akay
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roadsworth
michael pinsky
simon faithfull
gary stevens
dan griffiths
mark prier
thomson + craighead
brad downey
bryony graham
olivier leroi
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Downey stakes a claim for the individual’s interpretation of the signals and systems that govern the urban environment and imperceptibly determine our movements around the city. Because we’re so accustomed to these signs and beacons, their subtle manipulation or replication can often be overlooked. Downey uses humor to underscore institutional regulation of public behavior and to provoke awareness of how this control affects the evaluation of art, self, and social status. Subtle, comic and often provocative, Downey surprises the viewer with his reactions to how property, space and personal experience overlap in an era of privatization. Using found and forgotten remnants of urban architecture, Downey reinvent public objects and reinsert them into the every-day landscape. These temporary disruptions — persisting as little as minutes and as long as months — toy with interrelations between individuals as they inhabit public and private space. ‘
