Anthony Lister: Slither Between the Blinds Shows Our Fears
Anthony Lister has opened his first solo exhibition in Libson, Portugal, Slither Between the Blinds Shows Our Fears, at Underdogs Gallery.
Lister is well-known for his paintings, graffiti and installations that meld together highbrow and lowbrow culture. While he is best known for his paintings and drawings, his oeuvre also includes its share of installations and videos. His work has been shown in both solo and group exhibitions worldwide since 2000, and has been placed in various renowned public and private collections.
Born in 1979, the beginning of his artistic career saw him painting in the streets of his hometown Brisbane, Australia. Today, he is well-known for taking iconography and subject matter from Western culture and using crude painting techniques, blended with the grimier aesthetic elements of graffiti, to create his own signature look.
Speaking to fluoro, Lister said that he often uses his art to place a mirror in front of society, rather than as a tool to ruminate on his own identity and heritage.
“Inadvertently I suppose it is ever present,” Lister said of the place of heritage in his work. “Although I attempt to redirect the focus mostly off myself in my work, it (heritage) does often find itself creeping back into my psyche just in time to remind me that I’m far less interesting than watching the faces of society shriek and vogue as they catch a glimpse of their own reflections.”
When we asked Lister how he had evolved throughout his artistic career, he was quick to point out that he does not consider himself an “artist” in the true sense of the word.
“I find that the title has been used as a false platform for tricksters to rest their laziness and or indecision,” he said. “I prefer to refer to myself as an adventure painter or a freedom fighter, fighting for the freedom of visual speech.
“On the subject of evolving,” he continued, “I’d say yes [I have evolved], and I’m not sure how I could expand except that is to say a famous old saying which is ‘People don’t change/ they just get better at being themselves.’”
Lister’s new show, Slither Between the Blinds Shows Our Fears, certainly comes from a very personal place, with the source material originating from a haunting childhood experience.
“As a child, I was repeatedly told by my father that I had an Aboriginal uncle,” he said. “I grew up until the age of 14 believing that in fact I was partly Aboriginal by blood and in turn embraced my perceived heritage. It wasn’t until I asked for more details as a young teenager that I was confronted by an amused and dismissive father, laughing as he said: ‘I never said that’.
“In this exhibition, I take a closer analysis of what it is to be influenced by misguiding role models and the potential psychologically damaging effects on misguided youth. These works are atheistic explorations analysing identity, culture, mythology, heritage, parenting and stereotypes.”
For Lister, the exhibition is a chance to air out some personal demons. By putting his own insecurities on public display, he said, he can take power away from a situation that troubled him for so long.
“Well until now I was far too sensitive,” he said. “I could not properly digest being put in a position where by I was embarrassed to such a degree that I would be laughed at for believing something that was a lie. I guess I am able to play the fool now.”
Slither Between the Blinds Shows Our Fears is currently on display at the Underdogs Gallery in Lisbon, Portugal until Saturday 15 July 2017.
For an exhibition catalogue, click here.
www.anthonylister.com
www.under-dogs.net
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