Gods and Spacemen in the Ancient West - Kieran Moore

About

The show's title refers to a book by W. Raymond Drake, a Ufologist and writer who entertained the notion of the human race being supported in antique times by benevolent aliens [Drake worked in a similar theme to the perhaps better known Erich Von Däniken]. While this is not the overriding theme in Moore's work, the otherworldliness, the Wheatley-esque suburban occultism and the whiff of the profane conjured by the title are intrinsic aspects of his drawings. His work is inspired by diverse sources, ranging from folk-horror movies to the spandex-clad gender confusion of glam rock, and the European elegance and decadence of the soft-focus erotic photography of yesteryear's Sunday supplement book clubs. It embraces the fantastical world of Medieval Christian mythology; the obsessive attention to detail and interest in the costume of the Flemish ‘Primitives' and painters such as Ingres; the ambiguous ephebes who populate many paintings produced in post-revolutionary France; and the strains of more recent and contemporary hauntology music.