An exhibition that unites the authentic experiences of six artists, each embodying a bold and uncompromising approach to life. Through the exploration of dynamic forces inherent in ritual and the intricate webs of obsessive thinking, each individual reveals their story, emerging from the shadow of untapped potential within the self.
By examining thought patterns, the power of intention, and the various methods we use to bridge the gap between what is within our control and the unknowable beyond, Ritual & Obsessive Thought aims to unbind what is confined and cast a healing light on our hidden compulsive nature.
Situated in the bustling heart of Earl’s Court, Gallery 286 is a private house gallery that specialises in salon-style viewings.
In harmony with the evening’s theme, there will be an interactive, improvised ambient musical underscore by Noko (Apollo 440, Magazine). Using an electric guitar and delay loop system, he will create a continuously evolving, repetitive, and mutating sonic environment to enhance your enjoyment of the works on display.
The root of all ritual and obsession lies in repetition. Repetition is a form of change. Obsessive repetition transforms the commonplace into something unhinged and escalates normality into hysteria, elevating it to the level of the truly religious.
Touching on numerology as the alchemical root of all that is universal, my current work explores obsession and ritual through it's relationship to symbolism, human anatomy and the primordially eternal : love.
Daily rituals, such as bathing, assume a symbolic significance—a cleansing not only of the body but also of the psyche. I feel an inner urge to purify, purge, and redress those intangible workings of the mind. Though the task seems impossible, I am compelled to try.
For this exhibition I have created a short video piece, ʻApophanista‽ʼ. Scenes from my childhood are played out in a tableaux involving my mother (the oracle), my father (a gangster) and myself, depicting tragic and not so tragic incidents overshadowed by my mother's inherited use of ancient Kabbalistic (practical) magic, and an obsessive consultation of Napoleon's Oraculum.
The choice of actors and aesthetics enable me to detach from these memories that are far too personal to share literally. It is also an ongoing attempt to reconcile these past events by creating future encoded memories in my role as filmmaker. It’s accompanied by text from Napoleon's Book of Fate, and Les Litanies de Satan by Baudelaire and visually encoded with rituals that hold the clues to the past as well as the future.
Apophanista‽ is a made up title taken from the word, Apophany which is about seeing / seeking meaning from apparently meaningless information or data.
Printmaking is for me a way of seeing things more consciously and less casually, of indexing daily experience and controlling the chaos of incessant observation.
I would like my prints to record the marginal and to merit the viewer wondering about them. I try to make images that resonate with some earlier activity, that catch things at the edges.
When it deduces an increased likelihood of a terrorist attack, nuclear war, asteroid impact or other disaster, the hands move a little closer to midnight. The perfect accessory for the news obsessive, this machine worries about the news for you while you sleep. And if the clock reaches midnight, the teasmade will silently pour 10 grammes of barbiturate powder into your morning drink. This exhibit is inspired by my observations of 24 hour news, Twitter and the clock on the cover of The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
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