Factory311 presents, Evolution

The Evolution Team: Shayla, Miguel, Christoph, Sonik, Fiona [me], Kofie, everyone at Barracuda [Brian, Brad, Puffy and Poucette]

The review of the exhibtion, text by Fiona Burke

Evolution welcomes Ditta and she shows her appreciation by sign some of the prints. The night was a success!

The exhibition, ‘Evolution’ is hardly typical; it was as if ‘Alice in Wonderland’ stepped back in time to a fanciful future of strange and peculiar happenings, because the inner surroundings and array of images quite literally fires you through a dark fantastical ‘rabbit hole’: a lavish arena where some of the greatest digital artwork was interspersed with striking pieces of growth and transformation, while vividly illustrating magical realms.

The exhibition remarkably demonstrated that Evolution-our bond to regenerate and our changes in lifestyle- is a rite of passage for life. However, the futuristic lens was powerfully focused on celebrities; its mission was to enlighten and displace celebrities from their ‘natural’ environment, as well as provoking a new and somewhat ‘ordinary’ allusion upon their daily lifestyles.

Factory311’s director, Nicholas Hardy and highly acclaimed photographer, Lionel Deluy curated the surreal concept, whilst picking Sonik Mercury’s brain for interior inspiration. He unlocked a door that was loaded with extraordinary possibilities; an army who were armed to smash all creative boundaries. Biomorphic and plasmatic structures that mirror a body assembled the intimate scene; huge ornate frames mounted the bold digital images- each piece was magnified displaying its fine acute details, while two main visual projectors modified the sliding artwork as if you were in an aquarium.

In keeping with the show’s extraordinary atmosphere, the work was anything but ordinary, as with, for example, the image of Gary Oldman by Adam Spizak. This particular image twisted the viewer’s expectations and reality of celebrities; it drew out and combined elements of curiosity, wonder and irony- who would have thought that Gary Oldman could in fact be depicted as an archangel? Identical to “The Redemption of Uriel”, Gary Oldman found a way to redeem himself.

Just like the display, the turn out from the evening was insane. It was an artistic powerhouse packed with the some of the most talented, rich and powerful people from Hollywood and afar. Without name dropping, we had some very interesting comments from people who starred in the show, along with Ditta Von Teese, who was willing to show her appreciation; her reaction was humbling as she jumped to sign prints and gave time to pose for the paparazzi.

In all, ‘Evolution’ understood that everything about us makes us evolve, including aspects of our past; sometimes it can be a struggle and other times it can be more direct. But because the limited run display was so popular, there are already talks about a second ‘Evolution’ in the making, allowing more people to gain access to a topsy-turvy world where nothing is quite what it seems...

Text written by Fiona Burke