Mike Parr
Deep North

27th June – 29th August 2015
Anna Schwartz Gallery Carriageworks

Deep North isn’t meant to be explained in any spe­cif­ic sense so our audi­ences are meant to pon­der their own asso­ci­a­tions. But Deep North has always implied some­thing like Deep South does for the Yanks. The anti­thet­i­cal zone of repres­sion and the uncon­scious, and today this Deep North goes off shore in the direc­tion of Nau­ru and Manus Island. But none of the works in the show illus­trate this anti­thet­i­cal except as abstract ‘’objec­tive corol­lar­ies’’. To use Elliot’s phrase Deep North should be dis­cussed as an atmos­phere, though of course shot through with my own mem­o­ries and expe­ri­ence.” – Mike Parr, 2015

Deep North includes mixed media works on can­vas and recent and his­tor­i­cal pho­to­graph­ic series span­ning four decades of practice.

Inter­ro­gat­ing for­mal and cul­tur­al ortho­dox­ies, Mike Parr con­flates media: draw­ing, pho­tog­ra­phy, print, sculp­ture and per­for­mance in his work. Test­ing the lim­its of his phys­i­cal and men­tal endurance, Parr has cut, brand­ed, stitched, burned and nailed his body in a decades-long exam­i­na­tion of iden­ti­ty and polit­i­cal con­ven­tions of the 20th cen­tu­ry. His works address psy­cho­an­a­lyt­ic and social issues rang­ing from his own phys­i­cal dis­abil­i­ty to the lega­cies of Marx­ism, from Aus­tralian refugee crises to the struc­ture of language.

Images

Mike Parr

Deep North, 2015
instal­la­tion view, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Carriageworks

Mike Parr

Deep North, 2015
instal­la­tion view, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Carriageworks

Mike Parr

The Sick­ness Unto Death, 2015
23 coloured pho­tographs print­ed on Cen­tu­ri­on Metal­lic paper
8565 cm each

Mike Parr

Alter­na­tive Abrahams, 2014
Dry­point, angle­grinder, lift­ground aquatint from mul­ti­ple cop­per plates, jig sawn ply­block print­ed in relief, sur­face roll-up in pig­ment­ed acrylic medi­um, print­ed on Mul­ber­ry paper bond­ed to rag paper bond­ed to 3 sheets of can­vas with acrylic gloss
248385 cm

Mike Parr

Unmarked Graves, 2014
Etch­ing and car­borun­dum from mul­ti­ple cop­per plates, sol­vent wash­es, sten­cil, pig­ment­ed acrylic medi­um, gloss enam­el paint on Mul­ber­ry paper bond­ed to rag paper bond­ed to 4 sheets of can­vas with acrylic gloss
282454 cm

Mike Parr

Via Neg­a­ti­va (False Positive), 2014
Etch­ing and car­borun­dum from mul­ti­ple cop­per plates, sur­face roll-up, acrylic paint, pig­ment­ed acrylic medi­um, gloss enam­el paint on Mul­ber­ry paper bond­ed to rag paper bond­ed to 4 sheets of can­vas with acrylic gloss
317541 cm

Mike Parr

In the Carnar­von Ranges, 2, 2015
8 black and white pho­tographs print­ed as neg­a­tives on Spec­trum glass paper
173740 cm each

Mike Parr

Velasquez Mir­ror [Intru­sion of a Worm], 2015
Lift­ground aquatint and foul bite, gloss enam­el, acrylic & car­borun­dum on 350gsm Hah­ne­muh­le paper bond­ed to can­vas with acrylic gloss
238354 cm

Mike Parr

Bridg­ing Course, 2014
Etch­ing, relief, shel­lac onto rice paper bond­ed to rag paper
2 sheets, 215237 cm

Mike Parr

For­eign Looking, 2013
Etch­ing, relief, shel­lac onto rice paper bond­ed to rag paper
320520 cm