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A local gallery has been transformed into a living collage that islanders can step into while enjoying the works of a Jersey pop artist.
The immersive experience, which reflects the latest work of Charlie Haydn Taylor, has been set up at Private and Public.
The ‘Fiction Factory’ exhibition, which is open until 21 May, also includes modern and contemporary pop art work from Poppy Faun, Elsbeth Shaw and Melissa Moore, as well as a classic Marilyn Monroe image by Andy Warhol.
Pictured: The exhibition also includes work from Elsbeth Shaw who creates images out of hundreds of circles full of colour.
“The greatest pleasure in curating this show has come through being able to engage with and provide a platform for some immensely talented younger artists whose work has its roots firmly in the pop art tradition,” Gallery Director, Chris Clifford, said.
“Charlie Haydn Taylor, Poppy Faun, Elsbeth Shaw and Melissa Moore all create digital images, collages and photography that feel very contemporary and highly relatable, but the ideas contained within their works are clearly inspired by the pioneering British & American pop artists of the 1960s.”
To display Charlie’s work, the main room in the gallery has been given a colourful lick of paint, creating different perspectives within the space. The result is an immersive ‘mise en abyme’ that gives visitors the feeling they have stepped into one of Charlie’s collages.
Pictured: Several collages from Charlie are on display in the gallery.
Speaking to Express earlier this year, Charlie explained that he constructs his collages to include “some form of social commentary”.
“It’s an observation of things that are going on, it’s not a one-sided, shoving it down their throat kind of thing, I want to highlight issues that are going on,” he said.
The black and white figures, cut from stock photos and set within colourful backgrounds that include references to mental health, censorship or pharmaceuticals, aim to highlight how much society has changed.
He also adds another layer by incorporating obvious references to work from Damian Hirst, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons, sometimes linking the subject matter of the pieces to the message in his own collages.
Pictured: Charlie's installation, titled ‘Mourning Sickness 1971’.
The exhibition also includes a brand-new installation, titled ‘Mourning Sickness 1971’, which Charlie says was created as a comment on an idea in psychology known as 'the bereavement exclusion’.
“My inspirations range from Tracey Emin’s ‘My Bed’, looking into the recreation of a particularly personal space in the duration of a tough mental time - Emin herself had been going through a bad breakup - to Richard Billingham’s ‘Ray’s a Laugh’ photographic series showcasing intimate images of his alcoholic father and mother in their family home,” he explained.
“Although my piece is not recreated as a personal scenario to myself, the concept is to get into the mind of someone who had been grieving during a period where prescribing drugs was more complicated."
Pictured: Charlie says the installation was created as a comment on an idea in psychology known as 'the bereavement exclusion’.
He continued: “During the early 1970s, psychologists didn’t understand the difference between the mental state of a person who was clinically depressed and a person who was grieving the loss of a loved one. This meant that anti-depressants were prescribed at a much higher rate.”
Like with his collages, Charlie wanted to highlight how society has changed, this time for the better, in its “understanding of humans” during a time where our culture receives “vast criticism for many negative things that occur, whether economically, socially or environmentally”.
“The piece could be described as being ‘chrono-centrist’ in a way, which is the antithesis of my collages which look to do the opposite,” Charlie said.
“I feel this is interesting as it shows my personal standpoint on the world today. In some ways we are worse off. Global warming is continuing to accelerate at a fast rate. Mental health issues continue to increase."
Pictured: “I feel it is important to approach our understanding of today’s societies from a variety of perspectives to know where exactly we are going wrong and where we are succeeding," Charlie said.
“However, there are also ways we are changing for the better," he added. "With increasing mental health rates, we are also finding better ways to treat individuals. Technology is allowing us to do things we could never have imagined 50 years ago.
“I feel it is important to approach our understanding of today’s societies from a variety of perspectives to know where exactly we are going wrong and where we are succeeding.”
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