Artist's talk 3pm Saturday 16 September and 2pm Sunday 1 October
www.johngillies.com
A new show by Australian artist John Gillies at Articulate project space presents new photo works and a number of video works previously unseen in Sydney. The exhibition shows different aspects of the broad scope and multi-disciplinary nature of his art practice.
Parsifals is a multi-channel video installation that ironically de-constructs and re-presents distorted fragments and images inspired by the story of Parsifal and Wagner’s opera of the same name, via a number of discarded television monitors on the floor. The television sets become the longed-for holy grail of the myth; the empty grails on the screens devoid of blood, but supported by a romantic mis-en-scene.
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| John Gillies Parsifals, multi-channel video and audio installation, 1987 |
Gillies’ much written about semi-narrative work Divide, which premiered as a multi-channel video installation at Glasgow’s expansive Tramway gallery, and later screened at the Tate Modern, is presented at Articulate in a new version for single split screen. Divide features performances by artists Denis Beaubois, Dalisa Pigram, Matt Millay, Lee Wilson and a rare performance by Chinese living national treasure Feng Shan Xu.
Collaboration is also present in his work with acclaimed performer Alan Schacher. Diasporic Body, is presented as a single channel split screen version. The work is based on a work presented by Schacher at the Da Dao Live Art Festival in Beijing.
Photo works in the exhibition include the abstract Falling Water, which is part of a larger body of work, and Witkacy and Malinowski in 296 shots which re-presents images from his recent film and installation Witkacy and Malinowski: a cinematic séance in 23 scenes.
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| John Gillies Witkacy and Malinowski in 296 shots 2017 archival pigment on paper 1500mm x 1000mm |
John Gillies will be supported by a catalogue essay by Stella Rosa McDonald
Two video works by Gillies are also currently showing in Emu Island: Modernism in Place at the Penrith Regional Gallery & Lewers Bequest.
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| John Gillies Falling Water 2017 archival pigment on paper 1700mm x 500mm |
This project is assisted by funding from the Inner West Council