Experience ‘Demented Fury’, an unveiling exhibition by Athena Thebas, showing from Wednesday October 21 – Saturday November 7 at Metro Arts. Using materials reminiscent of middle-class banality, this new set of works hopes to interject these objects with elements of clumsy, slippery, disobedient queerness. You are invited to also come along and join in the opening night festivities on Thursday October 21, from 6:00 pm. Gain deeper insight into ‘Demented Fury’ at the Artist Talk on Thursday November 5 from 6:00 pm.

“My mother wanted marble columns in our family home. My father cut some thick cardboard tubing to fit around the pre-existing rectangular archway into the rumpus room, plastered the outside, then had an expert marble painter come over to create a marble effect. This is Marble Realness, an attempt at passing a kind of class status associated with wealth and capital. It was my mother’s vision: a desire for the appearance of richness that the fantasy of capitalism dangles in front of us, yet executed in true camp. I was ashamed of this as a teenager, never inviting friends over because of my mother’s taste in décor. I admire it of her now. It serves me as a wholesome example of camp: unabashed, unaware of itself, and unnervingly humorous.

For this work, I am locating instances of shame as a method to identify unease, turning this discomfort with hope from straight to queer desire. With addressing points of shame, the option emerges to sympathise with uncomfortable feelings or react in a way that affirms this white patriarchy. I am committed to a practice that surrenders to full feeling, to move shame towards adoration, and to imagine the possibility of queerer futures.” Athena Thebus, 2015

Opening night – Thursday October 21, 6:00 pm
Artist talk – Thursday November 5, 6:00 pm