Design and Art Australia Online

Oliver Watts is a contemporary Australian artist. He was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1976. Watts studied Arts and Law (Honours) at Sydney University. In 2010, he received his PhD in Art History and Theory from the University of Sydney. The title of his thesis is Images on the Limit of Law: Sovereignty, Modernism and the Effigy. As well being a founding member of The Chaser satirical team, Watts is also a director of Chalk Horse Gallery in Sydney. Watts works across a variety of media: performance, video, painting and collage. Watts’ chief concern is the nexus of art and law. His works are all guided by this question: how do images command? For Watts this implies that art should function in a subversive manner, challenging the very foundations upon which our society is founded. In a 2010 group exhibition, 'Triplicated’, Watts demonstrated how the law is both desirable and desirous. He revisited the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the princess and a mythical sea-hare. Through videos and collage Watts has illustrated and obfuscated the story through a variety of methods from jokes to critical theory. In another body of work, 'The Barres Trial Series’, Watts looks closely at a Dada performance of 1921 which aped the law. In an obsessive replaying Watts translated Tristan Tzara’s testimony from French and then performed it. His collages were based on this very translation.Watts’ solo exhibitions include: 'The Golden Probe’ and 'Crimes Against Dada’ (Chalk Horse Gallery, Sydney); 'Three Suns’ (Helen Gory Gallery, Melbourne); 'Smoking Guns’ (Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong); 'Frontier Photobooth’, (1/2 Doz. Festival); and 'Pioneers’ (MOP Projects). He has also exhibited in many group shows such as: 'Triplicated’ (Chalk Horse); 'Driftwood’ (MOP); and 'Hairbrush’ (Wren Gallery, Sydney).Watts has received a number of distinguished prizes. These include: Mosman Art Prize (Finalist), 2005-06; Helen Lempriere Traveling Scholarship (Finalist), 2005; Brett Whiteley Traveling Scholarship (Finalist), 2004-05. He presented to the annual conference of the As- sociation of Art Historians in Glasgow in 2010. He is a lecturer of Art Theory at University of New South Wales and Sydney University. His published works include Behind the Lines; Love, Life and Politics (National Museum of Australia catalogue); and Intelligence Failure (Chaser Annual: Text Media).

Writers:

Chalk Horse

Date written:

2010

Last updated:

2011