Gin Series

               Between December ’07 & November ’08 Neil Jefferies worked on a series of durational performances that come under the umbrella title of the ‘Gin Series’ and that were characterised by two re-current props, a large bottle of cheap gin and a smart outfit that were used alongside other objects taken unaltered from the everyday world. The performances style was drawn from the task based, durational work of artist such as Joost Nieuwenborg while there content was inspired by the actions and objects that inhabit the multifaceted world of British drinking culture, particularly those of the weekend city centre binge drinking phenomena. Each performance consists of a single action that is taxing yet also quite faithfully mirrors one typically related to the binge drinking culture. This action is repeatedly carried out while the artist simultaneously drinks from a large bottle of gin. The action is continuously repeated until he either reaches exhaustion or is too intoxicated to continue. 
                 The ‘Gin Series’ is a body of work that avoided taking sides and propagating any form of judgment. Instead the work was aimed at being far more open and versatile in interpretation. It replicated actions that ranged from the hysterical to the embarrassing to the unsavoury in front of an audience in the contemplative space of the gallery. An audience of which many of its members would have been implicated in the binge drinking scène and could quite possibly have carried out the actions themselves, thus provoking an opportunity for personal discourse on the bizarre, often embarrassing, half-remembered experiences put out of mind the next morning. 
                  The ‘Gin Series’ was also a depiction of the reality of the transformative affects of alcohol in terms of a person’s movement, there judgment and their ability to complete a task. This increasing intoxication is an authentic mirroring of an element of the binge drinking culture for the audience to mull over and relate to themselves, but it is also a successful aesthetic and emotive tool. As the gin is consumed through the duration of the performance an intriguing aesthetic transformation takes place in which movements loos coordination, balance, composure and measure and simple tasks become almost impossible to carry out.