The Cabinet of Curiosities
I am taking part in curating an exhibition with a group of talented artists at the Greestone Gallery. This includes a retrospective piece: Perfectus Pupae et Hominis Cicatricosus (Latin: Perfect Dolls and Scarred Human Beings) 2005
Opening is 2.00p.m. on Wednesday 13th February at Greestone Gallery, refreshments will be served. Continuing from 10.00 to 4.00p.m. daily until 25 March Monday to Friday.
The Cupboard Project is a platform for artists to exhibit work in a cupboard.
The Cabinet of Curiosities is a joint exhibition to showcase the work of those of us artists/curators who have initiated this venture to launch The Cupboard Project.
The Cupboard Project continues after its inception for other artists to use to exhibit their own work.
For taking part in Magne Furuholmen's Scrabble exhibition (also known as "Mange Magne") May – Autumn 2007 the artist has been bestowed with a personally signed letter from Mags in gratitude for the contribution, and also a limited edition CD of the sound part of the installation. The artist reserves the right to play the CD to subdue boring conversations at will.
Magne Furuholmen is a successful practising artist and member of the Norwegian band A-ha.
He invited his myspace friends to collaborate with him to create a series of dolls of him for an exhibition at Sørlandets Kunstmuseum in Kristiansand, Norway.
I made two dolls for this exhibition which have been uploaded onto his website.
http://www.a-ha.com/cparticle7840-417.html http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=26829
http://www.magnef.net/dolls/
Collaborations with Magne are ongoing.
I was writing in my dissertation a reference to the window, or "mirror" in Take On Me" where the girl has already gone into the comic book realm, but still appears as real….
in the precession of the simulacrum, she represents the viewer, who is also drawn into that world… this was with reference to Velazquez' Las Meninas, that the painting is viewed from the perspective of the subjects, the king and queen, who appear as reflections in a mirror. I was thinking of the frame in the Take On Me video that they dance in front of as being like that mirror…. so I had this idea of building that frame in my studio, so that whoever enters the space immediately becomes involved in the video; the unreal becomes real. I also came across a drawing of the view outside the studio window, that I did and never used. I think that would be excellent juxtaposed with the other work, because in that image the real world outside the studio becomes part of this comic book world.
I wanted to know what other people thought of these images, whether it comes across as some kind of Pop Art (Warhol) or some obsessive fan, because that is not what this work is about. I didn't receive enough feedback to gauge whether anyone was receiving erroneous "screaming teenage fan" ideas from it, because I am aware how it could be construed that way; this artist was too young to have posters of any one band all over the wall. Sorry to dispel that misinterpretation, but I've never been any good at obsessions. Reference: http://www.eyestorm.com/artists/profile/Vic_Reeves… I was merely playing around with the images, doodling, and as I was doodling images of Morten Harket I was simultaneously doodling whatever thoughts were in my head. Considering I was writing my dissertation simultaneously, the theories I am researching are foremost in my mind. I wasn't planning on continuing along the Take On Me/ A-ha direction; I was using it as a vehicle to develop further ideas from, however, when I thought about it and discussed it in relation to Baudrillard, I started to receive positive feedback that dispelled any concerns I had that it would end up looking like some kind of obsession.
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"The imaginary was the alibi of the real, in a world dominated by the reality principle. And, paradoxically, it is the real that has become our true utopia – but a utopia that is no longer in the realm of the possible, that can only be dreamt of as one would dream of a lost object."
– Jean Baudrillard Simulacra and Simulations
Following from previous animation work, in a similar vein to Candice Breitz's Re-animations,this work reconstructs and continues a comic book narrative based around A-ha's 1986 music video Take On Me, in which the fictional realm of the iconic 1980s music video is conflated with events that are contemporary to 2008.
Recent images of the band are being redrawn in the same style of drawing as Michael Patterson's animation, as part of an installation that explores the series of coincidences that make an A-ha fan’s world part of a virtual and real collaboration with the band themselves, a relationship that transcends the boundaries of celebrity idolatry.
