Private View: April 28th 2009, 6-8pm
The Wasp Room is pleased to present ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, the first UK exhibition by Parisian artist Anthony Peskine.
Adopting and adapting the visual languages of advertising campaigns and with a keen sense of the absurd, Peskine’s work is concerned with the predicament of the loser, and how promises are rarely fulfilled.
Peskine seeks to satirise the way in which aspiration and hope are exploited as a manipulative device. He uses his own disappointment and disillusionment to drive a varied artistic practice that ranges from painting and photography, to text pieces, video works and installations.
Offering humorous alternatives to insincere pledges and conceited slogans, mocking intangible fears and superficial aspirations fed by media sensationalism, Peskine’s previous work has included large painted recreations of vouchers printed on ticket stubs which had offered “mega savings of 50p”, and a series of street-based interventions in which he adapted billboard slogans, including a political campaign by Nicolas Sarkozy, adding his own message “ou pas” (or not); rendering their ‘guarantees’ contentious and putting their artificial optimism in jeopardy.
Peskine’s sharp, sarcastic critiques, though cynical and perhaps even childish at times, offer a strategy to fight disappointment; advocating humour as an effective escape philosophy.
For ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, Peskine will be exhibiting a selection of recent works and new pieces, including the deadpan installation ‘My Weight in Potato Crisps’ and a series of manipulated photo works with bizarre and prophetic narratives.
For more about Peskine, visitanthonypeskine.com
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