Phil Price
Come On In And Close The Door
July 12 - August 6 2000
Abandoned technologies are transformed in Phil Price's installation
Come On In And Close The Door. Using a collection of old
televisions, Price covers the screens allowing only the thinnest
strips of light to penetrate the darkened gallery space. Tiny,
flickering images glitter at the viewer, from floor, walls and
ceiling, creating a disorienting and compelling effect as Oprah
Winfrey, sports, and soap operas are reduced to abstract light
pieces.
Inherent in much of Price's
work can be seen a preoccupation with notions of the future, and the
unsettled present. A kind of uneasy, yet subtle menace underlies many
of his installations, often replicating, or referring to new and evolving
technologies. For a 1998 show at Campbell Grant Galleries Price created
a swipe card as an invite, which viewers were required to bring with
them in order to pass a 'ticket booth' to gain entry to the show itself.
Once inside, viewers found themselves surrounded by amorphous, looming
shapes with a large-scale, modernist finish.
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