Two exhibitions
dal 11/1/2006 al 18/2/2006
Segnalato da
11/1/2006
Two exhibitions
David Risley Gallery, London
Jonathan Allen's fictitious gospel magician persona presents a heady mix of Christian evangelism and glitzy showmanship. Described by one observer as a meeting of Billy Graham and David Copperfield via Donald Rumsfeld. Tommy Angel presents before his audiences, a brutal and narcissistic miracle worker deploying suspect wonders with casual ease.
Tommy Angel and Jonathan Allen
A white-tipped magician's wand in the shape of a crucifix offers
questionable salvation. Mind-reading and worship conspire in the cards on a
church hymn board. A bible bursts into flames when opened. While the
artistry of Tommy Angel's power is never fully hidden, the omnipresence of
magic's relationship with religion and the relationships of power upon which
both rely, is stirringly observed in Jonathan Allen's photographs and live
magic' performances.
Allen's fictitious gospel magician' persona presents a heady mix of
Christian evangelism and glitzy magic showmanship. Described by one observer
as a meeting of Billy Graham and David Copperfield via Donald Rumsfeld',
Tommy Angel preens before his audiences, a brutal and narcissistic miracle
worker deploying suspect wonders with casual ease. Allen recasts
iconographical conventions such as the Beheading of John-the-Baptist,
Madonna and Child, and The Baptism of Christ against a dark political
landscape - with the West fixated on Islamic fundamentalism, he satirises
fundamentalism's Christian face.
There is a curious inversion here - whilst Allen acts out Tommy Angel to
create disconcerting still photographic images, his live performances seem
to document the resulting tableaux. Fiction begets fiction. Tommy Angel¹s
routines become a double-edged meditation on representation itself,
highlighting the ambivalent power of illusion and its role in assembling our
sense of the real.
Jonathan Allen has recently performed for the opening of the Hayward
Gallery's Eyes, Lies and Illusions, ZOO Art Fair, the De La Warr Pavilion as
part of Variety, and for Duckie, with whom he will be performing at Tate
Britain in February 2006. He has been commissioned to exhibit and perform at
the first Singapore Biennale in September 2006. Jonathan Allen is currently
supported by Arts Council England, and Artsadmin.
Private View. Thursday 19 January 6.30 - 8.30.
David Risley Gallery
45 Vyner Street - London
Gallery hours: Thursday Sunday. 12.00 6.00 or by appointment