Michael Stevenson
dal 5/4/2011 al 18/6/2011
Segnalato da
5/4/2011
Michael Stevenson
Museum of Contemporary Art - MCA, Sydney
Stevenson's work re-tells recent histories using allegory in and amongst historical fact. His work - paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations and film - utilises narrative forms that transform truth and fable. It engages with absurdities that arise when universal ideas relating often to culture or economics take hold in insular situations and seem to be both radical and perplexing.
Michael Stevenson, a New Zealand artist based in Berlin, has been described as an 'anthropologist of the avant-garde'. This exhibition is the first survey of his work.
Stevenson's work re-tells recent histories using allegory in and amongst historical fact. His work—paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations and film—utilises narrative forms that transform truth and fable. It engages with absurdities that arise when universal ideas relating often to culture or economics take hold in insular situations and seem to be both radical and perplexing. Stevenson's practice constantly reveals the fascinating and complex relationship between notions of the specific and the universal.
The exhibition reviews a broad selection of the artist's works drawn from his diverse practice and includes ambitious projects realised in the last 10 years such as major screen-based works and installations. It also provides an opportunity to see his recent activities in relation to earlier drawings, paintings and objects produced in the 80s and 90s in Australia and New Zealand.
In planning the exhibition, Stevenson considered the installation as a new artwork, articulated across two levels of galleries. At times the space is challenging and confusing: the walls have been altered in parts to reveal the inner workings and skeleton of the MCA. Entryways hidden until now are used to reveal works coexisting in unlikely and symbolic arrangement. Included is a room dedicated to studies, sketches, technical drawings, models, photographs and objects all accumulated in the making of the artist's work.
Michael Stevenson is represented by Darren Knight Gallery in Australia, Hamish McKay Gallery in New Zealand and Vilma Gold in the UK.
Image: Michael Stevenson, On How Things Behave (still) 2010 HD and 16mm film transferred to DVD 15:43 minutes
Courtesy the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney; Vilma Gold, London; and Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington Image courtesy the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney; Vilma Gold, London; and Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington © the artist
For further press information and images please contact: MCA Public Relations Manager
Gabrielle Wilson on +61 (0) 2 9245 2434 or +61 (0) 429 572 869 or gabrielle.wilson@mca.com.au
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
140 George Street The Rocks - Sydney
HOURS: 10AM - 5PM Daily
(closed Christmas Day)
Admission is FREE