Dawson Griggs Moore

Sharne Wolff

The high-octane trio of Marley Dawson, David Griggs and TV Moore currently appear in a group exhibition at Roslyn Oxley9. That said, the central installation of Dawson’s 1979 French Motobecane moped entitled Slow Burn (full circle) is powered, after doctoring, by electric motor in lieu of petrol. Sitting atop a low pedestal the moped performs a slow but endless circular burnout. In similar ‘readymade’ fashion are Dawson’s revolving tumbleweed Untitled (tumbleweed again) and some highly polished aluminium road signs. Appearing without official script or symbols heightens the innate character of these newly transformed objects.

Adding to the giddy road trip atmosphere are the angled reflections of TV Moore’s psychedelic images in Dawson’s shiny silver ex-signs. Moore apparently draws his influence from “the colours of Stamberg Aferiat interior design, the balance of Stella’s sculptures and the chaos of De Kooning’s portraits”. Wherever they come from it’s a wild and colourful ride that results from Moore’s riotous abstracts. Random collaged eyes embedded in hallucinogenic photographs suggest alternative ways of seeing – and looking. In a similarly intense palette adopting Asian psychedelic are David Grigg’s poster-like paintings for the video duo Where’s Francis and Sexpat Idiot Cowboy. A current resident of Manila, Griggs alternatively sends up the making of Francis Coppola’s Apocalpse Now (filmed in The Philippines) with wacky dialogue by two male ‘extras’ who’ve been buried in the ground up to their necks. Meanwhile in his Sexpat video Griggs appears as an expat drug addict in this darkly funny film.

Until December 12

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Paddington

Pic: Marley Dawson,
Slow Burn (full circle), 2013.
1979 Motobecane moped, steel, mechanics, electrics, MDF, timber
122 × 241 × 241cm
(Detail). Courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery. Image courtesy the artist.