Frank Haines

—by Field Of Vision / Monday, October 18, 2010

Loaded with esoteric symbolism, objects of ritual and occult references, Frank Haines' work spans many different disciplines, most easily captured under the catch-all term performance artist. Shown here, predominantly, are photographs which are the result and record of one of his most recent performances, and which were one of the standout exhibits at this year's Frieze art fair. Haines is a prolific creator, a man whose life seems consumed and driven by the urge to channel his vast knowledge of the arcane, pagan and ceremonial into one form of art of another. These photographs, sickly in their acid colours and leaping out at the viewer, show bizarre objects and constructions, all of which make up parts of Haines' bizarre world. Think Joseph Beuys via Kenneth Anger with a punk sensibility and a splash of SUN O))) and you're getting close.