Oliver Payne's videogame-inspired artworks are on display at Studiolo gallery, in Zurich, Switzerland as part of the exhibition "Perfect Cherry Blossom", also featuring Keiichi Tanaami (November 17, 2011 – January 28, 2012).
Here's an excerpt from the gallery's press release:
"In Oliver Payne's collages stickers of Japanese Bullet Hell Games are arranged on torn out pages of an ancient Greek sculpture catalogue. Payne transforms the violent imagery of these videogames into psychedelic explosions of color. Greek statues serve as a background and a reminder of the fantasy worlds produced in Japanese arcade games, which often picture rural Europe. Sounds of an arcade field recording give a notion of manic playfulness towards the exhibited works.
The arcade has traditionally represented an idea of a “third space” for teens. Too young to go to bars, adolescents have so few places to hang. I like places like that — skate spots, graffiti halls of fame, arcades. Slightly sketchy places for teens to kick it. The arcade industry is on the way out and they really wont be around for much longer. I think places like these are important to document. An aural representation of them makes the most sense to me as the “noises” they create have these completely inimitable and unique quality. Nothing but an arcade sounds like an arcade — a completely deafening cacophony of bleeps, bangs, teenage yells and deposited tokens. It’s a noise that I can hear many bands aspiring to capture — but always falling short of the mark. Perhaps due to the fact that they don’t spend hours playing in arcades. Another motivating factor for the recordings is that it poses the question: Why are arcade on the decline? Why have they they been shutting at an alarming rate? The lazy answer is that home consoles such as the PS3 and the XBOX360 are so good that they have brought arcade quality to the home. But arcades are still in full force in Japan. So why can the west no longer profit from dedicated gaming rooms? Oliver Payne" (Studiolo)
In 2003, Oliver Payne (b.1977, London) was awarded the Golden Lion award for best artists under 35 at the Venice Biennale with his partner in crime Nick Relph. Since 2007, he focuses on his individual work.
Link: Oliver Payne
Submitted by Matteo Bittanti (via Contemporary Art Daily, thanks Domenico!)
Images courtesy of Studiolo
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