Artists Anonymous, Blow, 2007, C- print, 25 x 25 cm. |
Art without Ego: Anarchic Experimentation, an Anti-Hero Epoch |
Artists Anonymous, Virus Portrait, 2007, Oil on paper, 30 x 20 cm. |
Haunch of Venison Artists Anonymous, a group of collaborative artists from London and Berlin, presents Virus, the final instalment of their multi-sensory anti-superhero epoch, Apocalyptic Warriors, a series of shows executed and exhibited over the past three years in New York, London, Berlin and now Zürich. By throwing aside the individual artist's ego and working as a collective, Artists Anonymous open up a new realm of anarchic experimentation and their work quite literally throws the viewer down the rabbit hole; installations fill entire gallery spaces with paintings, sculptures, performances, photography, print and video. Each exhibition in the Apocalyptic Warriors series is devoted to a single Warrior, of which there are six: War, Drugs, Hunger, Pollution and Overpopulation, Death and finally Virus. Artists Anonymous aim to personify the intangible concepts of each of these themes, interpreting and appropriating them through a series of interactive installations, encompassing the Zeitgeist of modern life. As adapted archetypes, universally recognized across disparate cultures and religions, the Warriors play the protagonists in a complex fictional narrative running through each exhibition, which parallels our current, collective reality. Aspects of Greco-Roman mythology, pagan gods, the Anti-Christ and other familiar icons of both ancient and modern spiritual philosophies converge to create the Apocalyptic Warriors, ironic champions of society's vices, phobias and self-inflicted suffering. |
Artists Anonymous, Job, 2007, C-print, 25 x 25 cm. |
