Jan. 31st, 2009
Last Sunday, we walked to the Gallery of Modern Art to look at the Charles Avery exhibition - The Islanders: An Introduction.
I found this very curious: it was closer to a novel than an exhibition; it brought to mind Alasdair Gray’s Lanark. Avery has created a complete world, with its own geography, creatures and mythology – an island world complete with gods and strange life-forms. The website describes Avery as the author of the work, rather than the artist, and it really does feel like a book being created. (I was surprised that there is no catalogue – no book of the exhibition.)
I found it fascinating, but it didn’t really work for me: I couldn’t work out why he’d created it. Avery describes it as a work in progress, but as a viewer, his world – the island – appears fully formed. He has drawn maps; he has created sketches; he has sculpted bizarre creatures that fit his mythology of the island.
It is almost a study in fictional anthropology.
Apparently, Avery has based his island on Mull, where he was born. It is a very strange vision, fascinating in ways, imaginative and fantastical, but it actually left me quite cold.
I found this very curious: it was closer to a novel than an exhibition; it brought to mind Alasdair Gray’s Lanark. Avery has created a complete world, with its own geography, creatures and mythology – an island world complete with gods and strange life-forms. The website describes Avery as the author of the work, rather than the artist, and it really does feel like a book being created. (I was surprised that there is no catalogue – no book of the exhibition.)
I found it fascinating, but it didn’t really work for me: I couldn’t work out why he’d created it. Avery describes it as a work in progress, but as a viewer, his world – the island – appears fully formed. He has drawn maps; he has created sketches; he has sculpted bizarre creatures that fit his mythology of the island.
It is almost a study in fictional anthropology.
Apparently, Avery has based his island on Mull, where he was born. It is a very strange vision, fascinating in ways, imaginative and fantastical, but it actually left me quite cold.
Last Sunday, we walked to the Gallery of Modern Art to look at the Charles Avery exhibition - The Islanders: An Introduction.
I found this very curious: it was closer to a novel than an exhibition; it brought to mind Alasdair Gray’s Lanark. Avery has created a complete world, with its own geography, creatures and mythology – an island world complete with gods and strange life-forms. The website describes Avery as the author of the work, rather than the artist, and it really does feel like a book being created. (I was surprised that there is no catalogue – no book of the exhibition.)
I found it fascinating, but it didn’t really work for me: I couldn’t work out why he’d created it. Avery describes it as a work in progress, but as a viewer, his world – the island – appears fully formed. He has drawn maps; he has created sketches; he has sculpted bizarre creatures that fit his mythology of the island.
It is almost a study in fictional anthropology.
Apparently, Avery has based his island on Mull, where he was born. It is a very strange vision, fascinating in ways, imaginative and fantastical, but it actually left me quite cold.
I found this very curious: it was closer to a novel than an exhibition; it brought to mind Alasdair Gray’s Lanark. Avery has created a complete world, with its own geography, creatures and mythology – an island world complete with gods and strange life-forms. The website describes Avery as the author of the work, rather than the artist, and it really does feel like a book being created. (I was surprised that there is no catalogue – no book of the exhibition.)
I found it fascinating, but it didn’t really work for me: I couldn’t work out why he’d created it. Avery describes it as a work in progress, but as a viewer, his world – the island – appears fully formed. He has drawn maps; he has created sketches; he has sculpted bizarre creatures that fit his mythology of the island.
It is almost a study in fictional anthropology.
Apparently, Avery has based his island on Mull, where he was born. It is a very strange vision, fascinating in ways, imaginative and fantastical, but it actually left me quite cold.