This publication was produced by the Contemporary Art Gallery in 2005 to coincide with the exhibition, Damian Moppett: The Visible Work at the Contemporary Art Gallery, March 18 – April 24, 2005.

The publication contains essays by Jenifer Papararo, John Welchman and Nathaniel Heisler.


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The Visible Work

Damian Moppett

Damian Moppett's practice questions notions of mastery. Moving between genres and from medium to medium, Moppett undermines the very idea of quality, attempting to avoid the exterior and traditional criteria with which proficiency or mastery is judged. For his exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery, Moppett will bring to­gether three distinct artistic forms: drawing, ceramics and music. Within each medium he presents a modest level of skill and attempts to avoid the creation of a spectacle, in part by privileging the process over the finished object and by avoiding, to a certain degree, conventional modes of assessment and evaluation. Within a limited time frame he has learnt how to throw clay pots, working up from a simple hollow container to more complex objects, amassing as much pottery as possible and exhibiting the entirety of his production. In showing everything he avoids issues of selection, giving each object equal significance. He uses drawing as a form of documentation. He doesn't produce the drawings as aesthetic objects, but as a literal means to represent his cultural influences and to show how their subject matter has effected his artistic production. He will incorporate music into the exhibition through a series of four videos that will highlight all the technical skills needed to set up a rock band. The music becomes secondary to the material means needed to make music. The imperfect skill with which Moppett approaches each discipline does not undermine his sincere desire to learn and his appreciation of each method and product, but what in turn is privileged in the vernacular processes with which production happens. 

*The Visible Work* is sponsored by Audain Foundation

Essay: "Damian Moppett: Just an Amateur," Jenifer Papararo

An install image of drawings on gallery walls. Two works closely installed with each other on the left wall are abstract drawings. The other two works show the combination of text and abstracted human-like figures.

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Damian Moppett

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