Nathaniel Faulkner

The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly

Deep Blue

Using appropriation as his modus operandum Nathaniel Faulkner creates 'replica' sculptures that reference western social and cultural landmarks, from the Arthurian legends to Shrek's toilet. These 1:1 sculptures are totemic monuments to contemporary society, demarking the archetypes of western culture with anachronisms from past and present. Interested in the blurring of the real and fictitious he highlights inconsistencies in the consumerist world we live in. In his piece Deep Blue, he has constructed a monolithic IBM machine,  poignantly exposing the interior of the artifact revealing a hollow shell under a wood veneer and the dumb blinking of fairy lights; not superintelligence. Faulkner playfully removes the object from its context, wherein the gallery setting the sculpture can be applied new meaning. 

Nathaniel comments on the his work in the exhibition:

"Much of my work and research focuses on the debate surrounding myth and science; postulating the impact and significance of myth in a modern scientific era, and examining the inherently problematic nature of theorising on myth from an external, Western standpoint." 

"Often I will combine archetypal motifs and imagery with references to popular culture and recent events, I do this without discrimination; seeking inspiration equally from both what is considered high and low culture. My references extend broadly from ancient civilisations to Science Fictions to branding and consumerism, meaning that my approach to history is
eclectic; celebrating anachronism and ‘alternative fact’. The work imports loaded and iconic objects from both real and fictitious worlds, they are selected and then meticulously fabricated so as to appear ‘hyper-real’. I believe this is extremely relevant to the description you provided for the exhibition, hyperreality is something I have been exploring in my work for over a year. The works appear simultaneously familiar yet at the same time seem uncannily different or altered, the result should make them desirable yet unsettling."