Uncle Harold: Supply & Demand
The inaugural CoCA X The Corner Store collab will see Christchurch-based visual artist and illustrator Uncle Harold return to exhibiting off the back of a string of commercial projects gaining him national recognition, with his third solo exhibition Supply & Demand.
Heavily influenced by the subversive works of underground artists who pioneered the merging of skate culture and art, Uncle Harold’s practice embodies the skater philosophy of seeing the potential of an object to be utilised in ways other than its intended use, his artworks parodying the everyday and thereby reminding us of the desensitization bred by consumerism and the media. In Supply & Demand, Uncle Harold steps away from the lighthearted, colourful aesthetic he’s reknowned for to explore the commodification of violence and our society’s unsettling familiarity with objects designed to harm. According to the artist: “The painted collection of golden weapons represent the polarising ways that they are used as currency. When bought and traded in war they are a terrifying symbol of power and humanities contrasting ideologies around both freedom and oppression; when used as viral imagery, consumers of music and fashion are sold seemingly innocuous representations of the same weapons, appealing to our innate fascination with danger.”