Ashley Bickerton recent Wurg

This book catalogues recent works by the Bali-based artist Ashley Bickerton. The works will be exhibited at White Cube, London from April to May 2009.Ashley Bickerton contends the popular global construction of the tropics as perfec- tion, where surfing, drugs and parties in beachside tourist villas provide a homoge- nised experience of the exotic. Living on the island of Bali, he parodies this drunken myopia in his photocollages and sculp- tures, presenting such glut and excess as an artifice. Just as Gauguin 'sampled' Poly- nesian exotica, so do Bickerton's carica- tures perform ideas of the tropical. An in- troductory essay by Nick Stillman highlights these themes in Bickerton's work, while the artist's conversation with artist, curator and writer Harland Miller explores the idea of the island as man, home and retreat.