SIMON MCGLINN
THE MOMENT I UNDERSTAND AN IDEA ITS MINE
30 Aug 2017—16 Sept 2017
As free as an artist. I am regularly misguided to what I hold is mine and what could be someone else’s. It seems as though taking an action of sorts begins with a permission that is either known or is not known to you. ‘The moment I understand an idea its mine,’ I believe is a Kippenberger quote, or from someone referring to him or it is something that I have made up.
I have become attracted to early modernist collage. I nail my paintings together. The New Yorker article presents an angle that a current sense of ‘unreality’ may be explained through simulation theory. If we don’t live in ‘base reality’ would that be such a bad thing? Various other articles dangle off this one, pushing that hub of ideas into subjects like artificial intelligence and celebrity.
Overlaying a work by Sempe over the New Yorker article would appear to make the image have a level of comprehension. Logically speaking the Sempe cartoon would not just work stylistically with the branding of the New Yorker but also read in conjunction with the subtext. All is very well. Bubble bubble. Too much news, comedians read it now. Fake news they say has to do with fronting as an objective presenter of news and not being transparent with your allegiances. They say to show your bias, and good luck with your information.
Simon McGlinn is an artist who has primarily worked with Gavin Bell and Jarrah de Kuijer under the name Greatest Hits. Their recent exhibitions include: Le Peggiore Condizione, TRIPLA, Bologna, 2017; Traces, Ads Donna, Chicago, 2017; Octopus 16: Antiques Roadshow, Gertrude Contemporary, 2016; Technologism, Monash University Museum of Art, 2015; Lurid Beauty: Australian Surrealism and its Echoes, National Gallery of Victoria, 2015; Arstronomy, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain, 2015; Creative Suite, Te Tuhi Center, Auckland and Wellington City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand, 2015; Idle Resources, Tristan Koenig, 2014; The Office, ACL partners, Paris, France, 2014; Man and Play, Brennan and Griffin, New York, USA, 2014; Put up a signal, MES 56, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2014; Reinventing the Wheel; The Readymade Century, Monash University of Modern Art, 2013.
Image: Simon McGlinn, (not yet titled), 2017, UV inkjet, engraving and acrylic on MDF.
This exhibition is part of TCB’s Prolegomenon series supported by the City of Melbourne’s Arts Grants Program, Creative Victoria and Hells Kitchen, which encourages intergenerational exchange between emerging and established artist.