Sun 15th Oct 2023
Time: 7:00pm
Event
New visual art exhibition presented by The Glory: Oblique Ascension by Myno
Free Prosecco Reception 7pm & Free Limited Edition MYNO badges
Plus DJ Fannar and shows from Shigella
Arrive early for guaranteed entry. An RSVP tickets does not guarantee entry.
The Glory is delighted to announce that, for the second time (following the photographer Holly Revell’s site-specific show People Like Us in summer 2022), our premises will provide an exciting queer visual artist with a platform from which to bring their work to a wider audience.
Costa Rican artist Myno’s exhibition Oblique Ascension comprises six large digital works, created specifically for our space at 218 Kingsland Road, exploring themes of queer energy, expression and performance capable of transcending physical form and existing in beautiful states of becoming. The images were inspired by visits made by the artist to The Glory last summer and, in particular, contestants in our annual drag competition LIPSYNC1000. Celebrating the breadth and variety of drag for which The Glory is renowned, Oblique Ascension spans a range of visual styles and graphic idioms, surveying modes of performance and presentation such as comedy, entertainment, beauty and weirdness.
The works draw on intriguing influences, reimagining them into something distinctive and original. Following a visit to Tate Britain last summer, Myno transforms the hideous snarling jaw from the third panel of Francis Bacon’s triptych Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion into the joyful abandon of a drag comedy performance. The beautiful big bodies of Leigh Bowery and Sue Tilley posed for Lucian Freud are evoked, his threadbare armchairs and sofas here transfigured into the exuberant camp fantasy of inflatable chaise longue suspended in champagne. In Oblique Ascension, these 20th century School of London objectivist influences are brought into creative tension with a vibrant futurism inspired by both the verve of Hirohiko Araki’s Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and the elegance Pater Sato’s sci-fi glamour, all filtered through a playful Latin American magic realism.
John Sizzle, co-owner of The Glory, says: ‘Presenting the surreal and ethereal work produced by Myno continues The Glory’s tradition of promoting queer artists from within and outside of the UK and we’re honoured to be exhibiting his work on our walls and in some of the more unusual spaces in our venue.’
An archaic astronomical term, the show’s title refers to the relation between the equator and a rising star: the angle measured along the celestial equator from the spring equinox to where the point of interest meets the horizon. The title alludes both to the artist’s Central American geographical positioning and to his cultural positioning as visitor to The Glory and observer of queer energy, expression and performance capable of transcending physical form and existing in beautiful states of becoming. ‘Oblique’ as in queer disruption of norms and rejection of standards: neither parallel nor at right angles to a specified or implied line. ‘Ascension’ as in a spectacular process of becoming, rather than simply being.
Oblique Ascension opens on Sunday 15th October at 218 Kingsland Road, E2 8AS, beginning with a prosecco reception at 7pm and continuing with a celebratory evening of music and performance.
