Hi how are you
Andrew McLeod
August 11 - August 29
Andrew McLeod achieved instant notoriety recently with his exhibition Nudey
Self Portraits (the art of fear), where he launched what Justin
Paton has likened to a military assault on the sensibilities of
the New Zealand art world. With a pranksters barbed wire wit,
McLeod's juvenile one liners loudly announced the presence of
a new bad boy on the art block, gleefully mocking collectors,
curators, audience, even the artist himself.
In Hi how are you McLeod turns his attention from art to
science, presenting a series of seed packets for popular flower
types - Poppy, Freesia, Viola - that have been altered so that
their benign Yates logos now spell out the name of genetic modification
giant "Monsanto". With the GM debate burning fiercely in the public
imagination, McLeod's almost indiscernible gesture seizes upon
the paranoia at the heart of the issue, painting an absurd yet
compelling portrait of multi-national power run amok.
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