My recent work has involved ‘re-branding’ the window signage of galleries and museums, creating imaginary commercial businesses in the place of exhibiting spaces. ‘Dentistry’s’, ‘Party Hire’ stores and obscure art and philosophy ‘shops’ effectively replace the gallery, rendering it empty beyond the fictive
signage. Re-contextualising the neutrality of the gallery, these works speak to the convergence of art and commerce. Ends continues this process, with focus now on museum display via the structure of the vitrine – an object that typically showcases anthropological objects, objets d’art, or fine merchandise. Short poems or ‘text fragments’ are painted across the vitrine’s glass, acting as imaginary artwork titles or descriptors for the empty space within, while playing loosely on themes of death, fetishism, and historical closure.

Shane Haseman – March 2016