IAIN HETHERINGTON (SCOTTISH B. 1978)
Diversified cultural worker 7
2008
oil on canvas
81 x 71 cm
ARR

Provenance:
Mary Mary Gallery, Glasgow
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2008

Exhibition History:
London, Saatchi Gallery, NewSpeak: British Art Now, 30 May – 17 October 2010
St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, Newspeak, 25th October 2009- 17th January 2010
Adelaide, Art Gallery South Australia, Newspeak, 30th July - 23rd October 2011
Glasgow, Mary Mary Gallery, Iain Hetherington, 25 May – 28 June 2008

Artist Description:
Iain Hetherington addresses cultural hierarchies through his portraits depicting not people, but the signifiers by which they are labelled by others. Recurring objects such as baseball caps and gold chains, speak of the hypocritical perception within art and other fields – of society’s ‘disenfranchised’ elements. In his Diversified Cultural Worker series, Hetherington presents thuggish apparel as empty costumes, ‘derogatory’ designations that might be worn by anyone, blurring the roles of common bullies and PC policy makers. Juxtaposing colourful, painterly backgrounds, his practice nods to ‘high-art’ movements like impressionism and abstract expressionism, only once again to re-emphasise their contradictions and limitations of artistic practice.