EASTER ISLAND – MIKE PARR

EASTER ISLAND – MIKE PARR
Image: 'Untitled Self Portrait', by Mike Parr

Mike Parr presents his apocalyptic world view, in a show that is overbearing in its presentation and melancholy in its conception. The enormous Anna Schwartz Gallery is adorned with 95 banner prints of self-portrait sketches, which loosely evoke the monoliths of Easter Island.

It isn’t until after fifteen minutes or so, once adjusted to the calamity and scale of the exhibition, that the viewer is able to pick out individual pictures and understand them separately.

The show is a metaphor for the narcissism of modern media. What at first is completely overwhelming becomes commonplace, yet nothing is finished and the circular shape of the show leads you round and round ad infinitum.

Parr says that the sketches speak of a propaganda technique which points towards the future by conjuring the past. An indication of one of the ways public opinion is shaped by the mass media.

Parr’s vision of the ‘end of the world’ is not to be overlooked. (LC)

Until Dec 21, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Carriageworks, 245 Wilson St, Darlington, 8580 7002, annaschwartzgallery.com

You May Also Like

Comments are closed.