HYPERBALLAD
Artists: Wesley John Fourie
Curator: Aaron Lister
Saturday 15 February 2024 – Sunday 1 June 2025
Wesley John Fourie's HYPERBALLAD reimagines the classical myth of Narcissus through contemporary internet culture and pop music. These performances-to-camera were shot on the phone or laptop in the artist’s studio in Ōtepoti, using items like hammers, scissors, bananas, wine bottles, and coffee jars as stunt microphones to sing along to love songs dedicated to someone (or ‘something’).
Part cathartic rambling, part karaoke goodness, Fourie takes on the role of the jester, the popstar, anyone seeking their fifteen minutes of fame. The videos invite us into a manufactured world of vulnerability, where the cliché of the tortured artist-in-the-studio meets Tumblr Girl style confessionalism, set against a pop music beat.
Here Fourie's project moves from a private space to the public Wellington City Council Courtenay Place Lightboxes. Individual stills from multiple videos are splayed across the eight lightboxes.
Fourie’s avatars are caught mid-performance (though silenced), larger-than-life, and locking eyes with the viewer in a show of both swagger and emotional vulnerability. They act as guides or cautionary tales for the denizens of Pōneke's 'party precinct' - a strip of bars, clubs, and karaoke booths where we go to let loose, find love, and perform one’s best (or worst) self.
Fourie connects the digital realm to the Courtenay Place physical site as a space where people go to look and be looked at, where human connections are forged and broken, and where everyone is part of a collective experience but also ultimately alone.
These videos are deeply personal expressions of the queer experience and the human condition in the digital age.
This project is presented in partnership with the Wellington City Council and is part of City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi's commitment to bringing art and exhibitions to Pōneke while the gallery building is temporarily closed. The gallery sees something of itself in Fourie's desire to reach out, connect and be loved at a time of difficulty.
Fourie's work will be 'going viral' in Pōneke over this period. In addition to the lightboxes, their videos will be presented as part of Mason's Screen, a public art project run by CIRCUIT Artist Moving Image, and supported by the Wellington City Council. HYPERBALLADS will also feature in the Dowse Art Museum's horror-themed exhibition THE BROOD, curated by Curator of Screams (Dowse Senior Curator Chelsea Nichols and City Gallery Senior Curator Aaron Lister). Fourie’s HYPERBALLAD made for this exhibition mirrors a performance-to-camera from a classic horror film — one that has demanded they acquire some new and very distinctive tattoos.
About the artist: Wesley John Fourie
Wesley (born 1995, Amanzimtoti, South Africa) is a multi-award winning artist and curator based in Aotearoa New Zealand. Their work processes experiences of love, loss, and queer sexuality, in relation to the natural environment. Wesley’s multi-faceted art practice extends across textiles, sculpture, installation, drawing, poetry, painting, and video. Wesley’s work has been presented in public institutions and artist run spaces across Aotearoa New Zealand, Asia, and Europe. Wesley is a board member at RM Gallery and Project Space (Aotearoa’s longest running artist run initiative), and the founder and director of New Lands Gallery and Project Space.
Curator bio:
Aaron Lister is Senior Curator (Toi) at City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi in Aotearoa New Zealand. Recent major projects include: Eerie Pageantry, 2023 (co-curated with Dr. Chelsea Nichols); Reuben Paterson: The Only Dream Left, 2023 (co-curated with Karl Chitham); Hilma af Klint: The Secret Paintings, 2021; and Terminal, 2020. He has extensive experience with public art projects and working with public art teams, including the Wellington Sculpture Trust and the WCC City Arts group. Lister is Board Chair of CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aotearoa, and one half of Curator of Screams, a collaborative project with Dr Chelsea Nichols exploring the tethering of contemporary art and the horror film.