From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Oliver Watts
Oliver Watts
Oliver Watts (born 1976) thinks he is a contemporary Gory Gallery, Melbourne); ‘Smoking Guns’ (Cat Street
artist. Gallery, Hong Kong); Frontier Photobooth, (1/2 Doz. Fes-
tival); Pioneers (MOP Projects). He has also exhibited in
Biography many group shows, of which include: ‘Triplicated’ (Chalk
Horse Gallery); ‘Driftwood’ (MOP Projects); ‘Hairbrush’
Watts was born in Sydney, Australia. He studied Arts and (Wren Gallery, Sydney).
Law, gaining Honours, at Sydney University. In 2010, he
received a PhD in Art History and Theory, the title of
his thesis being ‘Images on the Limit of Law: Sovereignty,
Prizes
Modernism and the Effigy.’ Watts has received a number of distinguished prizes. Th-
ese include: Mosman Art Prize (Finalist), 2005–06; Helen
Work Lempriere Traveling Scholarship (Finalist), 2005; Brett
Whiteley Traveling Scholarship (Finalist), 2004-05. He
Oliver Watts works across a variety of media, ranging presented to the annual conference of the Association
from performance to painting and collage. Watts’ chief of Art Historians in Glasgow in 2010. He is a lecturer of
concern is the nexus of art and law, while his works Art Theory at University of New South Wales and Syd-
are guided by this question: how do images command? For ney University. Among his published work are: ‘Behind the
Watts this implies that art should function in a subver- Lines’;[2] ‘Love, Life and Politics’ (National Museum of Aus-
sive manner, challenging the very foundations upon tralia); ‘Intelligence Failure’, (The Chaser Annual: Text Me-
which our society is founded. In a 2010 group exhibition, dia).
‘Triplicated’, Watts demonstrated how the law is both de-
sirable and desirous. He revisited the Brothers Grimm
fairy tale of the princess and a mythical sea-hare.
External links
Through videos and collage Watts has illustrated and ob- • Chalk Horse Gallery
fuscated the story through a variety of methods from
jokes to critical theory.
In his recent body of work, the BarresTrial Series,
References
Watts looks closely at a Dada performance of 1921 which [1] Association of Art Historians, Annual Conference,
aped the law. Tristan Tzara made trouble as a witness, Glasgow 2010
with André Breton the judge, insisting that even a Dada [2] National Museum of Australia
law would be bogus; it is this nihilistic and absurdist spir- Persondata
it that Watts channels. In an obsessive replaying Watts Name Watts, Oliver
translated the testimony from the French and then per-
formed it. His collages are based on this translation, Alternative names
which he also presented to the annual conference of the Short description
Association of Art Historians in Glasgow in 2010.[1] In his Date of birth 1976
work Watts uncovers the strange and wonderful ideolog-
Place of birth
ical images and performances that underpin our society,
from law to religion; from sport to racial violence. His Date of death
work proposes that art has a subversive part to play with- Place of death
in these frameworks of power.
In October 2010, Oliver Watts was also featured in the
prestigious interbational art journal, Art in America
Exhibitions
Watt’s solo exhibitions include: ‘The Golden Probe’, ‘Crimes
Against Dada’ (Chalk Horse Gallery); ‘Three Suns’ (Helen
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Oliver Watts
Categories:
• 1976 births
• Living people
• Australian artists
• People from Sydney
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