Gracious Living 2010
Perth Institute of Contemporary Art
Western Australia
curated by Leigh Robb
West Australian artist, Bevan Honey, presents an ambitious new body of work for his solo show in PICA's Westend Gallery. Cycles of boom and bust, failed building projects and consumerist fetishes are interrogated through his macho machines, wall installations, architectural models, iPhone photographs and chalk line drawings. Central to the show is a powerful, yet futile one-wheeled 'burn-out' machine which will spin out on the gallery floor, drawing endless concentric circles in black rubber.
With a title that refers to the Australian Better Homes and Gardens magazines of the 60s and 70s, Honey's latest exhibition furthers his interest in modernist utopias; those failed or resurrected and how they relate to the way we currently live. Honey has quite dramatically expanded his own drawing practice to produce a complex show that compels viewers to consider multiple histories - from art history to the economic history of the state.
Leigh Robb, Curator. Perth Institute Contemporary Art
