Untitled - Window Box Installation

A collaboration between Mell Kyriakidis, Sven Simulacrum and Michaela Davies at Medium Rare

I never liked Cabbage Patch Dolls so this one made me smile...

I stumbled across this scenic window display while running some errands on the weekend and found the ghoulish toy sacrifice just too sweet, adorable and humorous to ignore adding it to my list of must see neighbourhood treasures. Medium rare is one space, dedicated to the avant-garde, experimental work and the independent arts community, worth following!

12 - 30 December 2009
Free (to look through the window)
Medium Rare Gallery and Studio
70 Regent Street
Redfern NSW 2016
http://www.mediumrare.net.au/

Fashioning Now: Changing the Way We Make and Use Clothes

...well the milk crate is still up in the tree another month later...and I have added no more words to this blog. Now the panic of guilt has made me succumb to beating out an apology to Timo Rissanen... and a heartfelt farewell to an enterprising and great creative thinker!

Timo Rissanen shirt and leggings, image © Silversalt Photography

I was privileged enough to receive an invitation to the University of Technology Sydney VIP fashion shows scheduled as part of the end of year fashion and textile expo of student projects. Visiting UTS I realised this was a HUGE undertaking and the parades were but a small part of an overwhelming display of the State of Design (borrowing the Victorian design festival moniker), promoting the faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, DAB student portfolios for 2009. The parades themselves were seamless in production, exquisitely atmospheric and the ingenuity of the fashion abundant. This made me reflect on the DAB faculty and the creativity I’ve seen there also in a recent exhibition Fashioning Now curated and produced by UTS staff.

The exhibition showed 9 artists under the broad thematic areas of “source, make, use and last”. The overall investigation pulling the artists together was sustainable philosophy and practice in fashion design today. While across all areas of culture we are now coming to debate and investigate sustainable and environmental solutions, I must admit I was sceptical about what the fashion industry was contributing in this area.

Thankfully this exhibition opened my eyes to some ingenious solutions and practices, from polymer research developing biodegradable fabrics, to Timo Rissanen’s perfectly formed “0: waste” philosophy in pattern making. Rissanen’s intricate and spectacular pattern illustrations epitomised the aims and objectives of the exhibition. They spoke a language beyond ‘fashiony’ fashion and more about how a garment holds its intrinsic value through the design and fabrication, utilising every scrap of fabric to prevent landfill waste, as well as encompassing a facility for alteration. Just as Issey Miyake garments stand the test of time, the exhibition promoted the raise en d’être of ‘quality not quantity’ in a number of the displays.
 
Alex Martin, a performance artist, showed another novel approach to anti-waste and an alternative to the high volume turnover in the fashion industry in her ‘Fashion Detox Diet’. Her whimsical project involved wearing a brown dress for all 365 days in the year, a thought provoking response to the throwaway culture of fashion. You can see more about the little brown dress project here.
 
Reflecting on this exhibition and the recent DAB end of year student shows, I look forward to other ground breaking programs from the University of Technology through 2010. Unfortunately (but fortunate for him) Timo Rissanen leaves the UTS to take up a lecturing position with Parsons the New School for Design in New York. His passion, creativity and forward thinking will no doubt be missed in the Sydney fashion and academic circles.
 
Farewell and good luck to a true talent!

UTS Gallery (University of Technology Sydney)
Level 4, 702 Harris Street Ultimo
Monday – Friday 12-6pm
8 July – 28 August 2009
http://www.fashioningnow.com/
Curated by Alison Gwilt and Timo Rissanen
(Design Architecture and Building Faculty) DAB
Exhibition tours to Fremantle Arts Centre mid 2010

Remember to look up!

I was provoked to respond to a freind's blogpost titled "Back from vacation? don't waste a precious clear mind..." (you can read it here)

…hmmm, well, I am in fact back from a break, but, it seems for me, a holiday is more like a lobotomy. My mind is a mere blurry quagmire of mush. I've only just realised September has slipped me by. Insane work deadlines aside, perhaps it is "the melancholy of things complete" that explains my brain slump....Damn you Wittgenstein!

Along with the regular “what day is it?” holiday mentality, I’ve found myself forgetting to pay bills, leaving my mobile phone at home (on more than one occasion), absently walking past the dry-cleaners when there’s two parcels waiting for me and returning from the supermarket with soap instead of toilet tissue!

Has my frenetic daily work routine conditioned me to function as an astutue human being? Are my two jobs, radio show and blogs now an essential part of me subsisting as a “regular schmo” in the real world? Will I ever be able to relax, take time out, switch off and have a holiday ever again – without my sensibilities and entire life falling apart in the process?

I only have one random recollection from September and that is... Remember to look up! You may enjoy some simple pleasure from the weirdness that appears when you gaze above every once in a while. This milk crate, high in a tree kept me smiling and imagining for hours. It appeared in stealth-mode, camouflaged so perfectly against the blue sky and patchy foliage.

Just remember if bills aren't paid and phones are lost there's still worse things that could happen. ...you could be struck by a kamakaze inanimate object at any time.

