Exhibitions

• Exhibitions

• 1997
• CHILD BRIDE
• LIONEL BUDD
• SHELLEY SIMPSON
• AVA SEYMOUR
• TERRY URBAHN
• SURVEYING THE FIRST DECADE
• RAPID
• MANIACS OF DISAPPEARANCE
• BILLY APPLE
• THE BELIEVERS
• RONNIE VAN HOUT
• ANI O'NEILL
• GAVIN HIPKINS
• alt.nature

RONNIE VAN HOUT

The Invisible Man

4 September - 28 September 1997

In a 1996 show Ronnie van Hout presented a video of himself with his head bandaged. A master of impersonation, Van Hout was referring to photographs taken of German artist Martin Kippenberger after he'd been beaten up by young thugs.

In this show, The Invisible Man, Van Hout extends the reference, presenting a kitset model of H G Wells' famous bandaged character. At the other end of the room a video focussed on the model's bandaged head, framed like a newsreader, apparently speaking some exotic language or perhaps nonsense. He also shows six 1/76th scale kitset models personally assembled and painted. These tableaux all present bucolic landscapes, woodland scenics, and often incorporate low grade humour regarding bodily functions: eating and shitting. Very Middle America. Van Hout described them as "modelling jokes": "jokes that modellers find funny rather than jokes about modelling". The Bare Hunter has a man relieving himself in the woods while a bear looks on. The Invisible Man furthered Van Hout's exploration of miniturisation: ideas about insignificance and identity.