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Michael Ferriss: Ninety-Nine Names of God
January 16, 2016 @ 2:00 pm - February 3, 2016 @ 3:00 pm
Michael Ferriss: Ninety-Nine Names of God
16 January – 3 February
Opening in the Main Gallery
Saturday 16 January, 2 to 3.30pm
An exhibition about our world under surveillance whether by satellite, street cameras or smart phones.
Ninety-Nine Names of God illustrates our acceptance, not only through the works themselves, but also by transformation of the gallery space into a surveillance area where the viewer becomes part of the exhibition.
In mystical ages God monitored our lives, our every move and even our thoughts. In this scientific age God has been replaced by satellites and the book of life is now digital, where information is stored on an unprecedented scale with dossiers on the lives of millions of people. Ninety-Nine Names of God, the second solo exhibition at the Depot Artspace by Michael Ferriss, depicts in abstract and surrealistic forms this age of technological surveillance. With the use of collage, paint and sculptural forms he gives them an ironic beauty not usually associated with the subject.
Each piece of art is named after intelligence surveillance operations conducted by the ‘Five-Eyes’ nations (an intelligence alliance between Canada, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom where information is accessed and shared thus subverting privacy and surveillance legislation in any one country).
Michael Ferriss studied art under Gavin Bishop at Linwood High School, Christchurch, New Zealand in the 1970s. He then explored electronic music for many years both through recording and live performances. He has released four albums to date along with the several recent live solo performances, including improvised music for theatre. (www.shima.co.nz)
He has returned to the visual arts and exhibited his first body of work in 2014 with the theme of cartography for the new millennium using ideas of cyberspace, mapping memory and imagination through pictures. With two successful exhibitions of this work – the Depot Artspace and in Sydney’s Platform 72 – he returns with a new exhibition based on the subject of surveillance.
Opening Saturday 16 January, 2pm to 3.30pm.
Eye Spy panel discussion – Tuesday 2 February
