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  • By Christopher R. Inwood

ITS GOLDEN _ downlands college art exhibition

Another great year at the Downlands College art exhibition. This year I made a special instillation for Evan Hollis and Downlands College. It was quite a hit on the open night.

Below are some photos from the open night and an explanation of the instillation.

It’s Golden – instillation rationale

‘It’s Golden’ is an instillation that provides a stimulating environment for the viewer to experience a multi media diptych painting but ultimately aims to highlight the aura that art creates around its self. This is achieved by engulfing the two canvases in a constructed temporary room that is lined with thousands of sheets of gold leaf. This spectacle of gold provides a titillating environment for the viewer, which they are able to enter, experience and immerse themselves in. Centered on the back wall of the gold room hangs two black canvases. One canvas contains a hyper realistic oil painting of a woman and the other canvas has a video of the women projected upon it, at the same scale as the oil painting, allowing the viewer to experience the women as though they where in the room while she sat for the traditional portrait. This contrast between the traditional painting and the digital painting allows the viewer to see the competing institutionalised presentations of art as fundamentally the same process. This comparison highlights that it is the environment, in this case represented by the gold environment, around these paintings that provides approval and acceptance into the established institutions oeuvre.

This golden environment uses the spectacular aesthetic and history that gold represents to highlight the power of the surrounding environment and its ability to shape and promote art. Through the use of this spectacle an aura develops, helping to mythologise the art and create something spectacular.

The room is 204cm w x 211cm h x 187.5cm d and contains two canvases (45.7cm w x 61cm h each). The work has a self-contained shelf for the projector. The work has been designed for ease of installment, using pre-construed modular elements that can be easily assembled on site.

It’s Golden

By Christopher R. Inwood 2017

Dimensions: 204cm w x 211cm h x 187.5cm d

Painting medium: oil, pigment, charcoal, canvas

Installation medium: timber, primer, imitation gold leaf

Digital medium: projector, 30 minute looped video

Price: $9,900

Hire: $500