Giorgio Sadotti: THIS THIS MONSTER THIS THINGS at Ikon, Birmingham

Giorgio Sadotti: THIS THIS MONSTER THIS THINGS at Ikon, Birmingham

Since 2010, British artist Giorgio Sadotti has been assembling THIS THIS MONSTER THIS THINGS, an exquisite corpse made from objects produced by fifty-one artist friends and acquaintances, most of whom have had an impact on Sadotti’s identity as an artist. This process of gradual accumulation has resulted in a meta-artwork or a curatorial monster that mockingly presents a complete entity; a Frankensteinian self-portrait, drawn from people who have become familiar with Sadotti and his work over a twenty-five year period.

The various elements of Sadotti’s figure are fitted onto a precisely engineered aluminium skeleton to present a character constructed from assorted media, including sculpture, two-dimensional materials such as painting and photography, neon, a rose frozen in a block of ice and audio-visual body parts.

These objects result in a cacophony, which represent the different facets of the artist’s personality, as well as the varied ways of producing and interpreting figurative artworks. Among the remains are Simon Martin’s consciousness, which comes in the form of a real lemon, Georgina Starr’s brain made from bubble-gum and a tarot card, and Paul Noble’s spinning, hallucinogenic and multi-faceted left foot and toes hewn from polystyrene and plaster.

THIS THIS MONSTER THIS THINGS includes work by Shahin Afrassiabi, Fiona Banner, Mark Beasley, Vanessa Billy, Roxane Borujerdi, Eleanor Brown and Loolie Habgood, David Burrows, Denna Cartamkhoob, Rachael Champion, Steven Claydon, Kelly Eginton, Laura Eldret, Graham Fagen, Karin Felbermayr, Ella Finer, Ceal Floyer, Freee, Neil Gall, Anya Gallaccio, Liam Gillick, Matt Hale, Matthew Higgs, The Hut Project, Alan Kane, Lisa Kirk, Elise Lammer and Lawrence Leaman, Mikael Larsson, Simon Liddiment, Raphael Linsi, Simon Martin, Fraser Muggeridge, Paul Noble, Carlos Noronha Feio, Stefano W. Pasquini, Elias Rediger, Audrey Reynolds, Sarina Scheidegger, Dina Schuepbach, Georgina Starr, Alexandra Stähli, Jemima Stehli, Jack Strange, Milly Thompson, Chris Watts and Elizabeth Wright.

Giorgio Sadotti: THIS THIS MONSTER THIS THINGS, 1 May until 14 July, Ikon, 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham B1 2HS. www.ikon-gallery.co.uk

Image: Giorgio Sadotti: THIS THIS MONSTER THIS THINGS, courtesy Focal Point Gallery

Read more about the exhibition in 10 to see, in our June/July issue of Aesthetica out now. www.aestheticamagazine.com/shop