In the 1960s and 70s, when discussions over mass media were at a fever pitch, artists often used camera as a means to explore the nature of perception, thought processes and the filmic medium itself. At the same time the body had particular relevance to a new generation of artists who were interested in combating the nature of commodification, representation and identity issues through performance. For many, Gilles Deleuze’s famous remark that the body is “but a series of images” remembered, desired, rejected and dreamt, is an apt description for the body’s place within art making practices.
A number of male artists in the show also explore the nature of body, often through the lens of pop culture and the colloquial. Devis Venturelli uses little more than a large sheet of gold paper and a single tracking shot to create a highly sculptural performance piece that references Brancusi and Picasso alike; the body becomes a ritualistic/gestural expression, and partly from an interest in the depiction of the body as malleable material.
(© 2010, Paul Young)