LONDON.- Saatchi Gallery is presenting Black Mirror, a major new exhibition featuring the work of 26 contemporary artists. Black Mirror explores art’s role in social satire, and how political uncertainty has influenced art of recent years.

Using media such as collage, caricatures, photography and installation, the exhibition shows how satire can provide both light relief as well as unsettling commentary on the tumultuous, divisive climate of modern-day politics.

Black Mirror features some of the world’s most exciting contemporary artists making work about the world we live in, exposing anxieties our modern obsessions create. Artists featured include Turner prize nominee Richard Billingham, whose photography series of his parents Ray’s A Laugh pioneered “squalid realism” as he confronted the art world with the reality of poverty; Polish artist Aleksandra Mir who parodies newspapers by crudely drawing them with childlike tools – bringing new meaning to “fake news”; and Chilean sculptor Alejandra Prieto, who transforms rejected lumps of coal into a beautiful, desirable object of opulence, confronting class disparity and the commodification of luxury over function.

At a time of collective unease, Black Mirror emphasises the importance of art and satire in dissecting power structures, questioning societal norms, and visualising political unrest, providing light relief to life’s uncertainties.

THE ARTISTS

Simon Bedwell (born in Croydon, lives and works in London)
Bedwell received his MA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths in 1993 and has previously shown at Studio Voltaire and ICA (London), among others.

Richard Billingham (born and works in England)
Billingham was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2001 and won the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize in 1997. His work has been exhibited widely, including at the Serpentine Gallery in London.

Steve Bishop (born in Toronto, lives and works in London)
Bishop received his BA in Fine Art from Kingston University and his MA from the Royal College of Art, London.

Clayton Brothers (born in Ohio and Colorado, live and work in California)
The Clayton Brothers obtained their BFA degrees from the Art Center College of Design in California and have since exhibited internationally.

Michael Cline (born in Cape Canaveral, lives and works in New York)
Cline gained an MFA from School of The Art Institute of Chicago and has since exhibited internationally.

Jessica Craig-Martin (born in New Hampshire, lives and works in New York)
Craig-Martin’s solo exhibitions include presentations at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Madrid), and PS1/MoMA in New York, among others.

Justin Craun (born in Bethesda, lives and works in New York)
Craun received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2004.

Aaron Fowler (born in St. Louis, lives and works in New York)
Fowler completed his BFA at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia before completing his MFA at Yale University School of Art, New Haven in 2014.

Gao Brothers (born and work in China)
The Gao Brothers have exhibited widely and their works are held in many private museum collections, such as the China National Museum (China) and the Centre Pompidou (France).

David Herbert (born in Seattle, lives and works in New York)
Herbert received his MFA in 2006 from Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia, and has had solo exhibitions at the Mossfellsvaer Art Gallery in Iceland and the Chiang Mai University in Thailand, among others.

Valerie Hegarty (born in Vermont, lives and works in New York)
Hegarty graduated with an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2017 she was awarded the Fellowship in Sculpture from the New York Foundation for the Arts.

James Howard (born in Canterbury, lives and works in Tokyo)
Howard’s previous exhibitions include several group shows at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, where he graduated from in 2007.

Des Hughes (born Birmingham, lives and works in Herefordshire)
Hughes graduated from Goldsmiths with an MA in Fine Art in 2002, and has exhibited at the Royal Academy and Tate Britain (both London), as well as internationally.

Scott King (born in Goole, lives and works in London)
King has previously exhibited at institutions including Centre Pompidou, France, and ICA, London, among others.

Douglas Kolk (born in New Jersey, lives and works in Boston)
Kolk has previously had solo exhibitions in the Pillar Parra and Romero Galeria de Arte in Madrid and has also participated in group exhibitions all over Europe and New York.

Wendy Mayer (born and works in Wales)
Mayer received her degree in sculpture from Loughborough University School of Art in 2008 and has since exhibited widely across her native Wales, as well as internationally.

Dominic McGill (born in Yorkshire, lives and works in New York)
McGill received an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea School of Art in London and has since exhibited worldwide.

Aleksandra Mir (born in Poland, lives and works in London) – WORDS, 95
Mir has exhibited at Tate Liverpool and Modern Art Oxford, as well as other institutions internationally. This year she received an MFA in Fine Arts from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent.

Alejandra Prieto (born and works in Chile)
Prieto received a Master’s degree in Visual Arts from the University of Chile in 2005 and has since exhibited widely.

Ben Schumacher (born and works in Canada)
Schumacher completed his Masters of Fine Arts from New York University in 2011 after receiving his Bachelors of Architecture from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 2008.

Anne Speier (born in Frankfurt, lives and works in Vienna and Berlin)
Speier studied at Städelschule, Frankfurt and has previously held solo exhibitions in Berlin and Vienna.

Roman Stańczak (born and works in Poland)
Stańczak has exhibited widely in his native Poland and internationally.

John Stezaker (born in Worcester, lives and works in London)
Stezaker studied at the Slade School of Art, London and has exhibited at the Tate Britain in London and the Centre Pompidou in France, among others.

Jade Townsend (born in Iowa, lives and works in New York)
Townsend received his MFA from Hunter College, New York in 2003 after receiving a BFA in 1999 from Iowa State University.

Marianne Vitale (born and works in New York)
Vitale’s work has been included in exhibitions internationally including at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Bedwyr Williams (born and works in Wales)
Williams gained his MA from Ateliers Arnhem in the Netherlands. He was selected to represent Wales for the 2005 Venice Biennale and was shortlisted for the Film London Jarman Award in 2015.