Media Attention
Curated by Cassandra Needham
With artists David Blandy, Richard DeDomenici, Ben Young
6 January – 10 February
You are invited to the preview of the show on Friday 5th January from
6.30-9pm at
g39, Wyndham Arcade, Cardiff CF10 1FH.
Media Attention brings together 3 emerging artists who, in very
different ways, appropriate the strategies of contemporary popular
culture. Continuing the tradition of Pop Art, the artists presented
here explore the extent to which popular culture forms and informs
the contemporary psyche. Producing medium-reflexive work, they co-opt
the rhetoric of television, music and film, highlighting slippages
between fantasy and reality in everyday life.
Fame Asylum 2006, is Richard Dedomenici’s most ambitious project to
date. Realized in collaboration with Channel 4 and National Refugee
Week, Dedomenici has formed a fledgling boy band comprised of four
young asylum seekers. Working within the realm of socially engaged
art, Dedomenici attempts to raise awareness around the complex socio-
political issue of immigration.
The project encompasses a documentary that follows the band’s
progress, through their debut single, promotional merchandise and
live performances. It also deploys the consumptive power of pop music
and television programmes such as Fame Academy and Pop Idol to
generate media attention.
Dedomenici appropriates the language of pop culture on a number of
levels, playing with and exposing the self-perpetuating force of mass
media. Creating a complex system of mimicry, subversion and
manipulation, he not only pinpoints the role popular culture plays in
identity perception, but also uses press and television coverage as a
means of disseminating the work.
Through the documentation of perfomative acts, the video works of
David Blandy also raises questions about the exploitation or
celebration of other cultures. Often recording himself lip-synching
to the lyrics of pop songs or well-known film scenes, Blandy’s short
videos and related projects question the extent to which the self is
formed through mass media.
In his 2001 work From the Underground, Blandy mimes to the gangster
rap record Bring Da Ruckus by the Wu-Tang Clan as he travels down the
escalator at Archway tube station and onto the train. His rendition
is devoid of theatricality but at the same time it offers us an
absurd scenario. Blandy’s attempted adoption of gangster cool
highlights the slippage between his aspirations, affiliations, and
his physical reality.
By appropriating the language of hip-hop, soul or kung-fu movies,
Bandy attempts to unravel his problematic relationship with popular
culture. His work asks the difficult question of just how much the
self is formed within the ubiquity of mass media; records, films and
television, whilst emphasizing the tension between fantasy and
reality in everyday life.
The work of Ben Young pushes this slippage into fantasy even further.
In his latest film The Sons of l'Homme Doré, 2006, Young has created
his own myth; a sci-fi film written, directed and starring himself
and employing his family as supporting cast and production crew.
Within an alternative reality, Young constructs for himself an
empowered male role, rendering visual the notion of man as strong,
adventurous and in charge of his own destiny.
In The Sons of l'Homme Doré, Young takes his starting point a state
of male pathological narcissism. Based on narratives of male
development, the film is intended as a sequel to a sci-fi story that
was originally published in the 1950’s, within which we follow the
life of the Golden Man, an über-survivors of an atomic war.
Young’s film continues the story through the sons of the 'Golden
Man', updated with Twenty-First century technology - we follow our
heroes on their adventure through the land of computer animation,
surreal cut 'n' pastes and digital Technicolor. Narration by the
actor Brian Blessed carries us through the pastiche of both high and
low cultural and uneasy co-existence between self-aware narcissism
and a threatened masculinity.
Media Attention runs from Saturday 6th January – Saturday 11th
February 2007.
g39 is open 11-5.30 Wednesday to Saturday.
Notes for editors:
Media Attention is the second exhibition in the One in the Other
season, a continued commitment by g39 to highlight the best emerging
artists and curators from Wales. For the season we hand over to three
artist curators who will plan and curate three exhibitions of what
they consider to be the most interesting artists from Wales and
beyond. The guest curators are Sean Edwards (21 Oct – 25 Nov),
Cassandra Needham (6 Jan – 10 Feb), and the Rêl Institiwt (24 Feb –
31 Mar, closed 1 Mar). This season of independently curated
exhibitions is in response to an observed rise in curatorial activity
among artists.
About the artist curators:
Sean Edwards Sean studied sculpture at Slade School of Art in London
and UWIC in Cardiff. His precise, painstakingly methodical practice
has always been accompanied by an equally acute understanding of the
effective presentation of artworks in a gallery context. Sean
appreciates minimalism and economy both in his work and in the
artists he has considered for the exhibition at g39. Sean lives in
Abergavenny.
Cassandra Needham Originally from the North Wales coast, Cassie
recently completed the RCA curating course. She is embarking on a
career as an independent curator, and is currently involved in a
number of projects including Momentum, the Nordic Festival of
Contemporary Art.
Rêl Institiwt Founded in September 2000 in direct response to the
paucity of alternative cinema in North Wales, the Rêl Institiwt is a
group that initiates contemporary art events. It has organised over
thirty such events in various locations, including regular
alternative film nights in Betws-y-Coed, and several
multidisciplinary special events. It is an entirely voluntary not-for-
profit group comprised of a 300-strong membership of artists and
supporters from across Wales.
***ENDS***
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