What's on in London: Facet
Marcin Gawin presents HERMAPHROGENESIS.
FACET - VSSL Studio’s programme dedicated to the exploration and celebration of contemporary queer art and culture - presents HERMAPHROGENESIS, a large-scale multimedia installation, and the first solo exhibition by interdisciplinary artist Marcin Gawin.
Video by Marco Berardi/Baiba Sprance
Bristol based and originally from Poland, Gawin’s work encompasses image construction, installation, and live art. His fascination with the human body and its potential for transformation is evident in his practice and in this forthcoming show. Gawin takes inspiration from the way organs and entrails of animals were at times, interpreted in the ancient world by those tasked with defining the limits of reality.
HERMAPHROGENESIS converts Gawin’s vision into a ‘bioqueer’ artform. His neo-gothic, psychedelic aesthetic serves as both laboratory and chapel utilising his ongoing interest in re-imagining biology as material. Symbols from science, religion and the occult are transposed into new media collages, inviting viewers into an immersive hallucination.
Metallic light boxes are suspended from the ceiling using meat hooks and chains. Hand-crafted, silicone organs: lungs, intestine and stomach are re-arranged by the artist into mutant formations evoking floral still life compositions or even Rorschach ink blots. The centre of the installation fuses Gawin’s iconography with androgynous forms, these organs forming the nucleus of Gawin’s queer temple.
“I am interested in the internal landscape of the human body and how alien this looks..." explains Marcin Gawin. "My work uses forms to explore the idea of reorganisation and rearrangement. I focus on organs that are universally shared across the human species such as lungs or gastro-intestinal tract, making compositions into new, androgynous organisms.”
HERMAPHROGENESIS is presented at VSSL Studio from 12-28 January.
