Untitled 2006

Curator: Here we have Ashley Bickerton's "Untitled" piece from 2006, a mixed-media work that immediately strikes me as… peculiar. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: My eyes keep landing on the porous frame—the material punctures become part of the scenery and draw your gaze inward toward this very stylized couple and tropical vista. I'm interested in the layered construction. Curator: Absolutely. The image, rendered in almost surreal detail, depicts a blue-skinned man and a green-skinned pregnant woman, both adorned with flower leis, lounging amidst what appears to be a composite of tropical and imagined settings. The colors, forms, and juxtapositions conjure images of Polynesian symbolism, perhaps. Editor: I agree, although there's also something distinctly artificial in their presentation—these aren't necessarily organic pigments. I wonder, what processes were used to achieve these textures and colours? Given Bickerton’s background, there is undoubtedly something complex in the way he has combined image-making and object construction. Curator: Certainly, and it invites considerations about fertility, creation, and the human connection to nature. Consider, too, the backdrop behind them. Is that an island, a painting, or an implanted memory? Those symbols etched into the back suggest ancient beliefs, but twisted, altered slightly as though seen through a distorted lens. Editor: Right, like a mediated experience, even. And the frame further alienates it as a product that’s very carefully assembled; the materiality deliberately undermines any illusion of straightforward representation. The entire construction calls attention to itself. This is very present; it’s all there for the viewer to take in. Curator: It becomes, then, not just an image but also a symbolic exploration of humanity's idealized relationship with paradise and a reflection on cultural myths. Editor: Indeed, from a materials-based perspective, Bickerton’s approach allows us to see the image as a manufactured object and invites contemplation on our manufactured desires for idyllic landscapes and fruitful connections. Curator: Thank you for bringing attention to this contradiction in the materials and their illusionistic function, because now, having contemplated this mixed-media composition together, it feels like an object brimming with unsettling questions, beautifully rendered, though ultimately unfulfilled. Editor: For me, reflecting on the artist's methodology invites examination of how he exposes the production processes inherent in shaping these "idyllic" representations.