Art & illustration
Divine Mother Hubbard’s (Existential) Nursery Rhyme Picture Book
E Zapotek & Divine Mother Hubbard
A mysterious artist’s book built around thirty-six painted reimaginings of nursery rhymes.
Find a copyAbout the book
In 2008, the Idiosynchronism conceptualist movement was joined anonymously by an artist working under the pseudonym The Divine Mother Hubbard.
The artist created thirty-six paintings, each based on a different nursery rhyme, in a consistent 50 by 70 centimetre format and largely in blue-brown, described as the colours of sky and earth.
The artist behind the pseudonym
The Divine Mother Hubbard joined Idiosynchronism anonymously and declined to reveal gender, age or real name, citing a wish not to embarrass relatives, friends, gallery or agent. The artist described a background in established art schools before the outbreak of the last Great War.
The account records encounters with artists including David Hockney, Francis Bacon and Stuart Brisley, while the thirty-six nursery-rhyme paintings remain the centre of this enigmatic project.
Idiosynchronism – Pafos2017
According to the event listing, Idiosynchronism was founded in Pafos in 2005 and voluntarily disbanded in 2011, following its quinquennial. It attracted more than 60 adherents worldwide, including artists, theorists and art educators, and the source suggests it engendered later coincidental activities in London, New York and St Petersburg.
In June 2017, an installation and exhibition in the name of two conceptualised individuals was hosted by Nic Costa, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, in the back streets of Pafos.
Visitors were invited to walk in the back streets of central Pafos and encounter the scattered artworks by The Divine Mother Hubbard and the late Jemima Puddleduck.
“a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: … a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Event details
- Remnou Street, Pafos, Cyprus
- Free
- 1–30 June 2017
- Paphos / Pafos Municipality, Cyprus
- Cultural
The content is taken from the Cyprus Tourism Organisation's website.
