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City Gallery
30 May - 22 Aug 2004 |
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Curatorial
Statement | Artist's
Résumé
Phil Price is fascinated by scientific discovery and his artworks
explore the impact it is having on the way we view the world
around us. He draws attention to our willingness to embrace
developments, in particular, those concerning human cloning
and genetic engineering. His work in Telecom Prospect 2004
is a large-scale replica of a human head, carefully dissected
to expose the internal workings of the brain. Called Beethoven's
Hair, the work was developed after Price read a book examining
how recent scientific examination of the great composer's
hair through DNA testing has provided new insight into his
ill-health. Price was drawn to the story and the way in which
artistic genius, once considered the product of divine inspiration,
has been reduced to scientific investigation.
Homer, your theory of a doughnut shaped universe is intriguing. I may have to steal it.
So said Stephen Hawking in an episode of The Simpsons.
One gets a feeling that Price is catching the wave of scientific
exploration, as though he's along for the ride. But rather
than directly contributing to its progress, he is charting
the journey. British artist Damien Hirst also walks the line
between art and science, although he makes clear that he likes
the fact that unlike science which directly affects the world,
art can be more oblique. Like Hirst, Price creates artworks
which are about science, but, perhaps more importantly, also
about what scientific progress tells us about our darkest
dreams, fantasies and desires.
Sarah Farrar
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