Parry, Owen G. Larry!Hieroglyfics. 2016. Etching on perspex, 201 x 39 cm. Common Property, Jerwood Visual Arts, London. https://www.owengparry.com/LarryMonument.

Parry, Owen G. Larry Stylinson Performance AU. January 29, 2016. Live performance. Common Property, Jerwood Visual Arts, London. https://www.owengparry.com/LarryStylinsonPerformanceAU.

Owen G. Parry is a London-based artist whose work investigates contemporary fandom’s relationship with identity and performance. In the mid 2010s, Parry did a number of pieces examining the online fan culture surrounding “Larry”, the fantasy/conspiracy theory that two members of the boy band One Direction were in a secret relationship. Parry created visual representations of this ‘relationship’ in a variety of mediums, including a performance art piece with lookalikes of the band members. I am also interested by Parry’s physical depictions of hyper-online queer cultures. Real people (Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles) are filtered through a queer online gaze, then re-constituted in 3d space. Finally, digital images of the performance feed back into fandom culture and critique.

Minkel, Elizabeth and Flourish Klink. “Episode 16: Larry is Real.” Fansplaining, February 24. 2016. Podcast, MP3 Audio, 1:05:37. https://www.fansplaining.com/episodes/16-larry-is-real.

Owen G. Parry was interviewed on the podcast Fansplaining, which covers past and present issues in fandom cultures. The hosts of the podcast, who have both existed in queer fandom spaces for a long time, critique the idea that bringing fandom content into high-art gallery space ‘legitimizes’ the fanwork. The conversation between Parry, Minkel, and Klink gets at some of the challenges of representing online queer community in fine art work. Parry is a gay man, and One Direction fandom was at least characterized in the mainstream as heterosexual—fangirls crushing on male celebrities. Who is appropriating what?