The Thousands

The work of Mark Whalen (Kill Pixie) has always been from another world, an incredible, almost painfully detailed world. His fascination with repetitive pattern is still ever present in his work, where his figures, plagued by their own desires, are only identifiable by the mask they are wearing. It’s a world of absurd interactions of struggle in an ill-informed culture.

Cleon Peterson’s work depicts yet another world. A world of ultra-violence, “a stinking world because there’s no law and order anymore!”. His work is full of scenes of dystopia where clashing figures, one always dominant and the other submissive, demonstrate struggles of power.**The similarities between the two artists’ work are quite evident. Both deal with degraded environments, which may be futuristic, and use their own sense of humour to comment on contemporary society.

Whalen and Peterson show together this week at Monster Children Gallery. May worlds collide.