Robert Priseman

This book accompanies a small exploratory exhibition of early 21st Century Chinese works on paper curated by Marco Cali, Robert Priseman and Mengmeng Wang. The 17 artists represented in the book include Cai Longfei, Gao Hao, Gu Xiang, He Tianqi, He Yating, Hu Zuhao, Jiao Ye, Li Ma, Liao Zongrong, Liu De, Su Jie, Sunlei, Wang Chao, Wang Fenghua, Zhang Danni, Zhao Jia and Zhong Xiaojing.

'Freaks' comprises a set of 12 drawings of turn of the century side-show performers, taking it's cue from both Tod Browning's 1932 film of the same name and Peter Blake's 'Freaks' series from the mid 1970's. Seeking to explore ideas on how 'freaks' serve not to mark out the margins, but rather are used in an inverted way to police what counts as 'normal'.

ArtRabbit describes FAME as "An extraordinary series of new work" and Eventbrite, New York, as a series of "Haunting portraits of some of the 20th century's most famous celebrities". Rhizome says "FAME both literalizes and deconstructs the notion that celebrity has replaced religion, drawing parallels between the immediacy of tabloid culture in the internet age." In 'FAME' the internationally acclaimed artist Robert Priseman presents 100 antique religious icons, purchased from e-bay and over-painted with the portrait of a 20th century celebrity who died prematurely from suicide or as a result of a self-destructive lifestyle. Celebrities like Peg Entwistle, who, on Friday 16th September 1932 left her Los Angeles home and walked to the foot of the Hollywood sign where she climbed a workman's ladder to the top of the letter "H" and leaped to her death. Born in Port Talbot, Peg Entwistle had performed in 10 New York plays yet nurtured an ambition to appear in movies. She finally achieved her dream when she gained the role of "Hazel Cousins" in the film Thirteen Women (1932). Yet when no further roles materialized she began drinking heavily and is now remembered as a symbol for the lost aspirations of actors who move to Hollywood to become stars. Other portraits in this landmark project include Ernest Hemingway, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, million selling American jazz singer Billie Holiday who died guarded by police in the Metropolitan Hospital, New York, with only $0.70 in the bank, rock legend Kurt Cobain and writer Virginia Woolf. Fame it seems, has a dark side. "These beautiful new works look at the parallels between religion and celebrity." Daybees