Opening Reception Saturday 25 February, 5-7pm

Charles Brady, Maud Cotter, Michael Craig-Martin, Vanessa Donoso Lopez, Blaise Drummond, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Gillian Fitzpatrick, Aoife Flynn, Cassie Howard, Alissa Kleist, Francesco Simeti • Curated by Rowan Sexton

The human world is not defined simply by the historical, by culture, by totality or society as a whole, or by ideological and political superstructures. It is defined by this intermediate and mediating level: everyday life.

– Henri Lefebvre, The Critique of Everyday Life, 1961.

The exhibition, The God of Small Things (Part 1), examines the everyday, and the small things and surroundings that deeply affect peoples lives. A number of diverse artworks address the intersection between art and the quotidian in the domestic environment. This exhibition questions the social and cultural associations of domesticity in contemporary society. The everyday, commonplace undercurrent to the exhibition interrogates roles centred around ideas of anthropomorphism, tradition, and reflections on gender. It invites the viewer to question appearances, stereotypes and the social conventions and expectations that one readily associates within this familiar, prosaic landscape.

This exhibition highlights the transgressive and dynamic aspirations of art, adopting and adapting conventional materials and objects, to create interventions with the familiar. The affiliate practices that contribute to the exhibition reflect on personal perceptions, commercial commodities, and domestic fixtures and features. By incorporating the underlying narrative presented in each piece, and the philosophical framework anterior to the creation of these multimedia artworks, the exhibition opens up a dialogue about urban sociology.

The meaning of an artwork often arises out of the context in which it exists. In this case, the social and formal markers contribute to influencing how the work may be interpreted. Questions surrounding both cultural and personal identity have been central to art since the 1960’s, as have the impact of gender, feminism and post-colonial notions. By deconstructing the contextual framework of the pieces, an insight to the personal narratives that have informed the artworks becomes apparent.

Text by Rowan Sexton, February 2012.