Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University College London : B - Fine Art
"The epoch of perpetual happiness"
A solo exhibition at The Approach, London. The works exhibited were the result of a period of research which had begun in 2007, examining how an artwork could have a “meaning” and what might that be. This is to consider how an artwork might be understood or misunderstood in order to highlight the relationship between artist, artwork and viewer. This was done by making three differing large scale paintings.
The first Caliban Tamil Fuckers - Subliminal Message Series was laboriously made and had the appearance of a giant scribble, but wasn’t. It contained a hidden word “FUCKED”.
The Epoch of Perpetual Happiness was the second in an as yet unfinished trilogy of paintings. It was about the idea of trusting, or not trusting false hopes. It looked like a painting of a wall of random posters, but was full of art historical references.
The third painting served as a foil for the other two and had no hidden meanings, but rather, offered an aggressively aesthetic experience.
The relationship between the paintings, and the way in which they contextualised one another asked questions about the status of each. They raised the question why would the same person make three such different paintings, what are their similarities and differences.
The significance of this research relates to the engagement with, at the time of the exhibition, critical debates within the field of contemporary art, concerning the level of cynicism or knowingness (or not) on the part of the artist.
It follows a trajectory aligned to artists such as Sigmar Polke, Richard Prince and Rudolf Stingel who mock and question the idea of an artist having a recognisable style as a strategy to interrogate the perceived status of specific artefacts. This show was discussed at Tate St Ives and ICA London.
