Guy Denning - "Pornography for Plutocrats, 2013"
Looking
further into Guy Denning’s work, I decided to focus on the associations between
his work and the sources of information that pertains to him as an artist.
Denning’s commentary on society is often the subject in his interviews, as
interviewers tend to look for a motive from his life experiences. On the other
hand, reading articles on Denning’s solo exhibits; the authors often point out the
artist sources of inspiration from books, movies, and articles. What I find to
be more interesting is Denning’s personal views, he’s not afraid to speak his
mind especially on his own website.
Guy
Denning’s latest series “Pornography for
Plutocrats, 2013” makes a bold statement against the upper classes in our
modern global economy. Denning originally intended to create a set of paintings
so expensive that no one could ever afford it, but decided to make the three
pieces in the series available to the public for free via download. The three
separate images follow a set of instructions and a statement from the artist,
who suggests the viewer to print them out and hang the images on their favorite
wall. Here is a quote directly from Denning’s website: “If your very favourite wall
happens to belong to your local high street bank then it will be up to you to
explain your charitable wall-papering, as we all know that this kind of
behaviour is very, very naughty and not at all to be promoted on the internet,
twitter, facebook etc.” (Denning,
guydenning.org). The statement goes much further as it explains how the three
pieces in the series have no monetary value.
Most articles label Denning as a
controversial artist, because of the bold statements shown through his artwork.
In “Occupy wall street (the sound of free
speech), 2011”, Denning used newsprint to emphasize the element of the
protest, and related it’s visual qualities with “the sound of free speech”
using masking tape and dynamic lines to amplify “noise”. One wonders if the use
of this particular newsprint page was intentional; could it add to the
statement? The use of the classified ads may demonstrate the public’s need for
more income.
In his blog, Guy Denning talks about
how the painting medium works for him “All
the time I am hoping for accidents with the paint as the accidents are usually
the source of greatest productivity” (Denning, guydenning.blogspot.com).
He goes on to discuss what he calls “the uncontrolled intention”; I
think a great example of what he referring to can be seen in “Requiem 2 (for the now forgotten), 2009”.
I believe the accidents are the paint drippings that help obscure the subject
into the canvas almost turning the canvas into a cement wall. Denning directs
the emotive lines towards the drippings, which makes it feel as if the subject
is actively fading away right before the viewer’s eyes. The artist’s use of
these emotive lines and uncontrolled intentions are present in all of the
discussed images.
Denning is able to utilize these techniques to make bold statements
about our socio-economic-political conditions; he exploits social media to
further express his views and to share his techniques, encouraging the current generation
to be more aware of their social consciousness, and the things that affect their
everyday life.
