EXHIBITION: LARSEN, SMITH, FAHD

I once took an Experimental Writing class in which the teacher expounded, “One must take into account the filmic eye! The rapacity of the image!” Irony of being instructed in experimentation aside, it is certainly true that our sense of understanding, of narrative, of visual message, is increasingly being governed by our celluloid dreams and realities. The latest suite of works at MOP Gallery tackle this head-on. Kenzie Larsen’s Platinum Prospects Prosperity Power Lunch sets off for the world of sci-fi and B-grade films, recreating ramshackle sets in life-size. Hauling these fantastical, fictional constructs into the here-and-now, you are forced to question the borders of real/imaginary.

 Nicola Smith’s The Crowd Overwhelms Baptiste dusts off the B&W 1945 classic Les Enfants du Paradis, once crowned the greatest French film ever made. Smith transfers from archaic medium to archaic medium, a closed circuit of cultural feed and static. The oil pantings are sparse, washed out, eerie. Similarly you sense a shadowy double in Cherine Fahd’s Hiding Self-Portraits, photos that bring to mind Magritte’s surrealist The Lovers, two heads with their faces covered with sheets. Treachery of images, indeed. My writing teacher would be pleased.

Until Feb 7, MOP Gallery, 2/39 Abercrombie St, Chippendale, 9699 3955 or www.mop.org.au