[Small]Poison@Fried
Contemporary
©Fried Contemporary Art Gallery & Studio
poi•son /pzn/
noun,
verb
noun [C, U]
1.
a substance that causes death or harm if it is swallowed or absorbed
into the body.
2. an idea, a feeling, etc. that is extremely harmful:
the poison of racial hatred
[Small]Poison
is an
exhibition of approximately 100 miniatures by contemporary South African
artist Christiaan Diedericks.. Only a few large works will be on show.
In his
new body of work Diedericks employs a vast variety of media and techniques
in order to convey multiple potentially poisonous messages. The title was
specifically chosen as the artist continues to relentlessly investigate and
expose many unjust situations and practices persisting in contemporary
society. Many new techniques such as photographic linocuts, laser-engraving
and archival pigment printmaking will be on display, but the artist’s skills
in traditional drawing, printmaking, painting and mixed media will also be
shown. The original idea for the exhibition derives from the fact that small
works are often still overlooked by the media, art collectors and the
public, while it is in fact often these tiny poisons which can upset the
Status Quo and especially conservative minded individuals the most. British
artist Lucian Freud’s tiny painting of the Queen of England is in my
personal opinion one of his best works ever.
[Small]Poison
addresses persistent issues such as gender/race biases, ongoing issues of
masculinity and (homo)sexuality, Xenophobia, body politics, gender-bending,
sex and the prudish view society still maintains regarding the body and
sexuality in general. Also, the nude male body, illustrating the male erect
penis without excuse, masturbation, labeling, framing and stereotyping are
investigated mainly within a South African context.
Diedericks states that “in many ways I aim to ‘rewrite’ history in my work
and the dominant sense of self-awareness that informs most Western art
practices. I am trying to present contemporary issues of Difference as
timeless, by situating my vocabulary of images and themes in an organic flux
of dreams, history, news, commercial detritus, hyperreality, and unvoiced
feelings and forces of biological nature/desire.
I am
trying to reconcile two seemingly irreconcilable driving forces of
postmodern consciousness – the desire for Otherness and the fear of losing
autonomy. Herein lies the connection between my seemingly random imagery –
homoeroticism, the male body under a microscope, borrowed images from
contemporary culture, digital images and autobiographical imagery. I am
always aiming to juggle these disparate images to make them correspond
without collapsing into one particular style, mode of thought, emotion, or
art-historical reference. Through the juxtaposition of self and nature I am
attempting to create a new language of images appropriate to the
psychological realities of our age”.
Chris
Diedericks, Cape town, June 2008
