Alien Elvis exhibition an echo of otherworldly feelings

A pair of queer alien Elvises on a rustic roadside wish to know: Are You Loathsome Tonight?

Artwork duo The Huxleys’ newest exhibition Disgraceland is a camp and otherworldly tribute to Elvis Presley, a up to date echo of how unusual the singer may need appeared beginning out in small-town USA through the Fifties.

Rising up in suburban Australia, each Garrett and Will Huxley each regarded to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s different picture of masculinity – theatrical, effeminate and glamorous.

“We had been each queer youngsters feeling actually at odds with the environment and seeing somebody like Elvis was very inspirational,” Will Huxley instructed AAP.

Components of Disgraceland have been proven on the Melbourne Fringe Competition and on-line, however the August present on the Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne is the primary time the undertaking has been displayed in full.

The Huxleys had been initially approached by costume designer Catherine Martin, who was nominated for 3 Oscars for her work on Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, to characteristic in her guest-edited Elvis tribute version of Vogue Residing in 2022.

After they found Elvis had a stillborn twin, the concept of two Elvises took maintain and have become one large pictures undertaking.

They shot a lot of the sequence in Victoria’s northeast and in Albury-Wodonga, with some wild experiences taking staged photos on nation roadsides.

As soon as a flash acquired caught within the wind and tumbled down the street, Will Huxley chasing after it in heels.

On one 35C day on a again street outdoors Chiltern, the duo had been in full costume when a neighborhood pulled up in his ute and stated they did not look something just like the Elvis he remembered.

Initially sceptical, he and a mate ended up attempting on wigs and posing for photographs.

“He stated it was the weirdest factor he’d seen on that street in all his time residing in Chiltern, so it was type of particular,” Will Huxley stated.

With make-up, costume and wigs taking about three hours for every shoot, the Elvis undertaking was stuffed with challenges.

The photographs had been taken with solely the Huxleys current, utilizing an computerized timer – the artists dashing into place, then operating again to see in the event that they captured the shot.

It is a troublesome method to work for such elaborate pictures, however Will Huxley believes the outcomes are higher as a result of each artists belief one another – they usually do not feel embarrassed of their outlandish costumes.

The Huxleys’ work crosses from visible artwork to efficiency and again once more, with Elvis tribute movies for Disgraceland, a efficiency night time and even a tea-towel bedazzling workshop.

Disgraceland is on on the Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne, August 9-20, with a tea towel workshop on August 15 and efficiency night time on August 12.

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