Assholes of Ambition
Assholes of Ambition, UHD Video, 20:10mins, 2019
Kate Groobey has an intoxicating way of combining her own painted backdrop, dance moves, comically flat costumes, rapped words and music - thoroughly confusing levels of reality. In 2018 she saw the legendary statue of Senju Kannon, the multi-armed goddess holding symbolic instruments for the protection of her followers, in Japan. In Groobey's version a woman protects herself against the threats – whether internal or external is ambiguous – of Asshole and Stink: ‘Hey queen of poo / Whatʼcha gonna do? / Comb your soul? / It’s knotted though and through.’ Nine vignettes and nine imaginative kits see the heroine defend herself with such symbols as a giant pencil, arrows, stars and hearts. She ends as a triumphant owl: ‘Lightning strikes across my thighs / And all my enemies will die.’
-Paul Carey-Kent, Super Flatland, White Conduit Projects, London, 2020

Installation view, Assholes of Ambition, RIBOT, Milan, 2019
ASSHOLES OF AMBITION
by Maria Villa
Kate Groobey is a British artist who passes her life in both Yorkshire and the south of France, but the inspiration for this show was even more distant. In 2018 the artist was awarded the Daiwa Foundation Art Prize which gave her the possibility of going to Japan, a land that she was fascinated by and the visual culture of which – as Groobey knows well – has also been echoed by modernist European culture.
A visit to the temple of Sanjusangendo in Kyoto was the determining factor for the creation of this new series of works. It was there that Groobey saw the legendary statue of Senju Kannon, the Dea della Misericordia dalle 1000 braccia, the thousand- armed goddess: she has multiple limbs that hold symbolic instruments necessary for the protection of all her followers. The vision of this female goddess and “multitasker” moved the artist to deep, almost ancestral, thoughts about the theme of being a woman and of the need to protect oneself from others, but also from oneself. Together with the artist on this visit to the temple was her companion and muse, the writer Jina Khayyer, the protagonist of the preceding series of works, Pure Pleasure: she is the focal point of this new show.
Assholes of ambition is an art project that is difficult to put into focus: it is a woman’s perspective of a woman which reveals to us absolutely new aspects which overflow with fascinating and, at times, undervalued aspects. More than narrative painting we could almost define them as an “epic drama” since they stage the events and adversities that the heroine, Khayyer, has to face in order to fight the two main antagonists of this story, Asshole and Stink, and not to fall into their numerous traps.
The story is developed through works characterised by a use of strong colour with well-defined marks – almost expressionist paintings activated by the actions of Groobey herself who exhibits herself in front of them through a series of improvised sketches, bringing to life the various characters illustrated through a video performance transmitted on a vertically placed screen, as though to create a formal analogy with the paintings.
The originality of her work can clearly be seen in the details: the features and costumes of her characters; the music she has personally composed; but also the conception of an unusual iconography that leads her to imagine these details.
In this show of particular importance are, not only the characters, but also the tools, needed by Khayyer to defend herself. These are a series of objects, emblems of sagacity and protection, at times imagined and at others inspired by experiences actually undergone by the artist. The motif of the owl, for example, derives from a genuine experience of a Great Grey Owl, the largest species of owl in the world, which Kate Groobey and Jina Khayyer saw in the United States. Other recurrent symbols are a large pencil, arrows, lightening, the sun, the moon, the stars, hearts, and the oversized and emphasised hands that have a central role in the organisation of this epic. We are dealing with unusual defensive weapons of great value, potentially indicated by ambivalent marks that lead us to the question that, on closer view, is at the heart of the whole project: does the greatest danger come from without or within?

Installation view from Super Flatland, UHD video wall projection, painted canvas soft-sculpture 20x25cm, White Conduit Projects, London, 2020

Wow, 30 x 19 cm, watercolour on paper, 2018

Wow, acrylic on canvas, 146 x115 cm, 2019

Power tools, The Hands of the master, soft sculpture, hand sewn acrylic on canvas, 2019

Power tools, The Hands of the master, Power tools, soft sculpture, hand sewn acrylic on canvas, 2019

