PJ Hickman
Add To Cart
May 2nd – 24th, 2025
PJ Hickman ADD TO CART Catalogue
ADD TO CART is an ironic commentary on the way the internet has affected aesthetics and the commodification of art and design.
In the exhibition, PJ Hickman continues to pursue an increasingly reductive aesthetic and conceptual approach, using a playfully sophisticated blend of art historical references, wit, and contemporary revisionism.
Viewers are offered a thoughtful dialogue on this intersection of art, design, and consumer culture, and the internet, in particular use of Instagram and online shopping.
Galleries now have a massive presence online. In fact, the virtual has now usurped the actual physical space for viewing art and design objects, previously only possible at galleries in person.
The work acknowledges this endless and overwhelming choice of art and design objects now available online, promoted like other consumer products. Simply ‘add to cart’. Works also mimic labels associated with the handling and delivery of the purchase.
Hickman’s translates the digital images and labels back into the material dimension by creating meticulously crafted physical painted objects.
These are then displayed on the walls, trestle tables and plinths in the gallery space.
Viewers encountering these ‘replicas’ in the gallery context offers an alternative access point for engagement, one that encourages more observation and reflection than looking at them in their natural habitat – on a screen or packaging.
