Hew Locke & Indra Khanna, Lead artist-curators for Deptford X 2011 & 2012

 Surrender to the pleasure of the decorative. Revel in the excessive, embrace it, be dazzled. A stall stacked with lurid artificial flowers, rhythmic serpentine graffiti,baroque mermen carved over the old town hall door, all are equally a joy to the eye. Indulge yourself. But there is more than just the surface. Layers of decoration contain levels of meaning, messages and codes. Symbols of power, conspicuous consumption, \ signals of elitist knowledge, patterns of control, signs of social belonging. Is it all just too much? Visual overload, information overload, too much to digest – too much work, not enough time. Are our eyes bigger than our stomachs?