Whatever Happened to the Men of Tomorrow?, presenting new works by Slinkachu that continue to explore the artist’s trademark themes of loneliness and disillusionment engendered by the urban environment.
The exhibition originates from a series of one inch mini-installations created for the streets of London, left to be discovered by passers-by. These site-specific interventions are captured through Slinkachu’s photographs and brought inside the gallery environment as limited editions.
A series of super-sized artworks will also be appearing at various billboard sites across the city throughout the exhibition. This project is a collaboration between Andipa and King Media to launch their new art sponsorship programme.
The exhibition takes its title from Alan Moore’s ‘Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?’, which reveals the dramatic end to the Superman legend with the superhero living as a simple, ordinary man. Slinkachu’s characters find themselves over-weight, pale and balding, revealing a once heroic relationship to a city that has no interest for them any more.
Slinkachu explains, “I used old and out-of-shape super hero characters to hint at failed hopes and dreams. When we are young we think of ourselves as invincible and destined for greatness but before we realise it we are old and forgotten – like the war hero beaten up at the bus stop for his pension money or the doting father left alone in a care home.”
The positioning of Slinkachu’s models within the urban context plays with the element of surprise and the unexpected, and warrants immediate empathy and understanding from those discovering these scenes. One hopeful figure in a sagging, emblem-less costume, attempts to take off with the aid of a party popper tied to his waist, while another sits heavily on the lip of a tossed-aside beer can, looking dejected. As with his other work, Slinkachu’s pointed sense of humour and irony make Whatever Happened to the Men of Tomorrow? a touching and thought provoking commentary on life in the big city.
Slinkachu has received international attention for his Little People Project in which his miniature figures are left to fend for themselves in the bustling city. A world of miniature scale is uncovered as figures venture across the large metropolis, wading through puddles in the pavement cracks and warding off vengeful insects. Slinkachu is currently participating in the project entitled Tunnel-228, produced by Punchdrunk and actor and Old Vic Artistic Director Kevin Spacey. The artist recently released his first publication ‘Little People in the City. The street art of Slinkachu’, published by Boxtree (Pan MacMillan), with a foreword by author Will Self.
Andipa Gallery has been publishing Slinkachu’s work for the past year and recently launched the artist in Switzerland.
