In 3D the Basil Never Wilts
Simon Oldfield Gallery (Grosvenor art commission), London UK
2-9 Oct 2014
Simon Oldfield Gallery is pleased to present "In 3D the Basil Never Wilts" a new site specific installation by Michael Pybus.
Pybus transforms an anonymous retail space into an eerily utopian artificial garden of plastic and mass produced products. Enveloping and comforting, a plastic palace in sharp contrast to the the locality of Mayfair where people hang out saturated by the detached familiarity of consumer products, brands, celebrity references and iconography.
This homage to consumer culture with the transition of subversive design into motifs appropriated from IKEA, is an invitation for everyone to take some time and settle into the comfort of an ergonomically molded plastic chair while they charge their mobile phones, join a session of guided meditation , listen to public readings of stories or simply step in and explore Pybus' artificial reality.
Michael Pybus' work is a visual pop mashup of remix and reconfiguration. His prints sculptures and arrangements - often lo-fi techno creations, mine the archive of contemporary iconography, placing a framework of post conceptual and internet art around "low" culture, Pokemon and 90s rave. The artists avatars, symbols and recycled figures hint towards both the absurdities and earnestness of fanatical consumption and post market nostalgia.