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Lepris
Excerpts from
portfolio commentary, 2008
Discarding any aesthetic sentimentality, Lepris is an analogue reduced to the barest functional embodiments of human character. Ernst's Loplop Presents was the point of departure for this work. The human analogue present in Loplop encouraged the notion of the artist's alter-ego and the similarity in name is not coincidental.
Seeking to further the human frailty within the project, Phil Hale's paintings proved a useful connection between Lepris and the Negate series. Finally, destructed civilization, as seen in the prints of Hisaharu Motoda, were vital in guiding Lepris' photographic record. |
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Anatomically, the upper portion of ice encases a rose. The frail flower is protected within - the frosted outer shell conceals the grace and implies the beauty of its interior. Like human tissue, Lepris is inevitably prone to the onset of age. Accordingly, the ice melts within the period of Lepris' manifestation, exposing the delicate interior. Countering the softer notions of age, fragility, tenderness and growth, Lepris' lower cylinder is an improvised explosive device. Clad in the public ownership of an outer surface open to decoration and defacement, the gunpowder and fuse mechanism is a testament to individual volatility and the promise of unexpected violence. In the age of the suicide bomber and the unfathomable war, the fear of random detonation is exhibited in each situation where Lepris inhabits public space. Indeed, the possibility of sudden cataclysmic explosion is at its most inappropriate within the confines of an art gallery. Both Lepris' beauty and volatility are presented in casual indifference to the mundane existence of western modernity. It is only in Lepris' inevitable fiery demise that his full potential is realised.
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Compared
to the trappings of traditional artistic display,
Lepris was publicly owned. One might expect a
viewer to be highly critical of proximity
to an explosive device. By contrast, the attitudes
of gallery staff, other artists, friends and family
was one of excitement and curiosity. At no point
was fear or uncertainty evident. Perhaps it was
overt personification, but the Lepris ‘eye’(ever
present throughout the project) seemed to be a
central point of contact for the public. Interaction,
it would appear, needs a face. Of particular interest
was the tendency of an individual to attribute
something of their own personal make-up to Lepris
- people tended to "relate" to Lepris
on an intimate level, perhaps by referencing something
of their past when invited to scribble on his
surface.
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Finally, Lepris was detonated. In a remote, wind-ravaged environment, far from the public, the fiery end was captured on film as comprehensively as the rest of his life. Utilising the nearby cadavers of recently deceased cattle, the Lepris eye was as a testament to human mortality, or perhaps the livestock of populace.
Developing the body of artwork beyond Lepris' demise, his table was cremated and the ashes used to fertilise the rose plant from which the first rose was harvested. |
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Ultimately, it is ambiguous to decide what, if any, body of this work constitutes a final artistic, ‘product’ Lepris embodies issues concerning the human condition, memory, violence, politics, mental health, age, mortality and tolerance – in short, Lepris concerns the question of what it means to be human in the modern age.
As such, a scattered visual record and memories of Lepris’ time are as adequate a human record as those of the viewer. |
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Short
Films
The Blister Exists
Negate Paintings
Sketchbook
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