S Mark Gubb – Revelations: The Poison of Free Thought, Prt II
Mike Kelley – Mobile Homestead

22 October - 17 December 2016

Mike Kelley: Mobile Homestead, 2012, an Artangel commission

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For Cardiff Contemporary g39 is exhibiting part of the unique Artangel Collection in Wales for the first time, Mike Kelley’s film of Mobile Homestead. This will be shown alongside a major new sculptural work by S Mark Gubb, commissioned by g39. This is part of a multifaceted project for Gubb, all under the umbrella title of Revelations happening concurrently at SYSON Gallery and a roadside billboard on an American interstate.

Revelations: The Poison of Free Thought Part II sees S Mark Gubb create an iconic sculpture within g39’s warehouse space during Cardiff Contemporary. The new work has been commissioned by g39 and is shown alongside the influential films Mobile Homestead, 2010-11 by Mike Kelley (courtesy of The Artangel Collection).

Gubb’s installation picks away at the shiny veneer of ‘white picket fence’ American suburbia to expose a twisted, underbelly reality that evokes a dystopian 80’s sci-fi horror movie.

Revelations: The Poison of Free Thought Part II resembles a shanty fairground that blends, shifts and re-appropriates vivid imagery from historical moments in politics, science and culture. Gubb’s warped sculptural record of these ideological events highlight what once may have been a good intention by the powers that created them, is now opposed by the horrific historical facts that followed. Gubb leads us through his personal re-evaluation of the past to provoke us to consider our contribution to the world we live in now.

“Revelations: The Poison of Free Thought Prt II might be a monument to where the world is headed, or an acknowledgement of where we've been. The road to Hell is unquestionably paved with good intentions. And the poison of free thought.”

The new commission by Gubb is influenced by Mike Kelley’s Mobile Homestead; a public sculpture commissioned by Artangel that was specifically for Kelley’s hometown in Detroit - a full sized replica of his ranch-style house in which he grew up. The work was designed to move around and be a place to house a variety of community activities and later be a permanent space in Detroit with a hidden basement of tunnels to provide space for secret subculture meetings.

Alongside Revelations: The Poison of Free Thought Part II g39 is exhibiting three-part documentary Mobile Homestead 2010-11 that Kelley completed just before he died. It depicts Mobile Homestead en route through Detroit neighborhoods that trace a remarkable variety of both urban and outlying areas, making apparent the socio-economic disparities among the communities through which Mobile Homestead passed. Along the way, interviews were conducted with shop owners and residents, including a motorcycle gang, strip-club dancers and church officials. These films show Kelley casting a deep critical eye on this American city that he knew so well.

G39 has collaborated with Artangel to offer S Mark Gubb this opportunity. This commission builds on Artangel’s ethos to ‘take risks’ and show support to artist led practice in Wales and in the context of exhibiting important collection works in new ways.

Supported by Artangel Collection & Mike Kelley Foundation