(© Al Farrow)
As a gallery, Aeroplastics Contemporary favours a baroque formal idiom and black humour, all liberally seasoned with sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. And that goes for both Al Farrow’s current solo show and the “Hoodoo Eternity” group exhibition. Farrow is known for his “Reliquaries”, which are scale models of churches, synagogues, and mosques. He puts these together, not with the usual material of amateur tinkerers, but with bullets and parts of revolvers and rifles. The results are quite staggering: the beauty of his work attracts, but there is also a bitter undertone. The artist alludes to the ways in which wars and violence often have their sources in religion. Among his recent works at Aeroplastics is a Jewish menorah of which the candlesticks are replaced by pistols. The synagogue he shows here is, by the way, modelled on the Great Synagogue in Brussels; for the side aisles he uses machine guns, while the roof is covered in bullets.
Aeroplastics shows explosive art
(© Gregory Green / © Dominic McGill)
The “Hoodoo Eternity” group exhibition is also sombre in mood. Dominic McGill’s work seems to refer to Farrow’s. His model of a church is constructed on a large artillery shell; its entrance door is barricaded with sandbags on which a machinegun rests. The work alludes to the views of a certain Father McHugh, who called on the faithful to defend the church like a fortress. Gregory Green, for his part, creates bombs that are hidden in Louis Vuitton bags; some are genuine, others are not, as the artist plays with a sense of insecurity.
The “Hoodoo Eternity” group exhibition is also sombre in mood. Dominic McGill’s work seems to refer to Farrow’s. His model of a church is constructed on a large artillery shell; its entrance door is barricaded with sandbags on which a machinegun rests. The work alludes to the views of a certain Father McHugh, who called on the faithful to defend the church like a fortress. Gregory Green, for his part, creates bombs that are hidden in Louis Vuitton bags; some are genuine, others are not, as the artist plays with a sense of insecurity.
(© Bernard Gigounon)
Bernard Gigounon’s work is also quite violent: he presents a montage of film footage in which various Hollywood stars shoot each other down. Often an actor shoots himself dead in the form of a different character, a different role. Although some of the works are somewhat facile and gratuitously provocative (like Mircea Suciu’s Mickey Mouse with a Nazi shoulder strap), overall this is not a bad exhibition, if you don’t mind a strong dose of extravagance.
Al Farrow + Hoodoo Eternity > 22/12, di/ma/Tu > vr/ve/Fr 11 > 18.00, za/sa/Sa 14 > 18.00, gratis/gratuit/free, Aeroplastics Contemporary, rue Blanchestraat 36, Sint-Gillis/Saint-Gilles, 02-537.22.02, contact@aeroplastics.net, www.aeroplastics.net
Bernard Gigounon’s work is also quite violent: he presents a montage of film footage in which various Hollywood stars shoot each other down. Often an actor shoots himself dead in the form of a different character, a different role. Although some of the works are somewhat facile and gratuitously provocative (like Mircea Suciu’s Mickey Mouse with a Nazi shoulder strap), overall this is not a bad exhibition, if you don’t mind a strong dose of extravagance.
Al Farrow + Hoodoo Eternity > 22/12, di/ma/Tu > vr/ve/Fr 11 > 18.00, za/sa/Sa 14 > 18.00, gratis/gratuit/free, Aeroplastics Contemporary, rue Blanchestraat 36, Sint-Gillis/Saint-Gilles, 02-537.22.02, contact@aeroplastics.net, www.aeroplastics.net
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