preface by Thom. "Artist/Rebel/Dandy - Irvin, Kate; Brewer, Laurie A; Breward, Christopher; Miller, Monica L; Browne, Thom; Hoare, Philip; Holland, Merlin; Morera, Daniela; O'Brien, Glenn; Schuman, Scott; Sherwood, James; Smith, Patti; Standen, Dirk; Gray, Gigi; Vickers, Hugo; Wilson, Andrew; Wynd, Viktor; Ballard, Horace; Lasner, Mark S; Miller, Derrick - Yale University Press". yalepress.yale.edu. Retrieved 2015-10-03.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- One Day in The Life of Viktor Wynd - National Geographic Documentary. Vimeo.com.
- The Lost Lectures. "Viktor Wynd". Thelostlectures.com.
- "Crossroads of Curiosity The British Library meets Burning Man". The British Library.
- "Whitworth Studies seminar: Viktor Wynd". Manchester.ac.uk.
- "Viktor Wynd". 5x15stories.com.
- "Barbican - Exhibition Tour with Viktor Wynd". Barbican.org.uk.
- "Little Shop of Horrors". Retrieved 2015-10-03.
- "Mr Wynd and The Little Shop of Horrors - Vogue.it". Retrieved 2015-10-04.
- "Jonathan Ross' wife buys two-headed skeleton". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
- "Mervyn Peake: Mervyn Peake and Maeve Gilmore - An exhibition of paintings and drawings". Mervynpeake.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
- "The Fairies Are Coming - Tessa Farmer". Magpiemag.tumblr.com. Magpie Magazine. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
- "Leonora Carrington show!". Phantasmaphile.com. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
- "Stephen Tennant at Viktor Wynd Fine Art Gallery". Rachaelgibson.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-10-03.