Opening: Daniel Askill @ Gallery A. S.
Daniel Askill’s new exhibition furthers his exploration of ritual in a modern context. He began this investigation with his 2004 short film, We Have Decided Not to Die, followed by a 2009 solo show, Artefacts From The Fifth Ritual. Modern Worship marks the next phase in Askill’s body of work, and in his progression towards a future feature-length film.
In this exhibition, Askill explores two major events of the last decade - the atrocities of 9/11 and the death of the ‘King of Pop’, Michael Jackson - and could be considered a response to J.G. Ballard’s The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered as a Downhill Motor Race. Ballard’s experimental essay explores how the mass media landscape transforms human events into hyper-reality and, of course, money. A re-contextualising or less conventional interpretation of these grim events may help us view them from a new perspective.
This exhibition will centre upon a large-scale projection of a striking slow motion video tableau, a looping installation that draws on elements of pop culture, Hollywood spectacle, global disaster, idolatry and what constitutes a religion. Further works including sculpture, small screen video and photographic editions question the way modern events are portrayed in the media, and the multiplicity of delivery as it pervades and infects the private mind of the individual.
Gallery A.S. is Joseph Allen Shea’s new roaming gallery project, presenting both local and international art through a series of impermanent exhibitions in selected venues across Sydney and beyond.
(Source: gallery.as)
