The American born Syrian-Danish artist Zhivago Duncan examines his contemporary world’s often-sick fascination with glamour, fortune and fame. Duncan considers mass culture as messy and excessive, an attitude that physically manifests itself in his tarnished punk aesthetic. Unashamedly intrigued by the Warholian effect, the artist continues the dialogue of the original pop artists, dragging it into the bright lights of the rapidly developing twenty first century. The superficiality of celebrities and consumerism are shown in the context of cultural, economic and environmental decay. In his work, which relies on self-conscious contemporary strategies of appropriation, Duncan is unforgiving in both his conceptual stance and his creative processes.
However, rather than existing solely as a contemporary commentator, Duncan also brings an element of historical voyeurism to his pieces, even sometimes nostalgia. Whether expressive silk-screened portraits of celebrities long forgotten or sculptural remnants of abandoned muscle cars, his aesthetic of damage and tarnish pays homage to the countless icons that have been lost in the depths of time.
In one series the artist appropriates the content and images from long forgotten copies of Andy Warhol’s publishing vehicle, Interview Magazine. The artist presents and dissects the magazine’s obsession with celebrity and fame in his bright, bold and purposefully trashy silkscreen prints that he describes as beautiful chaos. The results are simultaneously postmodern in effect and nostalgic in tone: the artist mixes a cocktail of narcissistic retro glamour with neon, graffiti and punk.
Duncan graduated from Chelsea College of Art in 2007. He is currently based in Berlin where he held two a very well received solo exhibitions in 2010 as well as participating in several group shows. He has also shown in numerous group shows in London and Lebanon. 2011 marks a major show in Berlin and his first in Hong Kong.
