From the barely perceptible static hiss of your standby appliances to the blaring television of the next door neighbour, the omnipresent background muzak in shops and restaurants and the leak from shit earphones, the intrusive chatter of oblivious commuters, the oversized billboards, the high street marketeers whose interceptions must be skilfully dodged or else apologetically waved away, screaming kids, roaring exhausts, other people’s mobilefuckingphones, your own mobilefuckingphone.
Urban living is an incessant assault on the senses, and Alexandre Farto (aka Vhils) feels your pain. The Portuguese artist has responded to the mental confusion that comes from city life with his new collection Dissonance, currently on show at Lazarides, London. In the series his signature sepia faces are joined by more brashly-coloured ones but each countenance struggles with the same visual noise which threatens to overwhelm, obscure or envelop their identity completely. Farto employs wood, metal, styrofoam and works on paper to get his message across through the clamour. Closing date is 23 April.
Tempo #07, 2015 [Detail]
100 cm x 70 cm
Iron plate, acid etched, rusted and polished by hand
Anagrama #05, 2015
150 cm x 100 cm
Iron plate, acid etched, rusted and polished by hand
Tempo #07, 2015
100 cm x 70 cm
Iron plate, acid etched, rusted and polished by hand
Decrease #20, 2015
185 cm x 131 cm
Torn paper, glue and emulsion
Lancetar #12, 2015
228 cm x 134 cm
Doors collected from the street, carved and composed
Installation photography, Ian Cox and Lazarides
