Purple Television
[March 9 2017] : art
2 into 1 (1997) by Gillian Wearing
Born in 1963 in Birmingham, Gillian Wearing‘s work spotlights the spectacle of human nature. In an almost anthropological approach, her photographs and videos portray men and women, seized in their intimacy. The artist makes as much use of ordinary people as actors, in a comings and goings between staging of the daily and documentary exploration.
The short video projection 2 into 1 (1997) features a mother and her twin sons talk about each other, one generation lip-synching the dubbed words of the other. The device of miming each others words, gives a disconcerting twist to the children’s cruel honesty and their mother’s unconditional adoration.
See artist Gillian Wearing talk to the National Portrait Gallery‘s Contemporary Curator Sarah Howgate about the her new exhibition which pairs her with French Surrealist Claude Cahun: “Gillian Wearing and Claude Cahun: Behind the mask, another mask”. The two will discuss the show and the remarkable parallels that exist in their work. Such parallels include the questioning identity and challenging of gender, and the fascination with the self-portrait and use the self-image.
“Gillian Wearing and Claude Cahun: Behind the mask, another mask” is on view from today until May 29th, 2017, at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
