Artangel – 2023
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Drawing from life—Nature Morte # II 1998
Mixed media: Fragment of Burchell’s zebra skin in glass cabinet
50.2 x 37 cm
Lifeline 1993–2011
Mixed media: Iconic altar comprising recycled wooden components, frame, collage on velvet and gilded barbed wire
94 x 87.5 x 26 cm
Lifeline contains an appropriated collage of the Venus de Melos and a cheap black and white photocopy of my right hand. The collage is housed in an elaborate alter-like iconic structure, clearly vesting great (tongue-in-cheek) value on these found objects. The golden strand of barbed wire references the mythical ’golden chain’; the ancient symbol life’s continuity as well as the assertion of proprietal capitalist power. The altar reeks af old fashioned establishment and (unspecified) religious reverence.
Aspirant PC Executive’s Valise 1998–2005
Mixed media: Section of wooden door, plastic handle, back scratcher and branded symbols
34 x 51.5 cm
A commentary on our politically correct (PC) way of life. Most important and visible item in the aspirant executive’s valise is the back scratcher. The branding of the archaic male and female symbols refer to the non-sexist nature of PC behaviour. The prominent name tag or signature identifies the aspirant politically correct owner
Mixed media: Camouflaged recycled frame with convex glass
H43 x W58.6 cm
This painting raises questions concerning Australian complicity in the suspension of humanitarian values at the behest of America, as part of the “alliance of the willing”. It makes an oblique but decipherable reference to the deployment of torture – in the war on international terrorism. The irony is obvious. The camouflaged oval format is eye-shaped and the inclusion of the central black dot acts as the pupil. By extension I am positioning you the viewer, as a witness to the (undetermined) torture being perpetrated on the person with a bucket over their head in the image. The bucket carries the ubiquitous commercially patriotic “Made in Australia” logo.