SHAN.
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The Arms Race, Sydney, Aug.15th 2010.
The Arms Race is a mixed media installation that aims to create a discourse on international nuclear proliferation. Beginning as a witty play on the phrase The Arms Race, this project employs a collection of prosthetic limbs juxtaposed with an athletics track, to create a paradoxical comment on this un-winnable and absurd international race. The prosthetic limbs, while being magnificent sculptured objects independent of each other, are brought together in this installation to poignantly represent just one hidden casualty of international nuclear proliferation.
The Cabinet of Curiosity
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The Cabinet of Curiosity is a metaphor for the exploration of social relations and relational aesthetics, and is formed as a survival vessel, that contains water and knowledge, and an obliquely narrative performance. Through its formal system of display, The Cabinet serves as parodic reminder of our constraints and our dependencies - physically, psychically, socially, emotionally, and institutionally.
The performance, within the structured confines of the tank/cabinet, examines identity stereotypes as well as varying ontologies of didactic social engagements and expressive human exchange.
The Boat Exploration
The Boat Exploration is a custom built glass bottom boat that functions as an interactive installation within the gallery. By stepping into the boat, participants can view a simulated underwater microcosm. When steering the boat, participants view different species of diatoms and can gain more information about this critical organism.
The content of the simulation is praised in Germany for both its scientific and cultural significance, as it imbues a new sense of vision and a transformation of ecological knowledge.
Faust - The Tragic German Classic
This project begins by questioning how to retell a classic tale, in the context of the contemporary trend of renovating cities in the style of theme-park kitsch. Using the historically renovated city of Weimar, with its static facades and cult to German classicism,
SHAN. picks the soviet-block style architectural eye-sores as a backdrop for his interpretation of Goethes classic tale of decadence. Absurd animations of the characters are reimposed onto the static sterile locations, creating a travesty in vulgarised contemporary vernacular.
James And That Secret Letter
This interactive sculpture takes the serious narrative of colonization in Australia and playfully blows it up into a giant storybook. Employing straightforward language and unrefined imagery, the unauthorized story is retold with ironic clarity: King George V is represented by a child and Captain Cook by a crocodile.
Hang On
This installation, photography and performance based work experiemtns with artistic duality and the dichotomies inherent in war and drug culture. Focussing the dualities into the poppy fields of Afghanistan, the final piece captured the racial tension, irony and discomfort of the issue and immersed the viewers into an environment full of dichotomies where they were offered tea, forced to interact with a woman in berka and men performing the role of Australian soldiers. A discourse on the situation was encouraged by cajoling the audience into experiencing: fear with comfort, rapid and slow imagery, sound and silence, clarity and ambiguity.
Military Junk. Postcards From a Field
In January 2008, SHAN. was invited to record footage in Afghanistan as the artist at war for an Australian commercial TV network. SHAN. rejected the project on moral grounds and created Military Junk (2008), as a creative reflexion on aestheticized military imagery. The series of 5x4 inch postcards, referencing classic war portraiture, are his satirical response to the invitation.
Landscapes Interventions (Live)
This project deploys art as a social vehicle to inspire consciousness about urban development.
Created from superimposing discarded still film rolls, the landscape-inspired images were projected onto various cityscapes throughout Barcelona.
Humans in Conflict
This solo installation shown in Milan reduces warfare zones to their humane essence through photographic depictions of various life-styles: from the blown up bus driver of Jerusalem to the leader of a militant organization, to innocent children playing amid the fray. The work avoids the visual cues of the region and focuses on simple proximity to the eyes of the subjects. The audience is invited to look through the dark veil toward a deeper discourse.
Space
Lint samples collected from the navels of 200 humans from a diversity of socio-cultural bbackgrounds, have been photographed under micrope and displayed with light boxes.
The process creates a work of art that explores each lint samples complexity of kaleidoscopic clour and form to merge art with everyday life- a confluence that is at the very center of SHAN's artistic practise.
