Barmy artistic duo cook black pudding out of their own blood in front of West Lothian College students in provocative performance art – Deadline News
ARTISTIC duo Beagles and Ramsay put on a display of performance art last night, which involved black pudding made with their own blood.
The show, at the National Galleries Scotland: Portrait, had an audience for current and former art students from West Lothian College, who were invited to meet the artists afterwards.
Glasgow-based John Beagles and Graham Ramsay are known for their provocative installations, such as lifesize doppelganger casts once exhibited in Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery.
Edinburgh’s portrait gallery recently acquired Sanguis Gratia Artis (Black Pudding Self-Portrait) which shows two black puddings made from the artists’ own blood, alongside a performance in which they slice, fry, and serve the gory dish.
Sanguis Gratia Artis can be translated from Latin to mean “blood for the sake of art”, and was originally shown in New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), for which it was commissioned in 2004.
Beagles and Ramsay had to smuggle the puddings into the US due to the ban on British blood following an outbreak of mad cow disease at the time.
A cooking performance was meant to take place in the Royal Scottish Academy the following year, but was banned by the City of Edinburgh Council and Environmental Health officials, and the gallery threatened with legal action.
Last night though, West Lothian College students had the rare chance to witness the pair cook the puddings in front of them, and meet the artists afterwards.
West Lothian College posted to social media yesterday, saying: “Some of our current and former art students from West Lothian College had the privilege of witnessing a performance artwork by John Beagles and Graham Ramsay this evening at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, and met the artists afterwards.”
As a grisly take on the traditional self-portrait, the black puddings are now hanging in a fridge in the National Galleries Scotland: Portrait on Queen Street, alongside photographs of the rolls, a recipe, and a video that shows the process in which they were made.
The puddings will slowly rot in the fridges over the next few months, and the room still smells of fried fat from the duo’s opening night performance last year.
The gruesome recipe includes a pint of fresh blood from each of the artists, double cream, beef suet, and some onions.
The blood must be obtained over a period of several days through syringe extractions completed by a nurse.
