RECEIVER
JASON BROWN
the island gallery space
5th until 13th November 2011
When does something become an idol? When it is revered enough, when it becomes recognizable enough, effective enough?
It requires a degree of devotion or adoration for something to be idolised. Perhaps the idol only exists once it is regarded as such.
A personʼs faith is dependent on many factors and the depth of the personʼs faith can be (amongst other things) attributed to the worship of idols.
Idols are representational. They become the manifestation of the belief, they embody ideas, can possess the ability to change perceptions and can be adored or dispised in equal measure. These are also attributes of sculpture.
The series of work in RECEIVER all negociate idolism, they invite questions of the individual. What is faith (art)? How does faith (art) manifest? How do you fully comprehend it?
This work is not a celebration of idolism or iconoclasm nor their opposite, but a carefully structured debate for both.
Like Brownʼs wider practice they have the capacity to be astute but not boring, absurd but not silly and precise but not calculative.
Matthew Douglas
October 2011
