Simon Periton is known for his intricate paper cut-outs. For his fourth show at HQ, Periton has expanded his technique by retracing sculptural forms from his previous paper works and stenciling them to glass. These new spray-paintings on glass use multiple layering and the mutation of one image into another to create a hypnotic collage of his particular visual vocabulary.
The new paintings portray strange metamorphic creatures who appear out of the shadows, caught in spaces somewhere between landscape and domestic interior. Strange plant figures (part fashion, part flower arrangement) peer out from behind curtains, and mounted riot police stuck on a carousel must fight their way out of an overgrown organic trap. The show creates a society mediated by celebrities, chavs and royalty: A bunch of haemophiliacs raised by alsation dogs on a council tip (Blue Orchids).
These layers of dark, yet playful, images layer a selection of his previous doilies - Charger, Smokescreen, Beelzebub, Garden of Earthly Delights, Doilies, Anarchy, Flags, Hole, Domestic Violence and Scalpels - combined with new found images - Israeli soldiers clearing Jewish settlers, a Spanish flamenco dancer, royal portraits from the seventies, and a selection of old flower arrangements. The result is an increasing complexity of imagery, though Periton is still interested in the same themes: order and anarchy, imprisonment and escape, decoration and disorder, love and death.
Back to Nature refers to a return to, and denial of, the past. A type of Fin de Siecle with its ominous mixture of opulence and decadence, combined with a shared prospect of unavoidable, radical change.
Simon Periton lives and works in London. Recent commissions include public sculpture projects for Firstsite, Channel Four and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
