Mark Aerial Waller
21 Feb - 31 Mar 2012
MARK AERIAL WALLER
Offering Transmissions
21 February - 31 March, 2012
Rodeo is very happy to present the third exhibition with Mark Aerial Waller, Offering(Transmissions. Mark’s greater understanding of popular culture brings together the works that are presented here: five video projections on pencil drawings and an installation.
Offering Transmissions is an ongoing series of drawings of various things left on the tomb of painter and poet William Blake: RayFBan sunglasses, coins, earrings, a crystal wine glass, all offered to the dead artist by his fans and in Blake’s case one could even say his believers. On the drawings there are projected videos of various episodes of The Simpsons; each drawing has an episode selected by the artist. The cartoon’s flat fields of color compliment the monochrome drawings and the Simpsons ubiquity overpowers the obscurity of the graphite offerings. I like The Simpsons, but I can never remove from my mind the thought of a boardroom discussing the position of clever jokes, something that just doesn’t ride with the action of placing a coin or cheap FM radio on a memorial as libation, says Waller.
By using the particular cartoon the artist does not try to refer to it as ‘found footage’ or use it as material. The Simpsons are a symbol of a time, an active operator that represents a recent relic of our times. And in a similar way Blake’s tomb is juxtaposed on the videos. The tomb is seen as a medium to communicate with the long bygone artist by leaving objects on it and through the surface of the drawing the video enters that world by interacting with it as a backdrop. Choosing graphite as a foundation for this meticulous work should be seen as an act of touching base with the substance of things. A second version of the tent (first was done in 2010) is dominating a big part of the gallery and invites people to sit in and read a selection of books on utopian personal futures. A video with a menu is inviting to practice yoga or assemble an emergency ration chair.
Mark Aerial Waller (b. 1969, High Wycombe, UK) is working in video, sculpture, drawing and event based practices, based in London. Waller defies conventional screening formats, integrating sculptural objects and live performances for an experience of cinema defined in spatial and situational terms. He is also the founder of The Wayward Canon, a platform for eventFbased interventions in cinematic practices. Recent solo exhibitions include This isn’t Nelsons time it’s 1956 and it’s time to get out and leave this shtick, Outpost, Norwich, The Cassiopeia Plan, Wysing Arts Centre, Frieze, Frame with Rodeo 2010) and group shows and events More Soup & Tart, Barbican, London sculptural performance), Surreal House, Barbican, London performance), This place you see has no size at all..., Kadist Foundation, Paris, Heaven, 2ndAthens Biennale, Greece, curated by Diana Baldon, Horror Yoga/Boundary Theory, Transmission, Glasgow touring to Hollywood cinemas, Norwich, presented by LUX as an offsite project for Outpost, Norwich.
Offering Transmissions
21 February - 31 March, 2012
Rodeo is very happy to present the third exhibition with Mark Aerial Waller, Offering(Transmissions. Mark’s greater understanding of popular culture brings together the works that are presented here: five video projections on pencil drawings and an installation.
Offering Transmissions is an ongoing series of drawings of various things left on the tomb of painter and poet William Blake: RayFBan sunglasses, coins, earrings, a crystal wine glass, all offered to the dead artist by his fans and in Blake’s case one could even say his believers. On the drawings there are projected videos of various episodes of The Simpsons; each drawing has an episode selected by the artist. The cartoon’s flat fields of color compliment the monochrome drawings and the Simpsons ubiquity overpowers the obscurity of the graphite offerings. I like The Simpsons, but I can never remove from my mind the thought of a boardroom discussing the position of clever jokes, something that just doesn’t ride with the action of placing a coin or cheap FM radio on a memorial as libation, says Waller.
By using the particular cartoon the artist does not try to refer to it as ‘found footage’ or use it as material. The Simpsons are a symbol of a time, an active operator that represents a recent relic of our times. And in a similar way Blake’s tomb is juxtaposed on the videos. The tomb is seen as a medium to communicate with the long bygone artist by leaving objects on it and through the surface of the drawing the video enters that world by interacting with it as a backdrop. Choosing graphite as a foundation for this meticulous work should be seen as an act of touching base with the substance of things. A second version of the tent (first was done in 2010) is dominating a big part of the gallery and invites people to sit in and read a selection of books on utopian personal futures. A video with a menu is inviting to practice yoga or assemble an emergency ration chair.
Mark Aerial Waller (b. 1969, High Wycombe, UK) is working in video, sculpture, drawing and event based practices, based in London. Waller defies conventional screening formats, integrating sculptural objects and live performances for an experience of cinema defined in spatial and situational terms. He is also the founder of The Wayward Canon, a platform for eventFbased interventions in cinematic practices. Recent solo exhibitions include This isn’t Nelsons time it’s 1956 and it’s time to get out and leave this shtick, Outpost, Norwich, The Cassiopeia Plan, Wysing Arts Centre, Frieze, Frame with Rodeo 2010) and group shows and events More Soup & Tart, Barbican, London sculptural performance), Surreal House, Barbican, London performance), This place you see has no size at all..., Kadist Foundation, Paris, Heaven, 2ndAthens Biennale, Greece, curated by Diana Baldon, Horror Yoga/Boundary Theory, Transmission, Glasgow touring to Hollywood cinemas, Norwich, presented by LUX as an offsite project for Outpost, Norwich.