Second hand political 1995

Hany Armanious is a sculptor who explores ideas of doubling and artifice through the transformation of objects. Utilising the process of casting, he creates simulacra of insigificant everyday objects, investing them with enigmatic value. Fastidious explorations of form, they are often decorative as well as humorous.

Second hand political is an installation about the basics of survival – food, clothing and shelter. Ambiguous and nonsensical, where one material masquerades as another, it involves a slippage of both materials and meaning across categories, suggesting that meaning is contingent on language and representation. In this collection of small objects set on timber plinths of different heights, sticks and bark resemble a camp fire, timber slices are stacked into bread bags which are illustrated with trees, ceramic mugs resemble hollow logs, and a small wooden elephant is a tooth pick holder.