The Thousands

They say lovers make the best collaborators. Anais Nin and Henry Miller, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Herb and Dorothy. Hell, I’m going to throw Gilbert and George in there because really, where would they be without each other?

James and Eleanor Avery travel the world together, making art as they venture through residencies in Milan, art shows in London and Brisbane, gathering memory ephemera along the way. Their specialty lies in reconfiguring their encounters in a witty and contemplative manner. The Golden Hind is the result of such travels and experimentation.

Their large scale sculptural work often references manipulated iconography, viewed through the distorted lenses of armchair tourism. Baudrillard would go to town on this kind of thing. The Golden Hind is a study of such iconography, using golden threads and video projections on the floor of the gallery. Debasing institutionalism and questioning our view of reality, the archaic never looked or felt so contemporary.