TURNER GALLERIES... 2019 EXHIBITIONS

Despite his interest in the subject of climate change Singe is quick to point out that it would be inaccurate to label his art practice as environmentally responsible.

Rather than drawing inspiration from the field of legitimate climate science, his practice is informed by the evolving culture and language that has developed in response to this looming environmental disaster. He is particularly fascinated by the DIY eco inventions that pervade the internet, the seemingly endless websites and YouTube videos that feature backyard environmental warriors espousing their low cost, labour intensive and inevitably inefficient climate change solutions. While these dubious inventions fail to provide practical environmental solutions, they offer their creators a flawed outlet for relieving the guilt of their ongoing global warming complicity.

For Fixation Mike Singe presents new works from an ongoing series of environmentally dubious carbon capture and storage drawings. Made by applying candle soot onto the drawing surface, capturing carbon that would otherwise combine with oxygen in the combustion process to form carbon dioxide, the works in this exhibition highlight the fallacy of industrial carbon fixation by linking it to Singe's own impotent attempts to overcome the environmental impact of his art practice. These drawings depict ideas around successful and perhaps not so successful adaption to the inevitable future changes in climate. An ongoing interest in the carbon enrichment process of animal respiration, particularly human respiration, also informs these drawings.

For Fixation, Singe will also premiere two works from his new series No More Free Art. Taking the form of display cabinets these works introduce pay per view capabilities by integrating coin operated mechanisms, requiring a dollar coin be inserted to facilitate a thirty second viewing of the contained artwork. While these cabinets are unlikely to be a practical revenue raising device, they challenge the viewer to consider how they financially contribute to their personal cultural consumption.

Mike Singe
August 2019

failed adapter: 46 minute carbon capture + storage impure carbon [soot] on plywood 30 x 65cm 2017 $2,000
failed adapter: 33 minute carbon capture + storage impure carbon [soot] on plywood 27 x 27cm 2017 $1,200	failed adapter: 38 minute carbon capture + storage impure carbon [soot] on plywood 40 x 45cm 2018 $1,700
failed adapter: 81 minute carbon capture + storage impure carbon [soot] on plywood 57 x 88cm 2018 $2,800	failed adapter: 86 minute carbon capture + storage impure carbon [soot] on plywood 86 x 58cm 2018 $2,800
failed adapter: 93 minute carbon capture + storage impure carbon [soot] on plywood 40 x 75cm 2017 $2,200
corvus celebrates 400ppm: 44 minute carbon capture + storage impure carbon [soot] on plywood 70 x 56cm 2017 $2,500	corvus [albino] celebrates 400ppm: 46 minute carbon capture + storage impure carbon [soot] on plywood 70 x 56cm 2017 $2,500
rhinella celebrates 400ppm: 40 minute carbon capture + storage impure carbon [soot] on plywood 40 x 58cm 2017 $1,900	hyperventilate: 94 minute carbon fixation soot, picture varnish on plywood 91 x 61cm 2019 $2,800 sold
hyperventilate: 145 minute carbon capture + storage impure carbon [soot] on plywood 58 x 82cm 2018 $2,700 sold	hyperventilate: 47 minute carbon fixation soot, picture varnish on acrylic 49 x 37cm 2018 $1,700 sold
failed adapter: 37 minute carbon capture + storage impure carbon [soot] on plywood 27 x 27cm 2017 $1,200 [excluding cabinet]	failed adapter: 31 minute carbon capture + storage impure carbon [soot] on plywood 27 x 27cm 2017 $1,200 sold
hyperventilate: 41 minute carbon capture + storage soot, picture varnish on acrylic 25 x 32cm 2018 $1,300 sold