Ashley Bickerton (b. 1959, Barbados, West Indies; lives and works in Bali, Indonesia) was an original member a group of artists known as Neo-Geo, which emerged in New York during the 1980s. In 1993, he left New York for Bali, Indonesia, where his work took on a distinct tropical exoticism often in sharp contrast to his Neo-Geo work, which was an abstract and geometric exploration of consumerism and industrialization. However, Bickerton’s investigation of materiality remained a consistent thread throughout his practice. Often blurring the boundaries between media, genre, and subject (photography and sculpture; portraiture and landscape; realism and fantasy), he challenges the parameters of art making, calling into question the value and significance of the art object itself.
While working in New York, Bickerton established a brand name for himself, Susie, which he has continued to incorporate into much of his work. In his early exploration of self-portraiture, Bickerton placed his invented Susie logo among the logos of other name brands that he used in his daily life: Marlboro, Fruit of the Loom, Renault. This representation of self as an accumulation of commercial brands was Bickerton’s method of investigating the complexity of consumer society and valuation. Around the same time, Bickerton produced several “still lives” that incorporated the Susie logo with a digital screen that displays the value of the work and tracks its fluctuating market value.
After his relocation to Bali, Bickerton became more focused on hyper-realistic figurativism that parodied the Western fantasy of tropical island life. He began depicting himself, his family, and his friends in bright colors, dripping with overt sexuality and exoticism. For these works Bickerton designs intricate stage sets and paints directly onto his models, their clothes, and props, photographing them and then editing the images during post-production to create hyper-realistic yet artificial and disorienting scenes. Bickerton then works directly onto the photographic print using thick layers of oil and acrylic paint so that the components of photograph, painting, and sculpture become indistinguishable. The result is an eerie and often macabre scene of hypersexualized overconsumption.
Bickerton received his BFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1982 and continued his education in the independent studies program at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Solo shows of his work have been organized at Newport Street Gallery, London (2017); The FLAG Art Foundation, New York (2017); and Palacete del Embarcadero, Autoridad Portuaria de Santander, Spain (1997). Select group exhibitions featuring his work include Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC (2016); Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2016); L’Almanach 16, Le Consortium, Dijon, France (2016); Painting 2.0: Expression in the Information Age, Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany (2015); Ileana Sonnabend: Ambassador for the New, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2013); Aquatopia, Tate St Ives, Cornwall, United Kingdom (2013); The Living Years: Art after 1989, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, traveled to Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN and Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA (2012); Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2011); Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection, New Museum, New York (2010); Pop Life: Art in a Material World, Tate Modern, London (2009); Allegories of Modernism: Contemporary Drawing, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1992); Word as Image: American Art 1960-1990, Milwaukee Art Museum, WI (1990), traveled to Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (1991); and the Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1989). His work is in numerous international public and private collections, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Vancouver Art Gallery; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; and the Tate Britain, London.
阿什莉·比克頓(1959年生於西印度群島巴巴多斯)在1982年畢業於加州藝術學院,後於紐約惠特尼美術館攻讀獨立研究課程。他是藝術團體Neo-Geo最初期的成員,同時也是至今引領紐約東村藝術圈、對新一代藝術家影響深遠的人物。其作品在全球各國的大型美術館如紐約現代藝術博物館及倫敦泰特現代美術館裏展出及收藏。他目前於印度尼西亞巴裏定居及從事藝術創作。
在美國創作的當其時,比克頓設立了他的品牌「Susie」,並持續將其納入他的藝術創作當中。比克頓在他早期的自畫像放置「Susie」的標志和其他日常常見的商標,例如:萬寶路、「Fruit of the Loom」和雷諾。比克頓以這種手法探究消費者社會的價值和複雜性,並表現出消費者自己為商業品牌累積的價值。同時,他制作了數個融合「Susie」標志和顯示市場價值波動的電子屏幕。
比克頓曾舉辦數次個人展覽,當中包括倫敦的紐波特街畫廊(2017年)、紐約FLAG藝術基金會(2017年)和西班牙桑坦德Palacete del Embarcadero(1997)。他亦曾參與多個群體展覽,包括美國華盛頓特區赫希洪博物館和雕塑園的「Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s」(2016年)、美國紐約惠特尼美術館的「Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection」(2016年)、法國第戎Le Consortium的「L’Almanach 16」(2016年)、德國慕尼克布蘭德霍斯特博物館的「Painting 2.0: Expression in the Information Age」(2015年)、美國紐約現代藝術博物館的「Ileana Sonnabend: Ambassador for the New」(2013年)、英國康沃爾泰特聖艾夫斯美術館的「Aquatopia」(2013年)、美國明尼阿波利斯市沃克藝術中心的「The Living Years: Art after 1989」(2012年)、巡回美國芝加哥當代美術館、明尼阿波利斯市沃克藝術中心和波士頓當代美術館展出的「This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s」(2012年)、英國倫敦維多利亞和阿爾伯特博物館的「Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990」(2011年)、美國紐約新美術館的「Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection」(2010年)、英國倫敦泰特英國美術館的「Pop Life: Art in a Material World」(2009年),美國紐約現代美術館的「Allegories of Modernism: Contemporary Drawing」(1992年)、美國密爾瓦基美術館和的休斯敦美術館「Word as Image: American Art 1960-1990」(1990 - 1991年)以及美國紐約惠特尼美術館的惠特尼雙年展(1989年)。其作品可見於多個國際公營及私人收藏,包括美國紐約現代藝術博物館、美國洛杉磯當代藝術博物館、荷蘭阿姆斯特丹市立博物館、日本東京原美術館、加拿大溫哥華美術館、美國明尼阿波利斯市沃克藝術中心及英國倫敦泰特英國美術館。