Graham Wilson
The End of the Rainbow
10 August - 8 September 2018
Graham Wilson’s first solo exhibition at the gallery, The End Of The Rainbow is immersive, coming of age tale set in what could be best described as a dystopian amusement park. The artist presents the latest chapter in his self-referential narrative that investigates an artist’s role in society. In what he deems “contemporary allegories”, Wilson explores his personal history using the themes of time, mortality, and fear as key focal points; diving into the complexities of the human mind. The site-specific exhibition presents a new body of work spanning installation, performance, video, painting and sculpture.
In this exposition, Wilson grapples with visions of grandeur, examinations of religious and native conditioning, questions of destiny and inquiries into what identifies “art” in current society. The show was conceived after the artist’s first trip to Denmark whereupon he encountered a life changing feeling of contentment. The visualization of a society rich in quality of life, culture, and peace; an opposition to the tumultuous daily life in past and present day America.
The title riffs on Oliafur Elaison’s public installation “Your Rainbow Panorama” which overlooks the city of Aarhus. Wilson turns the folkloric associations upside down using them as leaping points for further questioning. Metaphorically changing the notion of a happy go lucky tale into a darker format. A rainbow is an illusion when chased it only recedes infinitely further away. They are not as tangible forms and each and every observer sees their own rainbow in a slightly different position from everyone else. The paradox here is of the fact that there is no end to the rainbow, much as there is no destination for contentment. Wilson then asks how this pertains to life, challenging our preconceptions of what is real, and what is imagined while probing established notions that embody an “art object”.
Wilson continues to use the experience as the backbone of his work. Experimenting with performative actions such as role reversal, body alteration, and the exploration of mental health issues; eerily scaling the works in the exhibition which skew and alter our perceptions, leaving a looming provocation of thought hanging over the viewer.