Destroy All Heroes (2018) — Small Night Projects

Gorey School of Art’s Periphery Space | 27 JULY — 4 AUGUST 2018

LAURA FITZGERALD — DAVID GODBOLD — WILLIAM MURRAY — JOY GERRARD — RAYMOND PETTIBON (curated by James Merrigan & Emma Roche)

JOY GERRARD, *Protest Crowd (Women's March, Montpellier 2017)*. 2018, Print on paper (120gsm) 10 x panels. Dimensions. 420cm x 220cm. Courtesy the artist.

DESTROY ALL HEROES is a group exhibition presenting artworks that explore the grey matter of thinking and feeling through the medium of drawing and text. Presenting four artists – Laura Fitzgerald, Joy Gerrard, David Godbold and William Murray – the exhibition begins where most superheroes begin, with the ZINE, defined as a cheaply-made, cheaply-priced publication, often in black and white, but brimming with the personalities and passions of its creators.

The series of zines DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1976-1979) by American “part-time punk band, part-time art collective” (Cary Loren, Mike Kelley, Niagara and Jim Shaw) is an influence that runs throughout the exhibition and its component parts, even in name. But as a mark of respect for subcultural tenets we have inverted Mike Kelley et al’s influence to put the head of the HERO on the chopping block in place of the MONSTER.

From the outset the production of a ZINE made of Real white paper and Real black ink has been a Real desire, especially with Laura, Joy, David, and William in mind. We felt the DIY ZINE represented a kind of internalised and intimate propaganda for those caught on the edges of the socio-political-economic-cultural swell. We asked the question: Does the internalisation of something like propaganda, something that is meant for the poster/pulpit/throne for politician/priest/king have a different nature, a different purpose in the hands of the artist?

PRESENTATION of original raymond pettibon zine collection from the 1980s—courtesy of exhibiting artist david godbold.

“A significant figure of the Southern Californian punk scene in the late 70s and 80s, Raymond Pettibon started his artistic career making scrappy zines, handbills and flyers for his band Black Flag and his brother’s record label, SST Pubs. These early zines feature comic-like illustrations paired with bizarre, ironic, and often seemingly disjointed text. Particularly focusing on the dissemination of post-war American culture, Pettibon works with recurring themes of sexuality, violence, youth-culture, religion and idols.” (Printed Matter, New York)