In Praise of Darkness:
Conversations with the Father
“In Praise of Darkness: Conversations with the Father, there are two videos – conversations with the mother and conversations with the father – in which the real and the surreal are juxtaposed once again. In the first, the camera opens on a close-up of the white-grey hair of the son (bizarrely similar to the artist’s own distinctive grey hair). The camera shifts then to the face of a doll – a living, breathing doll – whose exhalations are both fascinating and repellent….There is no need for conversation, for everything is understood.
In the second video, a boy’s hand reaches out and takes the wooden hand of a doll, its articulated fingers held together with iron nails. When the camera pulls back to reveal the fair shining hair of the youth, the effect is immediate and shocking… It is a moment filled with almost unbearable yearning, a scene of heartache and longing, of a desire for connection that can only end in disappointment.”
Wright has painted a series of works on paper Relative Conversations, that, while they compliment the videos, also can be viewed quite separately.”
Dr Candice Bruce
Read the full essay by Dr Candice Bruce
In Praise of Darkness:
Conversations with the Father, 2006. Video stills.
‘Relative Conversations’, 2006, 200x200cm. Photographs: Carl Warner
