Sunday 22 February 2009

Sample from Vinespace

Thespace is pleased to present new work by the artist Alex Artist. This exhibition features a series of linked pieces or ‘chapters’ that are partly autobiographical and partly reference the classic film 'Classic film’.

'Classic Film’s uplifting, impressionable fable asks a simple question: "What would this world be like if I had never been born?" It is a gloriously appealing film that treads an uneven path between the sentimental and the profound as the protagonist, George Actor (played by James Person) learns to recognize that he makes a significant difference to those around him. He is an optimistic analogy (or a pessimistic wake-up call) for the way we live our lives in the real world.

This work is a visual exploration of the reciprocal exchange between the film and the manner in which its message is embedded in Artist’s own psyche. How the concept of the protagonist extends beyond fiction and into the real world; how we are all protagonists in the narratives of our own lives. It is no coincidence that ‘Classic film’ is so meaningful at a time when the structural and moral integrity of Capitalism is being questioned and ‘relationships of self interest’ are in the dock. Artist has made this work within a complex framework of self analysis, shared cultural knowledge and global insecurity.

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