Future Perfect presents the first solo exhibition in Asia of acclaimed British artist Justin Mortimer. A graduate of London’s Slade School of Art, the award-winning painter has emerged as a mercurial talent of the UK art scene in recent years, earning a reputation for pushing the boundary between figuration and abstraction in works which probe today’s diffuse cultures of resistance. In this new series of paintings, anonymous figures engage in clandestine, ritualistic activities against shadowy backdrops. A palpable sense of disquiet predominates; the subjects’ gestures are legible as acts of demonstration, but a demonstration whose political objectives are unclear.
The departure point for Mortimer’s recent works is media imagery documenting worldwide expressions of resistance, from Russian punk protesters Pussy Riot, to the global Occupy Movement and the 2014 insurrection in Venezuela. Each composition emerges through a process of digital collage, weaving these diverse sources into enigmatic new narratives suffused with a latent violence. Masks, flags and balloons suggest a grotesque pageant. Elsewhere we find oblique references to civil disobedience, sadomasochism, and the ritualistic disgraces of Abu Ghraib.
Venue: Future Perfect, 47 Malan Road #01-22 Singapore 109444
When: 9 Jan - 22 Feb 2015,
By: Future Perfect