“I began to wonder whether it’s people like me, the introverted, who are truly the most self-absorbed and self-centred.” – Tim Fishlock

In his second solo exhibition at Hang-Up, artist Tim Fishlock questions and appraises our information saturated age and asks us to confront what the deluge of opinion, narcissism and image overkill is doing to our society.

INTROVERSION IMMERSION tackles the dreaded compulsions of social media and our own existential plight with thought-provoking and playful irreverence. Fishlock continues his shrewd comment on the fragile state of society and our place within it through his vibrant, text-based paintings, reflecting on our uneasy relationship with technology and how we are slave to our own invention.

A site-specific installation titled INTROVERSION IMMERSION takes over the entire Hang-Up bunker in the form of an enclosed ‘room’ of 72 light boxes ranged floor to ceiling. Flooded with a beguiling fusion of words and colours, we are confronted with the fiction served up every day and reminded there is no language without deceit.

Upstairs, a series of six new paintings entitled Satisfactory Living are unified by the repetition of ME ME ME; Ego, Welcome Me, Handle Me, Provoke Me, Message Me, presented alongside a heavy punchbag, stitched in leather, appliquéd with the word ‘ME’.

“In an era when more people than ever get everything they want, everything becomes merely satisfactory. The ‘temple of ME’ proves to be one of unrealistic expectations.” – Tim Fishlock

The Future Leaks Out comprises 85 solid wooden blocks in four different lengths referencing the William Burroughs’ quote “when you cut into the present, the future leaks out”. Careful consideration was given to the selection of words, which, like much of the artist’s work, allude to a fairly misanthropic, dystopian world-view. This establishes a striking contrast between the subject matter and a material form that is synonymous with childhood creativity and exploration.

Fishlock’s important new work reminds us that our capacity to see, feel and question is circumscribed by the type of world we are immersed in. This timely exhibition challenges us to truly look and think about how we live.

INTROVERSION IMMERSION opens at Hang-Up Gallery on 31 May and runs until 13 July.

A Goldsmiths’ graduate, Tim Fishlock spent twenty years working in most of the creative industries before reinventing himself as Oddly Head in 2015. Following the hugely successful inaugural show REPEAT AFTER ME at Hang-Up Gallery in August 2017, the Londonbased artist has gone on to create sell out series of work and collaborated on several exciting projects and exhibitions. He has shown work in prestigious institutions in London including the Design Museum and the Royal Academy, where two of his works were selected by Grayson Perry for the 250th RA Summer Show.

Established in 2008, Hang-Up is an independent East London based contemporary art gallery. Highlighted as one of the ‘Five Places to Visit in London’ by The New York Times in 2019, Hang-Up has built a considerable international following over the past decade, propelled by its friendly and approachable ethos.

Hang-Up works with a roster of contemporary artists in selling and presenting artworks through their dynamic exhibition programme. Artists include Nancy Fouts, Tim Fishlock (FKA Oddly Head), The Connor Brothers, Joe Webb, Mark Powell and Lauren Baker.

Alongside the primary market artists, Hang-Up have a world-wide reputation as being major dealers in Banksy artwork, placing original works and limited edition prints to an international collector base. Rare works from Banksy are often exhibited downstairs at Hang-Up in what has become known as The Bunker. The gallery also deal in works by Harland Miller, David Shrigley, KAWS and Takashi Murakami, buying and selling artworks by leveraging their extensive networks developed over the past decade.

Author: Mae Cuthbertson

• Where:

  Hang Up Gallery
  Hang-Up, 81 Stoke Newington Road
  London N16 8AD
  Opening hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 6pm
  020 3667 4550

• When?: 31 May - 13 July 2019
• How Much?: Free
• Email: mae@lisabakerltd.com
• URL: https://hanguppictures.com/