Jamie Fitzpatrick @ The Telfer Gallery
Into the Hands of Housewives and Children continues Jamie Fitzpatrick’s fascination with the contentious issue of genetic research. The show takes its title from an article by outspoken theoretical scientist Freeman Dyson, on the domestication of biotechnology. The article foresees an Open Source future for biotechnology, wherein transgenic engineering will be commonplace and designing genomes will be a new art form practicable by everyone, like painting or sculpture.
The loaded, emotive tone of the quote (surprisingly, written in 2007, despite its dated disparagement of ‘housewives’) seems to imply irresponsibility on the scientists’ part – and a strong moral position staked by the artist.
Fitzpatrick, though, is being typically provocative. Alongside some new ceramic works, he has presented his trademark ‘bastard taxidermy.’ A winged fox on the prowl pitches forward, nose to the ground, because its front legs are those of a much smaller animal. Even more disturbing, a waxy cock protrudes from its temples. Elsewhere, a swarm of disgusting winged creatures is suspended overhead – right over your head, at close proximity, so that animals the size of cats could at any time snag their strings and drop their dead weight on you.
The ceramic works are no less crude. Titled Wedg Wood, the wall-mounted ceramic garlands of fruit and flora reference the blue and white stoneware of 18th Century potter Josiah Wedgwood, which were made widely affordable by innovations in mass production. Among flesh-toned squashes, marrows and bananas grow a penis and testicles, while the centres of delicately cut petals reveal discreet but unmistakable nipples.
In likening biotechnology to industrialisation, Fitzpatrick is suggesting that it will be the most important leap in technological progress in the 21st century. His ceramic assemblages are a succinct illustration of the ensuing possibilities, if less dynamic and viscerally affecting than the fox with a cock in the corner. [Jac Mantle]