Chris Leaver
7/4/22 - 16/4/22
Exhibition Text
Leaver’s practice examines ‘the plurality’ embedded within the cultural and historical threads of our contemporary cultural nostalgia. ‘How come you only want tomorrow’ engages with a playful critique of our relationship and understanding of objects and their histories. As a society our scopic romanticism of the past bears little resemblance to actual lived experience and neuters a critical cultural gaze and grounded present.
Chris draws upon Eighteenth Century porcelain, contemporary consumer culture, and politics, as well as personal memories and objects. These are utilised to comment on the dystopian aspects of contemporary life, while invoking a sense of aesthetic and visual curiosity.
Specifically, this collection of works takes on an intimate feel, obscured objects, memories and idiosyncratic renderings of both mystery and delusion. Everyday items alongside surreal renditions open the viewer to questions about nostalgic objects and how they are intertwined in our lives. Fading memories interlaced with the reality of the banality of the very same objects and sounds.