gobscure
Preview: Friday 17 January, 6–8pm
Exhibition Open: 20 January – 21 February 2020 (Tue – Fri, 12–6pm)
The NewBridge Project : Gateshead
join us at the newbridge project : gateshead for the opening of on rose carved in rain. produced by self-taught artist, performer and writer gobscure, this exhibition expands across visual poetry, sound, installation and participation.
sergei parajanov (1924-1990) was a film director, writer and artist of armenian descent who made significant contributions to cinematography and was considered a world renowned master of film both home and beyond. however, parajanov’s artistic audacity and multi-faceted approach to culture was also met with increasing rejection and as a bisexual parajanov experienced regular incarceration and years of mental torment at the hands of the soviet government.
for years the soviets tried to silence parajanov and rob him of his abilities to express himself – yet his art could not be silenced, and as a dissident he continued using childlike wonder to speak out against authoritarian rule and question the considered norms of society. it was by accident that gobscure stumbled across this great visionary’s practice, having discovered the work of parajanov shortly after being sectioned and having barely survived homelessness. Referencing parajanov as a ‘fat, mad, bisexual dissenter’, gobscure realised they shared so much in common and through this exhibition, rose carved in rain is both an homage and response to parajanov’s life where gobscure celebrates the immense feeling of both discovery and wonder.
in the end ‘we all need our dreams back’.
gobscure
dao (disability arts online): ‘artist immersed in a wide variety of art-forms, whose work continues to defy pigeon-holing crossing visual, performance, literary and digital art forms with ease and uncomforting elegance. an abiding concern within his work is the disconnect between hierarchy and human rights. he is also capable of writing and producing arresting theatre that cuts to the quick.
Location: The NewBridge Project : Gateshead | 232-240 High Street, Gateshead, NE8 1AQ
Open: Tuesday – Friday, 12-6pm
