A tall, pear-shaped man stands facing a wall. He is dressed head to toe in an old, matted, novelty dog costume. The mans papier-mâché mask lies on the floor next to his feet as he repeatedly bangs his head against the wall. Looking at the man, we are invited to ask why he is wearing the creepy costume and perhaps more importantly, why is he banging his head against the wall? As a scene of desperation or depression, or both, are we prolonging his suffering through our act of watching? This tension between the active and passive role of the viewer is central to the work of littlewhitehead.

littlewhitehead utilise strategies of humour, fantasy and desire mixed with fear and anxiety in such a way as to make their sculptures and installations attractive and repellent simultaneously. Exploring the nature of voyeurism their work reminds us that witnessing is not neutral or impassive. Three white canvases are empty but for a small peephole in the middle of each. In a gesture that echoes Marcel Duchamps Etant donnés, we are invited to look through the peephole lens in order to see the scene behind the painting. In a mixing of public and private space, vision and violation converge.

littlewhitehead seeks to play in the grey zone between reality and unreality. By presenting sculptural installations that combine realism and theatricality, they examine the relationship between the realisation of a fiction and the fictionalisation of the real. By adopting a very accessible, tabloid visual vernacular their work appeals to the viewers sense of intrigue and makes us collaborators; Much is left unsaid and we are encouraged to construct our own stories and narratives as a means of negotiating the often macabre subject matter.

littlewhitehead (b 2005) is an artistic entity comprising Craig Little and Blake Whitehead. littlewhitehead have exhibited in Bloombergs New Contemporaries, London, Dec 2008 - Jan 2009 and Conjunction 08, Stoke-on-Trent, November 2008 and will be exhibiting at the Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, in June 2009. littlewhitehead was awarded a Scottish Arts Council Visual Arts Development Award in 2008.