bastard children of pop
“The artists’ job is to be witness to his time in history”
Robert Rauschenberg
Loser Art. Counter Culture. Subculture. Arte Povera. Street Art. DIY Art. Youth Art. Crap Art. Graffiti? Subversion... Interruption... Disruption....The Bastard Children of Pop. Illegitimate. Below the radar. A bad taste in the mouth. The cracked mirror image of Pop, Neo Pop. All that is shiny and bright. And hollow. The witnesses.
As Neo Pop emerged as the direct descendent of Pop Art, the
proliferation of larger than life celebrity bling, wanton consumerism and hollow gesture filled galleries, magazines and festivals around the world. Golden statues of Michael Jackson and Bubbles, Tiger sharks frozen in formaldehyde or life size manga cartoon statues with lasso like semen reflected the decade of excess that was being referenced and reflected upon. Popular culture had never seemed more perverse. Money was no object in the creation of these idols.
But there was an alternative faction forming within the Pop family.
Subcultures had begun to emerge almost as soon as the term "popular culture" had been termed. A desire to act in a contrary fashion to popular culture fuelled a growing group of artists who acted outside of and apparently against Pop. The slickness of Neo Pop was indeed a sickening sight to these artists and they began to use the leftovers and the discarded materials of their wealthier relatives. Where Neo Pop Artists revere Marvel comics, the Bastard children might reference internet pornography. Where Neo Pop artists might use diamonds, the Bastard Children used bathroom tiles.
In our Age of Austerity, it seems apt to begin to collect some of the
artists who are representative of this movement. And it is a large
movement even if they have yet to recognise it themselves. This show is a dispirate, desperate collection of detritus that demands to be acknowledged as a record of our times.
Doug Fishbone
Ed Templeton
Horn Head
Jesse Darling
Keh Ng
Pure Evil
Warren Garland
Publication
To accompany the exhibition there will be a publication which we are very pleased to say that will feature the voices of all the artists in show (except Ed Templeton) plus:
Doug Fishbone
Horn Head
Jesse Darling
Keh Ng
Pure Evil
Sam Stabler
Thibaut De Wolf
Warren Garland
Events
8th July 2012
Screening of “Elmina” by Doug Fishbone from 8pm
Angus-Hughes Gallery
26 Lower Clapton Rd
(at the junction of Urswick Rd)
London, E5 0PD
29th June - 9th July 2012
Private View 29th June 2012
Film screening, 8pm 8th July 2012
Media
VIEW IMAGES OF THE SHOW