Bed Relations
This project investigates the unconscious relations between people by exploring the uncontrollable time/space paradox of sleep. The discrepancies between familiarity and intimacy were visually represented by the positions that people intuitively move into while sharing a bed. Still-images of the artist asleep beside different relations were projected onto beds as a time-lapse sequence.
SHAN. is an Australian multi-disciplined artist using socio enquiry, humour and paradox to shape his work. His ambitious projects imbue a transformation of knowledge and vision, by inviting the viewer into a discourse on social relations.
SHAN. consistently extends his work beyond established notions of artistic practise through innovative combinations of photography, sculpture, installation and performance. His work is both aesthetically enriching and strong in content, as it offers the viewer intelligent, coherent and concise ideas.
SHAN. has exhibited widely in commercial galleries and art spaces both internationally and in Australia. He is currently showing The Boat Exploration (2009) at The Natural History Museum in Germany, having been selected to mark the 90th anniversary celebrations of The Bauhaus School. In August The Arms Race (2010) will travel to Boston, for the World Futures Conference.
He holds a Master of Art in Photomedia from the College of Fine Art (C.O.F.A) in Sydney, and was invited into the Master of Fine Art - Media Installation workshop at The Bauhaus in Germany.
In 2010 SHAN. was short-list into the top 40 emerging artists in Australia, as judged by ArtMonth- Sydney and The Australian Business Arts Foundation ( A.B.A.F ).
-Sandy Edwards. Art Consultant, Sydney.
News
June 2010
The Arms Race opens to critical acclaim at The Red Centre in Sydney.
April 2010
The Boat Exploration featured in: 'New Exhibition Design 2009'
- International German Art publication.
March 2010
Selected into top 40 emerging artists.
Awarded by Art Month Sydney & A.b.a.F Australia.
December 2009
The Boat Exploration installed in The Natural History Museum, Germany. Showing for 12 months.
November 2009
Master of Art Graduation, Cabinet of Curiosities shown _ C.O.F.A ANNUAL
Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions 2009 SHAN.,C.O.F.A Annual, Sydney, Australia. 2008 SHAN., C.O.F.A Space Gallery, Sydney, Australia. 2006 Landscape Interventions (live), Barcelona inner city, Spain 2004 Humans in Conflict, Open Mind Gallery, Milan, Italy. 2000 Art Brain, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. 1999 Bed Relations, on loan to Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. Selected Group Exhibitions 2010 The Arms Race, The Red Centre, Sydney, Australia.2009 The Boat Exploration, The Natural History Museum, Jena, Germany. 2008 Masters showcase, C.O.F.A Space gallery, Sydney, Australia. 2005 Subtly Bodily, Mansour & Hill Gallery, Melbourne, Australia. 2003 Space, Arc One Galleries, Melbourne, Australia. 2003 10 Small Things, Fire Station Gallery, Melbourne, Australia. 2001 Where Are You Going? Richmond Train Station, Melbourne, Australia. 2001 Where Are You Going? Brunswick warehouse, Melbourne, Australia.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2009 SHAN.,C.O.F.A Annual,
Sydney, Australia.
2008 SHAN., C.O.F.A Space Gallery,
2006 Landscape Interventions
(live), Barcelona inner city,
Spain
2004 Humans in Conflict,
Open Mind Gallery,
Milan, Italy.
2000 Art Brain, Deakin University,
Melbourne, Australia.
1999 Bed Relations, on loan to
Deakin University,
Selected Group Exhibitions
2010 The Arms Race,
The Red Centre,
2009 The Boat Exploration,
The Natural History Museum,
Jena, Germany.
2008 Masters showcase,
C.O.F.A Space gallery,
2005 Subtly Bodily,
Mansour & Hill Gallery,
2003 Space,
Arc One Galleries,
2003 10 Small Things,
Fire Station Gallery,
2001 Where Are You Going?
Richmond Train Station,
Brunswick warehouse,
Media Kit
SHAN. profile
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Includes : Biography
C.V
Project Examples
Contemporary Artist
Telefon: +61.(0)410 373 848 Australasia
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