College of Fine Arts | The University of New South Wales - Sydney - Australia

<i>Don’t Trust the Artist</i> | The College of Fine Arts

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Don’t Trust the Artist

Article released: Tuesday, 29 September, 2009

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Simon Pericich, Progress In An Age Of Decadence, 2008.
Simon Pericich, Progress In An Age Of Decadence, 2008, disco balls, dinning room candles, sporting equipment, toys, feather duster, knick knacks, brand-name clothes and shoes, stereo and dj equipment, phones, furniture, magazines, TV, dimensions variable.

If expressly told not to trust the artist, who and what can you place your faith in? Don’t Trust The Artist is a provocative statement about how the viewer relates to art. This cheeky title subverts the classic assumption that every artwork has a message to be unravelled and absorbed. Curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor, director of Melbourne’s Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Don’t Trust The Artist is a group exhibition of multiple shifting perspectives. Don’t Trust The Artist explores the entanglements of artifice, suspicion, delinquency, the sacrilegious and conspiracy. It is a labyrinth of the grotesque and aggressive, tortured and oppressive interspersed with humour and surprising juxtapositions. The exhibition features works by prominent Gertrude Studio artists who have participated in significant exhibitions at institutions such as Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and the University of Queensland Art Museum. Don’t Trust the Artist presents an opportunity to encounter the works of Pat Foster & Jen Berean, Richard Lewer, Rob McLeish, Geoff Newton, Simon Pericich and Jackson Slattery in Sydney. FREE Artist Talks: Saturday 31 October, 1-3pm.