Power tools (pen), soft sculpture, hand sewn acrylic on canvas, 2019
Song Lyrics, Assholes of Ambition
By Kate Groobey
1. ASSHOLES OF AMBITION
You stink
Thatʼs what I think
Your ass begins to humm
Coz itʼs attaché to you, scum.
Down there in your darkest hole
Your stink is gonna grow and grow and grow
Until it reaches to the sky
And stifles all the things that fly.
Hey queen of poo
Whatʼcha gonna do?
Comb your soul?
It’s knotted though and through.
Hey asshole
Youʼre not king of no castle
You back track
Like a hack
And youʼre gonna catch some real flak.
Born rich
With your ass in honey
And now you’re using me
To make more money ?
Did you just steal my idea
And make it cheap like IKEA?
2. ALWAYS DELIVERS
Iʼm under siege-
Your arrow quivers
Straight, release
It always delivers.
You’re under siege-
My arrow quivers
Straight, release
It always delivers.
Like Keanu in The Matrix
Dodging arrows like Iʼm made for this.
Stop those arrows mid-sky
Catching you in a lie
I pick them, put them in my quiver
Now the arrows are ready
Straight, release
You probably will shiver.
As they shoot
Right back to you
One catches you
Right in the liver
And with all those
Years of drug abuse
It hits you hard
Itʼs just no use
You’re going down
Youʼre under siege
You lose your crown
You already lost your hair
After combing away
The years of despair.
But those arrows are fair
They only kill the unjust
So if youʼre not subsumed
With your own dark lust
Youʼll be okay, youʼll be able to trust
That they wonʼt turn you into dust.
3. POWER
She wants power
Youʼd better allow her
This is her hour.
Persist without fear
My rocketeer
Grow power here.
4. NEVER HAD AN ENEMY BEFORE
Never had an enemy before
But it seems like you, actioned a war.
For a buck or two
You sold me out
Through and through.
But who are you
To your doom and your gloom my heart’s immune
I wear it on my sleeve
Like you wouldnʼt believe
You chew me right up
With your lies that disrupt
But careful now
My heart’s so big
You’re gonna hurt yourself on its nib.
5. UNDER SIEGE
Under siege-they fire arrows
Under siege- I fire arrows.
Under siege-they fire arrows
Under siege- I fire arrows.
Under siege-they fire arrows
Under siege- I fire arrows.
Arrows fly
Hearts quiver
Heads roll
Targets shiver.
Arrows fly
Hearts burn
Heads roll
Bodies quiver.
I let my arrow go
You quiver like a lost soul
Pierced by my sharp heart
You’re wishing for a new start.
6. EYES WIDE OPEN EYES WIDE SHUT
Eyes wide open
Eyes wide shut.
7. PERSONA NON GRATA
Did you know,
Youʼd be persona non grata
If you didnʼt deliver
What they were after?
Did you know,
Youʼd be dead on the ground
If they decided that
They didnʼt like your sound?
Did you know,
Better not bend down
Better not show hurt
Or they tell you itʼs all over
Push your face in the dirt.
Tell you this
Tell you that
Tell you not to bring your hat.
They say like this
They say comme ça
And youʼve become persona non grata.
8. DON'T BACK DOWN
Walked into to a cafe
To buy a creamy latte.
Handed over money
The girl said “Listen honey:
“Thatʼs a great hat!
You should know about that.
In that hat,
You can do anything.”
Now everyday Iʼm king of zing
I’m Queen of sheen,
Iʼm ding-a-ling
So ladeez, put on your hat
Be radical
That’s where itʼs at.
Donʼt back down
feel the power
Wear the crown.
Donʼt back down
Feel the power
Stand your ground.
9. ALL MY ENEMIES WILL DIE
Lightening strikes across my thighs
And all my enemies will die.
I give birth to a thousand hearts
They will lead you from the dark.
Written and performed by Kate Groobey

Power tools (howl), soft sculpture, hand sewn acrylic on canvas, 2019

Installation view, Assholes of Ambition, RIBOT, Milan, 2019
All my enemies will die, live performance, RIBOT, Milan, 2019

Under siege, costume painting sculpture, mixed media, 251 x 150 x 87cm, 2019

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Power tools (arrow), soft sculpture, hand sewn acrylic on canvas, 2019
Under siege, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 80 cm, 2019

Always delivers, mixed media, costume painting sculpture, 228 x 150 x 100 cm

Always delivers, watercolour on paper, 30 x 19 cm, 2018

Always delivers, acrylic on canvas, 146 x 115 cm, 2019

Power tools (howl), soft sculpture, hand sewn acrylic on canvas, 2019

Assholes of ambition, watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm, 2019
Assholes of ambition, acrylic on canvas, 162 x 130cm, 2019


Installation view, Assholes of Ambition, RIBOT, Milan, 2019

Eyes wide open, acrylic on canvas, 92 x 73 cm, 2019

Eyes wide shut, acrylic on canvas, 92 x 73, 2019

Eyes wide open, eyes wide shut, watercolour on paper, 30 x 19 cm, 2018