Opening Thursday 1 November at 18h00, Whatiftheworld / Gallery presents Mumbo Jumbo - a series of drawings for a story by Michael Taylor.
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Mumbo Jumbo
You
again
Looking for trouble
Stick to what you know
Two timer
This is a monologue
No easy way in
No easy way out
Every man is an island
Easy-peasy-paradise
Surprise surprise
This is what you get
Good old mumbo jumbo
Looking for trouble
Stick to what you know
Two timer
This is a monologue
No easy way in
No easy way out
Every man is an island
Easy-peasy-paradise
Surprise surprise
This is what you get
Good old mumbo jumbo
John
Dunne’s observation that ‘No man is an island, entire of itself’ is
generally accepted as the ubiquitous man-island metaphor. The
comparative association of people with islands is not uncommon. Through
the ages literature has offered classic examples of man-meets-island
fiction. Tales such as ‘The Odyssey’, ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, ‘The
Tempest’, ‘Robinson Crusoe’, and ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’ all explore
island ideologies. In psychology Jungian theory compares an individual's
ego to the notion of an island. Contemporary psychoanalytic practice
provides space for the individual to draw a picture of what one's own
island looks like. Interpretative value is placed on these real and
imagined islanded words, thoughts, and marks.
Taylor has chosen to approach this exhibition as a playful exercise in describing the landscape of his ‘island’.
Not only is this body of work a return to large-scale drawing for
Taylor, but also, a return to using narrative as a starting point for
the image-making process. Devising a story, in the form of a poem, and
working with a select number of preconceived titles, Taylor attempts to
create a familiar metaphor for which to make drawings. The narrative
shifts simultaneously between two chief protagonists - the hero, Mickey,
and his ego, the island. Diving between character sketches the pictures
illustrate an uncanny likeness of the two subjects.
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| Looking for trouble, Michael Taylor 2012, Gouache and pencil on paper, 160cm x 122cm |
