Death: Gao Brothers Nick Knight, Claire Morgan

22 Jun-31 Aug 2012

Overview

The exhibition is centered around the Gao Brother's seminal work, 'The Execution of Christ.' A grandiose, life size, bronze sculpture, the piece is an appropriation of Manet's 'The Execution of Emperor Maximilian'. In true political pop fashion, the firing squad are re-made as eight life size Chairman Maos, and the figure of the emperor is replaced with a portrayal of Jesus. It references firstly the oppression of organised religion, in particular Christianity under Mao's regime and during the Cultural Revolution, but also the Gao's own experience of losing their father when he was arrested and executed during this period. Of all the themes this work references, the exhibition focuses specifically on the moment of liminality this sculpture exists in. At it's most dramatic, a space between life and death, but also between presence and absence, the secular and the religious. Each work featured takes up ideas of death, detritus and decay and their fundamental role in regeneration.