London based artists Jake and Dinos Chapman presents their first solo exhibition called ‘Chicken’ at the Pinchuk Art Centre in Kiev, Ukraine. Their work unabashedly fuses sensitive events with mass-branding and symbols of the global fast food chain, Mcdonalds. The mercenary giant – which could be considered the mascot of commercialization – is inter-weaved into reincarnations of these sensitive events, amplifying the criticism of the underlying hypocrisy connected with an era of globalization. the artwork pulls into play a liberated hostility that provokes an uncomfortable controversy surrounding moral taboos through the mechanics of raw, dry wit.
The exhibition will also be showcasing their latest piece ‘the sum of all evil’, produced by the PinchukArtCentre, is a monumental miniature landscape which is composed of four encased dioramas sited on historical events including the discovery in Babi Yar (1941) of the Ukrainian mass grave where the Nazi occupier executed more than 30,000 Jews in just two days. In addition to this, references Art historical paintings including The Apocalypse by Hieronymus Bosch (1450–1516) and several etchings by Francisco de Goya (1746–1828). It is a sequel to Chapmans’ earlier epic nine-part installations, Hell (1999-2000) and Fucking Hell (2008) – their magnum opuses. Composed of a miniature landscape of concentration camps and mass graves in which thousands of hand-painted Nazi and skeletal soldiers commit murder, torture, rape, abuse and mutilation resulting in a fascinating catalogue of human horror. Ironically enough, the apocalyptic work ‘Hell’ (1999-2000) was destroyed in a fire in 2004 however, the Chapmans responded with the even larger and more ambitious Fucking Hell (2008).
Duration: 16th February – 21st April 2013
Location: Pinchuk Art Centre, Ukraine
Photo Copyrights: Sergey Illin
For further details, visit Pinchuk Art Centre and Jake and Dinos Chapman
