Come On In And Close The Door

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.