Modified

Modified presented new works by WA artist Paul Caporn, in this exhibition he satirically engaged with ideas of masculinity and cultural identity. Caporn presented artworks that examined the suburban activities of customising, DIY and obsessions with backyard tools and appliances and their related stereotypical rituals.

Modified was built around five main pieces, Tool Box, Barbie Mate, Life Boy, Excess and Mowing the Median Strip, all of which were large, three dimensional installation pieces, skilfully made, with the polished, plastic finish one would expect from manufactured consumer goods.

These works were accompanied by a series of anodised aluminium prints and photographs that reflected engineering drawings and media product shots. The exhibition played with interpretations of male domesticity, desire, consumption and production, familiar objects were modified, re-negotiating their utility, aesthetic qualities and cultural significance.

Caporn is fascinated with the objects of suburban backyard culture and the way they become humanised and intertwined with the desires and fantasies of their owners. “Something about all the objects I use is that they have an inherent history. Consequently there is always an association that people have when they first see the object that may recall a personal memory about the object, about something they did or a situation they may have been in. I guess what I do is modify that content in some way to allow people to come to it and associate it with something that they understand in their domestic history. I change (the object) in a way that makes the viewer see situations differently. I try to fit things together so that they look comfortable, everything is made to a standard if you like that relates to the human body. (It) is about ergonomics in the sense that you can place objects in relation to each other/together, and it looks as if it is meant to be just like that.”

Paul Caporn, quoted by Annette Seeman in Modified exhibition catalogue, 2006