‘Fly to the Light’ - Tony Knox opens at Egg 26 July - 06 August, 2006

Exhibition opening: Wednesday 26 July 2006, 19.00 onwards.
Egg Space Gallery, Newington, 16-18 Newington, Liverpool.
Written by Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney

for artinliverpool.com

Tony Knox, a Visual Artist based in the North West of England, brings together an exhibition on his own creative research and development of the infamous character ‘Moth Man’, who has earned Folk Law in the popular culture forums of art and wrestling.
The fundamentals of this character, ‘Moth Man’, present the male in contemporary society as the dysfunctional hero with false aspirations of ‘Flying to Light’. Knox was influenced by his earlier photographic work of wrestlers, who had fallen from grace and perform in working class recreational outlets, such as ‘Jake the Snake’ Roberts, who once crowned the national and international circuit of wrestling, but through alcoholism fell to the way side and features in the regional wrestling bouts. In a similar vein, Knox took the ethos of the iconic as imbued in the contemporary fallen hero from wrestling and created ‘Moth Man’. This is a performance character and as part of his research developing ‘Moth Man’ in early 2004 he learned to wrestle with Garage Pro Wrestling.
‘Moth Man’ has been explored and conceptualised in digital short film media, as well as performances with ‘Moth Man’ and Garage Pro Wrestling into a gallery context. This was first shown in the Liverpool Biennial 2004 and part of the Transvoyeur exhibitions programme in conjunction with Jump Ship Rat. Since this inauguration, ‘Moth Man’ has been to Egypt and through a live art performance intervention juxtaposed to the notions of history, the iconic and the Pyramids. More recently, we have had resurgence of ‘Moth Man’ and Garage Pro Wrestling in a live art event in the Mid Summers Madness Festival in St Helens, Merseyside, England, which was commissioned by St Helens Borough Council.
The character is one which has evolved from the onset and transition in 2004. The current research now brings forward another level of spatial dimensions explored by Knox. This is a collaboration with another artist Charlie Nuttall from Manchester. Nuttall, on the philosophies of ‘Moth Man’ by Knox, has taken the essence and in the process of creating an arch enemy the ‘Nuttcracker’. The final objective for the end art piece will be embodied in a computer arcade game and exhibited at the Transvoyeur exhibition during the Independents Liverpool Biennial 2006.

Part of the research and evolution of ‘Moth Man’ by Knox will be presented in the current exhibition at the Egg Space Gallery, Liverpool, England, combined with some of the independent and collaborative work by Nuttall. The exhibition has been extended to include other artists, who consider photography and performance in their art, some with an interventionist element comparable to those live art expositions by Knox as ‘Moth Man’.

The artists collective forming this exhibition are: Tony Knox, Lisa Barry, Emma Winder, Chris Leyland, Charlie Nuttall and Andy Morris. Additional support in the research to Knox’s art has been extended by Kevin Thomas and Laurence Milner.
For furhter information go to
www.podgy.org.uk
or
www.eggspace.org
Transvoyeur artist Tony Knox in Fly to the Light Exhibition, Egg Space Gallery, Liverpool, England, July-August 2006.