Invites: Elliot Dodd

In drawings, sculptures, videos and computer animations, Elliot Dodd responds to the absurd and awkward nature of consumer products and contemporary masculinity. His work uses diverse points of reference, both contemporary and historical, to reflect on human desire as it is shaped through channels of technology.

For his first solo exhibition, The Manbody, Dodd has produced a new 4K digital film that borrows its stylistic structure from Hip Hop music and commercial promotional videos. The focus is on a conversation between two characters occupying a luxury people carrier in an underground car park. One of the characters, wearing a camouflage jump suit, is immersed in playing a Sony Playstation VR system throughout. The Manbody forms part of Dodd’s ongoing research into the status and function of Virtual Reality technology.

Plato’s Timaeus, written c. 360 BC, forms the starting point of the script; a dialogue that addresses, from a hyper-masculine viewpoint, both the nature of being and base bodily functions. Dodd’s fascination lies in how such an all-encompassing worldview meshes together the messy details of organic matter with a longing for universal order. Dodd reformats his sources through precise text and video editing and the use of computer generated avatar masks overlaying the filmed footage. The overall effect is of a reformed reality in which many constituent parts - language, music, animation and filmed footage - are layered and stacked into a fluid new shape.

Elliot Dodd (B. 1978 Jersey, Channel Islands) lives and works in London. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools, London 2013–16. Previously he completed his BA at The Slade School of Fine Art, UCL London 1998-2002. Recent exhibitions include: Virtually Real, collaboration with HTC, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2017; Semi Self Reflections, Rockelmann &, Berlin, 2017; SUNDAY Art Fair solo presentation, London, 2016; Event Horizon, Gabriel Rolt Gallery, Amsterdam, 2014; Switch, Baltic, Gateshead, 2012.