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14/1/2009

Steve Bishop

Pianissimo Contemporary Art, Milano

.....................english below

Pianissimo e’ lieta di presentare la prima mostra italiana di Steve Bishop. (1983 - Toronto, Canada). La vanità umana, il desiderio di bellezza idealizzata attraverso l’immaginario della pubblicità, del cinema e della moda sono i punti di partenza delle opere presentate in Some Thing to Believe in. Steve Bishop propone una accattivante ed energetica riflessione su come l’iconografia occidentale abbia sostituito l’ideologia occidentale, un’iconografia nella quale il Credere totalmente è virtuoso quanto una religione. Nello spazio principale della galleria delle strutture di metallo dipinto a specchio, che ricordano formalmente l’arredo urbano dei cartelloni pubblicitari, esaminano la ricerca “dell’immagine del corpo ideale” cosi’ prevalente nella moderna storia sociale.

Incorniciati con catene d’oro e d’argento, larghi collages realizzati con frammenti di immagini di prodotti di bellezza e intimo, silicone e pelli di animali sono combinati per creare una superficie visceralmente caotica. Al piano superiore nel video Behold a pale horse, Steve Bishop riedita meticolosamente i loghi cinematografici delle più importanti major hollywodiane per creare una composizione continua di luce, sorpresa e magia. L’animazione trabocca di un intenso senso iconografico che letteralmente non appartiene a questo mondo, una immaginazione collettiva piena di voglia e desiderio per tutto quello che brilla e luccica.
Adam Thomas

..............................english

Pianissimo is proud to present the first solo exhibition in Milan by the London based artist Steve Bishop (1983 - Toronto, Canada). In Some Thing to Believe in Bishop’s sculpture and video works are concerned with human vanity, desire for beauty and our belief in the idealised image. Bishop appropriates imagery from advertising, cinema and fashion, and addresses their impact on generating a contemporary social conscience. The main gallery space is populated by sculptures reminiscent of advertising billboard signs. A series of mirrored structures frame large collages made up of torn adverts for beauty products and underwear, transparent silicone and animal furs that combine to make a viscerally chaotic surface. The collision of materials and images, that of hair, silicone, paper and skin are held in place, and in a state of display by gold and silver chains.

In the top gallery space is Behold a Pale Horse, a single channel video, for which the artist has meticulously edited Hollywood studio idents into a seamless composition of lights, camera and magic. The animation, synonymous with Cinema, brims with an overwhelming sense of iconography and fantasy that is literally out of this world. Bishop creates a captivating and energetic reflection on the idea that western iconography has replaced western ideology, an iconography in which total belief is as virtuous as religion. The works in Some Thing to Believe in address modes of appearance intrinsic to the urban environment and the western idea of aspiration of the self. The sculptures examine the pursuit of the ideal body image so prevalent in a modern social history as well as a collective imagination rife with the want and desire for all that glitters and shimmers. Bishop presents our pursuit of beauty positioned alongside its urban context and natural expense.

Opening 15 Gennaio 2009, h. 19

Pianissimo Contemporary Art
via Giovanni Ventura, 6 - Milano
Mar – Sab: 14.00 – 19.00
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