I THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER ASK

6 - 23 Mar 2019

Opening Night | Thursday 7 Mar, 6pm–8pm

Tess Landells 

I am a fan–actors and celebrities are the object of my desire.

I thought you’d never ask surrenders to the realm of fandom, balancing an understanding of the fake within film while still wanting to be seduced by its promise time and time again. It questions and contemplates the various relationships we have with our idols–the desire to be them, to be with them, to be included in their world.

The celebrity’s presence is possessed, fragmented and mediated through the screen. Leonardo DiCaprio serves as the surrogate. Manipulating his words and image, desired narratives are actualised. A love affair between the behold and beholden. Their worlds collide and finally become one–a melancholic love story, but ultimately one of loneliness and loss.

Through an earnest embodiment of herself as ‘the fan’, Tess considers not only what it means to view another on the screen, but the broader effect of this gaze. The desire and obsession for idols enters a deeper discussion about the notions of possession and surrender.

Tess Landells’ art practice uses video, text and performance to explore notions of desire and identity. Speaking as one viewer to another, she interrogates the way we actively/passively assimilate screen culture and the macro/micro effects of this visual consumption. Tess is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at the VCA.

IMAGE | Tess Landells, You Hope and You Dream, 2018, film still | Tess Landells, installation view, 2018 | Tess Landells, Open Your Eyes, 2018, film still | Courtesy the artist.