Ray Harris and Celeste Aldahn
Ordinary Escapes and Other Magic
SASA Gallery,
2nd of April to 10th
of May
Opening night Wednesday 3rd April at 6pm
Artist Talk at 5pm
Creating fantasy worlds is something that our 21st society seems to be fairly good at. Escaping into online personas, we constantly create impressions of ourselves that neither whole, nor completely divorced from each other. In their exhibition Ordinary Escapes and Other Magic, Celeste Aldahn and Ray Harris explore fantasy as a way of reworking reality. Working within the field of sculpture/installation, the exhibition includes objects, video works, paintings and drawings. Through each of their practices, they look at a facet of reality that they have termed ‘bedroom culture’, it is personal, self-reflexive, maybe even anti-social. They become the subject, and the narrator, of self-delusions and self-deception.
The collaboration between Aldahn and Harris
is a no-brainer, the parallel between their practices is obvious, especially
when you consider their partiality to glitter. The idea of fantasy as a means
of escape is explored in different ways by each of the artists. Aldahn merges
crafty kitsch with teen witch, she exposes teen magic and girl power as ways
that girls negotiate difficult times, searching for independence and escaping
from realities. Harris approaches escapism through building immersive worlds.
Her large scale diorama sculptures operate as gateways to alternative
dimensions and experiences of the self, when you step inside you escape to a
whole new world.
Images: Top: She blows Blizzards, hd video, 2013 (Ray Harris)
Middle: She splutters Darkness, hd video, 2013 ( Ray Harris)
Bottom: Waxing and Waning, Hd digital video, 2012
( Ray Harris and Celeste Aldahn) courtesy of the Artists
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