Tragic Magic review
September 14, 2008
Wizardry and science: what's the difference? In these days of dark matter and black holes made in Geneva - really not that much. Sydney artist Jesse Hogan appoints himself the mad scientist in charge of his own diagnosis in Tragic Magic. It's a tangled mess of allusion, but you can't judge this show for its loose ends because that's what it's all about. Our faith that science can explain people to themselves is kind of the same as our belief that art can reveal mystical truths. Both are dubious magic shows.
The work is a crisp, psychotic adventure into the subconscious, where Xray films become fluorescent perspex cutouts, emitting light at the seams, and Hogan's selfportrait appears in seven parts each a magician with a plastic bag head. Dali's theory of critical paranoia may have been similar to Rorschach's diagnosis method, but Hogan trumps them both with a crazed skateboard ramp wearing rubber gloves.
Penny Modra