Amnezi Skalk Kask (2012) is part of a serial work produced since the mid-1990s, for which Nelson invented a fictional gang of nomadic outsiders, The Amnesiacs. Members of this late-twentieth-century biker gang seem to have just left the spaces they inhabited, leaving behind these traces. Mixing personal history, religious iconography and art history, the Amnesiacs create new worlds and environments. They mix motifs and create shrines, co-opting everyday objects and elevating them to devotional status. The installations feature the residue of their creations including skull helmets and beach fires. The power of Amnezi Skalk Kask lies in the contradictions it encompasses – dichotomies of life and death, good versus evil, protection or harm.
Amnezi Skalk Kask resonates with the collection at Manchester Art Gallery, which comprises a number of works featuring skulls and references to mortality, including Gabriel Orozco's Path of Thought (1997), and Tony Oursler's Crystal Skull (1999). Mike Nelson’s work is also a significant addition to Manchester Art Gallery’s growing collection of international contemporary sculpture, including works by Haroon Mizra, Brian Griffiths and Helen Marten, that were recently acquired through the Contemporary Art Society’s Sculpture Fund.
