From Stella Rosa McDonald…
Hany Armanious’ newest body of work exists between the factory floor and the gallery interior, exploiting the tension between high and low art. Armanious’ solo presentation at Roslyn Oxley9 gallery features unique prints on cut pile nylon carpet, a conceit of production that disrupts the hierarchal divide between conceptual and decorative art.
Borrowing from the tradition of the readymade, Armanious’ work delivers endless contradictions as he wrestles with the integrity of the art object and his own position as a maker. Expressive, gestural lines copied from ‘found drawings’ are reproduced in colorfast dye on the carpets. The large, framed floor coverings are at once covetable and caustic. By exploiting the resemblance of one thing to another (a painting to a carpet, for example, or a scribble to a drawing) Armanious articulates the sliding scale applied to objects. Questioning why —at the point of art— a thing’s usefulness is suddenly divorced from its value.
Until August 1
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Paddington
Pic: Hany Armanious, untitled, 2015, UV colourfast dye on cut pile nylon carpet, 220 x 282cm, unique print. Image courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.
