“to live outside the law you must be honest” - Bob Dylan
The first idea I had for this exhibition was to focus on the mixed messages that are all around us, but I couldn’t help thinking of the old ‘Keep off the Grass’ signs. Now, you don’t see so many of these any more, but I remember them well and they always seemed to protect the most verdant spots. Of course that’s no surprise really because they were always well tended and in public places.
The signs didn’t stop us playing though and recently it made me wonder whether this might be one of the first public notices or instructions that I ignored? When a young child runs on the grass or plays a ball game where no ball game signs abound, I suppose they are technically breaking the law! (or the by-law!) Is this their first public disgrace?
We have a lot of Rules and Laws to observe as we go about our daily lives. I think that there are quite a few that should get broken a lot more often and perhaps there must be some others that we are missing and yet are a whole lot more important in the long run. I can’t help remembering the words of the song ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ by Arlo Guthrie about a rather exaggerated and fairly comic response to littering!