SIMULATION by Gian Manik

GIAN MANIK “SIMULATION”

Opening Tuesday November 1st 2011 6-9pm at New Low, Goodtime Studios. Basement 746 Swanston St Melbourne VIC. Open 12-6pm from the 2nd to the 4th November 2011.

The works will contain a reflexive interplay between the material of the body and and the dilemma of ‘mechanical reproduction’. The installation will utilise the space by hanging ‘duplicates’ in proximity to each other. This will involve video projection alongside silver fabrics and metal cladding. By having a multiplicity within the work, through reflection and repetition, there is a tension between the signifier and signified, the original and reproduction, the genuine and counterfeit. The work will be taken from an ongoing interest in a conceptual background relating to the self portrait. The figurative nature captured by a mirror is distorted through the blurring of the reflection using silver fabrics and materials which carry a sense of the initial gestalt, yet in their resolution mask a totality. This mirroring is carried through the video work though the operation of retracing and copying movement verbatim.

Gian Manik creates work which combines performance, sculpture and painting. These elements are inextricably linked in an experimental practice which focuses on his body as an initial performative device. Gian graduated from Curtin University with first class honours in Visual arts, 2007. He has contributed to group exhibitions which include Heinous Armani, TCB, Melbourne, Dialogues With the Landscape, Perth International Arts Festival, University of Western Australia, 2011, Human Roll , China heights, Sydney, 2010, The Yellow Vest Syndrome, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, 2009, Staff Room, Moores Building Contemporary Art Gallery, Perth, 2008 and 2009; Joondalup Invitational Art Prize, Perth, 2008 and 2009; Lucky Dip, Palm Court Gallery, Perth, 2007; and Hatched 2007 National Graduates Show, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, 2007. In 2008 he completed a studio residency at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, and in C.I.A. Studios, Perth, the Artsource Residency at The Gunnery, in Sydney and Graduate in Residence at Curtin University, Bentley. In 2010 he had a solo exhibition at Venn Gallery in Perth. In 2009 he exhibited in two solo exhibitions, in Perth at the Town Hall and Sydney, Black and Blue Gallery. Manik was born in 1985 and lives and works in Melbourne.

Next show, Pierre Proske’s “Cycles Per Second” Opens 6th December.