NotFair 2023
ALCHEMY
8 – 13 December 2023
333 Malvern Road, South Yarra VIC 3141
Biography
Mike Singe
Since moving to Nipaluna/Hobart from Western Australia more than a decade ago Singe’s practice has been shaped by the issue of climate change. However, rather than focusing solely on the legitimate climate science, his work is predominantly informed by the evolving culture and eccentric human behaviours that have developed in response to this looming environmental disaster. Despite Singe’s fascination with climate change, it would be disingenuous to label his art practice as environmentally responsible. For example, the works included in NotFair 2023 are made almost entirely from materials derived from petroleum. In response to the reservations generated by this aspect of his practice, Singe deploys his guilt as a motivator for the making process. Labour intensive procedures, such as applying soot to a surface to create an image, become futile performative acts of climate change contrition. Put very crudely, soot is carbon that has not combined with oxygen in the combustion process to form carbon dioxide. Theoretically the works in this exhibition are therefore acts of carbon capture and storage, the dubious value of that storage diligently recorded in the title of each work. Singe received a Bachelor of Fine Art from Curtin University in 1990 and completed a Master of Fine Arts at the Tasmanian School of Art in 2011. He has continuously exhibited for more than thirty years and his work is represented in major institutions and collections including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Kerry Stokes Collection and Murdoch University.
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Works
Natural Selection (38 Minute Fixation) 2023. Soot, picture varnish on acrylic. 62 x 50 cm.
Proudly Supported by:
NotFair Art Foundation
info@notfair.com.au