- Pat Flynn - 15.2.18

Pat Flynn – 15.2.18

Untitled (Junk Yard Cars), 2001, MDF and Lambda print, 240 x 120 x 180 cm - Image courtesy of the artist.

 

Pat Flynn began by defining his practice by the discussion he likes to work with. He mentioned a fascination with ‘consumer culture’, mass production and capitalist societies. Flynn noted a transcendence that capitalism offers us which is only an appearance and the more the system is unpicked- the information becomes sketchier. He uses the operation of video games and their aesthetic as a metaphor for this apparently perfect world littered with obvious flaws. He articulated that in the video game objects appear as objects from a distance; yet upon closer examination the information of what they are moves away and the objects start to become obscure forms.

Untitled (Boulders), 2000/2001, MDF and Lambda print, 210 x 120 x 120 cm

Flynn’s ‘Untitled (Boulders)’ 2000/2001 offers the appearance of the video game boulder yet when examined closer, further detail can be found in the intricate prints. Detail which runs parallel to the hidden layers in the functioning of capitalist societies. A commentary on the information we are fed with an intention to trick us into doing one thing rather than another.

This sense of control and power systems is laced throughout Flynn’s work. In earlier works during his studies – working with crowd control barrier systems and Disneyland inspired worlds behind glass – it appears he must control his audience in the same way that we are forced into certain ways of thinking by tools such as advertising by capitalism– Flynn must guide our bodies and thoughts towards following his system. He articulated that the zigzag crowd control system, initially created by Disney, alters our perception of space and time. Instead of seeing a long line and being put off waiting for something, the perception of a zigzagged queue decreased the visual length of the line and altered how long people thought they'd wait. 

Further Notes 

- Interesting conception of 'nobody artist' in relation to the Bluecoat's smallest gallery space. (A small alcove outside of the gallery.) 

- Repeated motives.

- Aesthetics ' McDonald's aesthetic' - avoiding subtlety. Consumer culture. 

- Computer game aesthetic. Simplified geometrics with images wrapped around to make it look plausible. 

- The closer you get to the object the more it moves away from what it is. The information recedes instead of being revealed. 

-3 Car sculptures , treated as ready-made objects rather than independent sculpture. 

-The sublime, transcendence - recreating the retail park - vast skies intense corporate colouring. "The horror of the environments we can construct for themselves." 

- "People give films more time." (Do they? Either more time or not enough time." 

- Films as objects - the idea of the object/ subject in the film. The object looking back at us. Mirrored / Reflective - Viewer projected into the work. 

- The snake going through a female high heeled shoe. The gaze- the objectification of the female. Symbolism of the snake (male) 

- Returns to the visual , returns to perspective.