General Dynamic F.U.N
Holden Gallery, Manchester.
A New Exhibition at The Holden Gallery, Manchester features 50 photolithographs and screenprints from renowned artist and sculptor, Eduardo Paolozzi. Paolozzi places disparate images next to each other and finds a connection between the two, however tenuous this may be, the treatment and composition of his prints are striking and a social comment on the world of benevolent technology.
"Thermo-nuclear weapons systems and soft drinks commercials co-exist in an overlit realm ruled by advertising and pseudo-events, science and pornography"
I found the prints intriguing and incredibly contemporary, it is clear to see that Paolozzi (b. 1924) has been a great influence to other artist working on the topic of mass media advertising and consumerism or dealing with the diversity of the image. I find that some of the attitudes expressed in his prints are reflective of those discussed in the documentaries of Adam Curtis, a sinister undertone juxtaposed with a certain 'squeaky clean-ness' are present within Paolozzi's prints and Curtis' documentaries.
After the recently attending a lecture by Vaughan Oliver, I find the exhibition especially relevant, regarding Oliver's discussion of the importance and impact of placing two seemingly disparate images together within a graphic design context. The unexpected connection can create a sense of joy, fear, horror, beauty....or a combination of jarring emotions.
I definitely recommend this exhibition to anyone interested in the semiotics of the image and the potential subversion of that.
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