"Be Fnord, Be Very Fnord" Aaron Sheppard
Continuing in a world (mostly) post-pandemic, as well as considering the timeliness of being exhibited during Halloween - such are underpinnings for these latest creations as objects examining energies of "monsters" and emotions of creatures tantalized by humankind's creation.
Although the usual sexual and gender explorations exist most evident, additional spice has been added to the mixture that stems from recent readings about Illuminati which includes political motivations for controlling populaces via fear and guilt anxiety (fnord).
The tongue-in-cheek works reference popular horror and/or sci-fi movies stemming from more (or less) obscure literature (Mishima, Burroughs, Wilson and Shea, Lovecraft, Stoker) while also relying upon personal dreams, writings and memory for completion.
Conceptual performance: “There’s a Hair in My Safe Space” will be available each day during the week [as] Sheppard continues to establish the exhibition of his works at ASAP. While lighting or continuing to arrange and paint walls – even creating new works onsite – he will simultaneously make himself available in his capacity as Reverend with Universal Life Church Ministries to console and listen to visitors who may be triggered by horrors existing across surfaces of each of his current works on display. Whether the imagery be charged with sex, violence, racial and gender injustices, conspiracy theories, or simply good old fashioned ghost story references, etc. Sheppard has collaborated with ASAP to ensure open dialog while creating a designated safe space. Fear not, please visit any day this week between 1-6pm for infnordal engagement with the artist and his work.
Aaron Sheppard speaks eloquently about constructing and projecting identity, religiosity, sexuality, and a counter-factual historicism. His filter is the culture's love of fame and/or pornography, mixed with the romance and perversion of classical allegorical portraiture. His lavish materiality finds a narrative function for neon light tubes, thick heavy paint, and extreme mannerism in his mostly nude figures, forcing people to deal with the inconvenient object and not just the idea of it.Art history is used as a case study for cognitively accepting the chaotic simultaneity of paradoxical life experiences, expressive of the messy exuberance of memory and desire. As observed by his spirit-guide, the incendiary philosopher Georges Bataille, "The need to go astray, to be destroyed, is an extremely private, distant, passionate, turbulent truth." And Aaron sincerely recommends going astray. -Shana Nys Dambrot
View more of Sheppard’s work HERE.
