Wayne Horse
is currently embroiled within the midst of Vulpes Sus Frater. Call it a brotherhood, or cult, or sect, Vulpes Sus Frater (meaning Fox Pig Brothers) is an invention of the artist. From drawings to performances, Horse is actualizing and developing the brotherhood, creating an uneasy balance between truth and fiction. His works offer a kind of history, proof, relic of existence. So much so that Vulpes Sus Frater is becoming a truth and the art is moving from illustration to documentation.
The masks and symbols of the members recall the Klu Klux Klan, and the images of the violent initiation ceremonies bring to mind grim sado-masochism and scenes of torture. This imagery and iconography is certainly disturbing, but it also holds a ludicrous B-movie sensationalism - these are actions immersed in pulp fiction cliche.
The idea of wrongdoing and occult behaviour not only occurring but thriving in normal society has proved frequently appealing to artists. Horse juxtaposes his gruesome characters against scenes of suburban normalcy, idyllic rural settings and wealth. The German entertainer Adrian Falk appears in two of Horse's videos. Contrary to their wild ways, he acts as a decidedly nonthreatening and incongruous figure amongst the brotherhood.
Horse does not propose clear-cut answers and resolutions for the audience in their perception of the Vulpes Sus Frater. And nor does he cast the group as wholly evil. Alongside their more repellent and frightening actions, the gang are portrayed in scenes that are playful, calm, affectionate. In perceiving these scenes as part of a multifarious installation, the viewer experiences often contradictory feelings, confusing sympathy and disgust. And as this is an on-going project from the artist - one that will develop during the course of this exhibition - our interpretations and responses must duly adapt.
Abner Preis
really is a storyteller. His stories - whether presented live to an audience or via a recording - offer humorous, irreverent tales that come with a message...or rather a piece of wisdom...one that is usually socially engaged.
Preis will present a series of large-scale drawings and sculptures. Each comes with a soundpiece; a story told by Preis, for and about the work. Frequently, Preis' works connect, cross over - sculptures become props for performances, drawings become illustrations to stories. The works, they have a stand-alone presence and a cumulative one. His drawings are dense and packed with narrative, characters, allegory, with an epic scope. From a king in his castle to peasants in a shack, in "A Happy Day in an Accidental Way" Preis gets to grips with many of the inequalities and contradictions within a typical society.
Cast of characters - such as Timmy Teardrop, Charlie the Clown, the Great Abnerio - recur throughout Preis' oeuvre. His drawings have a diagrammatic and illustrative quality - there always being a message to each piece, one typically engaged with social inequalities or hypocrisies. Whilst there is a scathing satire fuelling his works, Preis' worldview is entirely hopeful - the stories he tells always end with a happy ending.
Children's drawings are immediately, bluntly and brilliantly evoked in Preis' drawings. The brash colours, flat forms and very physical, absorbing use of felt tips and wax crayons, capture many of the qualities most fresh and enjoyable about the drawings made by children. It is thrilling also to see these methods applied to such a large scale; the impacts of the forms and colours heightened by their monumental presence.
In the unapologetic and unquestioning directness of both his technique and very literal means of communication, Preis' approach is certainly child-like - there is a freshness and verve to what he is saying and how he says it. Oblique references and veiled meanings tend to be the currency of communication in contemporary art but Preis wants what he has to say to be heard and to be understood. It makes sense therefore that his language - both visual and verbal - is simple, legible, direct.
Opening
Saturday 24 October, 17.00 hrs