It's Not You, It's Me

Nicko Strniero

6-29 July 2012

68m2 is proud to present new works by Nicko Straniero. For this exhibition he has made a series of new works, which include both collages, installations, and a performance.

The starting point of these works is the accumulated correspondence between a now divorced couple (and their respective parents) which Straniero has rescued from a neighbour. Deconstructing these old, sentimental special occasions cards using collage techniques, he reconfigures elements in new constellations, which give these sentimental and banal products an unexpected or new aesthetic value. Particularly provoked by the manipulative cute aesthetic of the cards, which feature anthropomorphic animals, he for example explores in his performance ideas of privacy, intimacy and exploitation.

The works navigate amongst various symbols and references to popular culture, art and music. The play of symbols utilises the potential of Kitsch to both attract and repulse, at the same time exploring common emotions and memories we can all relate to. A parallel can be drawn to the exaggerated and melodramatic plots that trace the development and relations of characters in a soap opera.

Straniero’s works push us into a universe in which the trivial and the awkward rule and where our personal definition of taste is challenged. In Straniero’s almost abstract lollipop universe we are woken from a visual slumber and left to reconstruct the visual possibilities and clues which lie in front of us.

Nicko Straniero’s works move in a liminal space where he make us reflect on the quality of our contemporary visual experience and the power of imagination.

Video documentation coming soon...