Dean Kelland works with performance, photography, film and appropriation to explore portraiture, producing engaging observations of our collective cultural identities.

Kelland’s interest lies in the language of popular culture; song lyrics, newspaper and magazine articles, scripts, and in particular the British sit-com. Ikon shows his 2010 film Living Room Series (Episode 2): The Desperate Hours, in which Kelland is re-presented in the guise of comedy character Harold Steptoe of the legendary Steptoe and Son. In-character, Kelland repeatedly voices Steptoe’s most memorable catchphrase. With each new repetition he takes us further into the identity of Steptoe whilst simultaneously investigating the mechanics of performance and portraits of masculinity.

A publication accompanied the exhibition, priced £5.