Last Friday we had a small installation in our newly defined and ever changing open space for creative expression.
UNDER THE HUSK
We opened with…
WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS
By
V&E
Concept + Mixed media artworks including 3D installation and photography
by Eartha
Original Soundtrack + Tech Savvy
by Victor
A multimedia series shining a light on the underbelly of the festive season.
Best seen in the darkness of the night hours.
Series 01 TRASH
28th November-5th December
Literally focused on trash.
Three plastic bin liners hung down a simple partition wall, filled with paper rubbish and set as the main backdrop.
Interwoven and mapped projected visuals cover these 3D objects and highlight mass conspicuous consumption, mass deforestation and mass landfill.
Clips from happy Christmas retail stores are edited together with children picking rubbish from the mass landfills in India and trucks repeatedly dumping rubbish loads into a landfill.
An old shopping trolley is filled with some rubbish forming part of the projection..
Our collective and ingrained shopping habits, especially over the festive season, clear a path for further destruction of the natural world leaving it an impossible task for any person to really have a WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS when the world around us crumbles and melts under the pressure of conspicuous consumption.
Series 02 WHITE ELEPHANT
9th December - 19th December
Looking at mental health crises and the festive stress many families and individuals suffer over this particular period of time. Shining a light on the pressures of obligation during Christmas time.
The white elephant in the room represents unspoken and deep discomfort people can feel from loneliness or family pressures over Christmas time.
The white elephant in this installation overlooks the dining table, a physical object acting as a metaphor for subjects no one wants to mention at the family Christmas dinner, for fear of ruining the picture postcard Christmas they try to imagine is real.
This installation addresses issues from addiction, rejection and depression, to suicide.
Two rats form the centrepiece and represent the poisonous effects emotional discord and suppression can have on a person's well being.
Knives have a small elastoplast across them hinting at the general attitude of families who try to offer a quick surface ‘band aid solution’ in the way of a small physical gift, rather than delve deeper to understand the truth about the family they sit together with.
Everyone does their very best to pretend nothings wrong and that they are having a WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS
The visuals for this part of the series are a mixture of different pil processing factories.
Series 03 HOME SWEET HOME
21st December - 2nd January
Drawing Attention to the isolation of the homeless community through the festive season.
Transcending both intellectualism and aesthetics to connect viewers to something deeper. This final series in the body of work for WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS is based upon the relationship the human body shares with the larger community as they pass by seeing only an abstract shape.
This piece expresses the idea that humanity is part of nature and that through looking deeper the community can feel connected to someone as a fellow community member rather than pass them by overlooking them as an abstract shape merging with the pavements.
Because this series involves projection and is shown through the main gallery window, the projection shorts come into view at 4pm and run through to midnight catching the darker hours.
We had a big discussion at Pineapple HQ about whether we were being too hypocritical highlighting the plight of the planet whilst running an art gallery selling fine art papers & art objects to people over the festive season.
We came to the conclusion that doing what you can, when you can is a good thing. We are imperfect human beings striving to do more for the planet and the local and global community as we grow together. Pineapple Gallery works with St Vincent’s Homeless Shelter providing framed art for their clients who themselves choose the pieces which resonate most to them from our cult collection, hopefully in a little way, this can help them feel at home whilst they are residents.
