SEAN VICARY
Elysium Gallery, Swansea
Fri 12 Feb-Sat 12 March
Elysium Gallery is displaying an exciting and horror evoking new exhibition Mysterium Tremendum et fascinans by West Wales based artist Sean Vicary, starting 12 Feburary 2016 until 12 March. This exhibition brings together a range of Vicary’s practices, displaying recent and previously unseen work.
The name Mysterium Tremendum et fascinans is the integral theme of the exhibition and is defined as a mystery before which man both trembles and is fascinated; both being repelled and attracted by something. The exhibition asks the onlooker to take a voyage into an intense world of observation and devastation through the two-layered animations, and experience the sublime. After studying painting, Vicary became increasingly fascinated by animation, and so encompassed himself with emerging animation technologies whilst cultivating his painting/printmaking skills. This amalgamation of techniques has led to his work being exhibited worldwide and achieving the Ivor Davies Award at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 2015.
In the piece Taxonomy, the themes of the triumphs of a colonial empire are explored by using large-scale animations that use the work of the Victorian naturalist Edmund Selous as a metaphor to explore humanity, data collection, and industrialised violence. Also on display is Ascension Ceiling, which explores the viewpoint of drone operators and was inspired by Baroque paintings. Come and visit this daring exhibit and feel the rush of conflicting emotions.
Admission: free. Info: www.elysiumgallery.com
words CHELSEA BROWNHILL