From Carrie Miller…
In a type of role-reversal of the contemporary art Bad Boy, Aaron Moore isn’t shooting at canvases, drinking himself death, or even just ruining nice people’s dinner parties – he’s emptying his bank accounts, hauling everything he owns down to Kudos Gallery, offering it for sale, and donating the proceeds to the poor.
In One Thing You Lack, Moore grapples with the issue of what it means to live in a world of more than 6 billion people where he knows he’s the 58, 089, 141st richest person because he’s able to Google it on globalrichlist.com. He also knows it’s an indefensible situation that we as audience members will be all too aware of us as we wander through the gallery looking for a bargain among his possessions, which includes a precious heirloom.
But the 34 year-old Christian aid worker is not simply making a preachy statement about being better than all of the rest of us; what’s interesting about this work is that the artist himself is aware that it raises many more ethical questions than it could ever answer.
Art didn’t seem important in the scheme of things when Moore dropped out of art school to pursue a life of activism and service. He’s still unsure of its significance in a world where a billion people are currently starving. Of course, the logic of capitalism dictates that this Good Boy of Australian Art will probably find himself in the ironic position of having a hit show on his hands. Go along and buy one of Moore’s possessions – you may actually save a life and in the process help to re-affirm the value of art.
Until December 8
Kudos Gallery, Paddington.
Pic: Aaron Moore, One Thing You Lack, various dimensions, 2012. Courtesy the artist.