In a tree - in perpetuity
corner of Crown and Stanley St
Darlinghurst NSW 2010

Edward Burtynsky: Australian Minescapes

Some 20 or so large format colour digital C-type prints make up this travelling exhibition from Western Australian Museum. Burtynsky captures astounding scenes in these industrial landscapes. Some of the compositions are quite other worldly as the panoramic birds-eye views create abstracted forms resembling lunar landscapes or expressionistic paintings rather than photographs.

Burtynsky travelled in a helicopter to obtain these aerial views. The result is a riveting look at man-made gorges, abstract scenes of a land cut open revealing the earth’s stratigraphy like a layer cake, massive upside-down pyramids of the Super Pit #4 at Kalgoorlie and the painterly abstraction of Tailings #1 and Silverlake Operations #15.


Tailings #1 2007, Kalgoorlie WA, Chromogenic Colour print

While all of the images are spectacular, a real standout is Super Pit #4. The photo also provokes thoughts about how comparatively insignificant the boom town appears perched next to the pit's perimeter, ironically showing how massive our industrial footprint is at the same time. The sheer scale and detail captured in one shot is reminiscent of the panoramic mastery of Melvin Vaniman a century before.

These minescapes were a Foto Freo (City of Fremantle Festival of Photography) commission coming off the renowned international reputation of Burtynsky’s previous series, Shipbreaking in Bangladesh (2000) and Shipbuilding in China (2005). ACP in fact shows a few photographs from these series in the adjoining gallery. The continued ‘industrial wastelands theme’ is also complimented by a stirring audio visual presentation of yet another body of work called the China Series. This series shows the decrepit landscapes of rubbish tips, derelict houses and city demolition sites, alongside oil mines, massive road networks and hundreds of factory workers going about their business.

Overall the images of production and destruction, progression and regression are juxtaposed to great effect. Better be quick to catch this one!


17 July – 22 August 2009
Free entry
Tuesday – Friday 12:00 – 7:00pm every day
Saturday and Sunday 10:00am – 6.00pm

Australian Centre for Photography (ACP)
Oxford Street
Paddington NSW 2021
www.acp.org.au

Exposed! – The story of swimwear

Yes... this show is about “swimmers, togs, sluggos, lolly bags, noodle benders, bathers, neck-to-knee, lolly catchers, budgie smugglers and dick stickers” and a few interesting things in between (pardon the pun).

It is a great exhibition choc-a-block full of objects and some surprising stories drawn from the National Maritime Collection and supplemented with loans from the National Museum of Australia, National Archives, private lenders and designers from around the country. With around 75 swimsuits, posters, postcards, advertisements, audio visuals, designer sketches, accessories and interactives, it’s worth spending some time to look at this exhibition in detail.

One of the primary stories threading through this exhibition is the “reinvention of the bathing beauty which has continued since it emerged in the early 1900s”. With the help of Annette Kellerman “Australia’s Mermaid’ and screen sirens such as Esther Williams, Jayne Mansfield and Ursula Anders, the quintessential bathing beauty image has enduring popularity and become an icon of Hollywood. The swimsuit too has seen its fair share of popularity and endorsement since the early developments in 1890 and its early controversies of being risqué and naughty around the turn of the 20th century. Just taking in a few of the posters upon entry you realise that we’ve certainly had fun with the bikini over many decades. Whether you’re looking at the wistful Bridget Bardot as “a lighthouse keeper’s daughter who believes in dressing light” or the spectacular Esther Williams advertising “dangerous curves ahead” and “how to stuff a wild bikini”, the 1950s promotion of a bikini being naughty AND nice still piques our senses today.

The exhibition takes you back in time with the breadth of familiar and rare historical collection items as well as into the future with an interesting slick mirrored catwalk display of current designs (Zimmerman, Tigerlilly, Seafolly, Jets and Flamingo Sands) evoking an active glamour inspired by Annette Kellerman. I especially like the designs and display of these modern interpretations by our iconic designers with the large format fashion video backdrop.

As well as looking at the quirky side of fads and fashion the technical evolution of swimwear is also represented. The curator, Penny Cuthbert, has included titanium fabrics that mimic shark skin and the controversial LZ men’s Olympic suit, which add depth to all the fun and frivolity. Unexpected elements such as the topless swimsuit, of which 3,000 actually sold commercially, and “when less is more” – the history of the g-string, add to a well rounded and highly entertaining romp through the history of swimwear.

Prepare to be titillated!
Rating: 8/10 mankinis from me



Australian National Maritime Museum
2 July – 25 October 2009
Free entry to the galleries
9:30 – 5:00pm every day (except Christmas day)

2 Murray Street,
Darling Harbour NSW 2009
http://www.anmm.gov.au/

Vaniman Panorama

On entering this exhibition you realize that the story of Vaniman is an intriguing one. He was an adventurer, singer, balloonist and a photographer as well as an inventor. His photographic images are a reflection of his enterprising spirit and show a remarkable detail and a window into a bygone era of Sydney in 1903-1904 where people rode horse drawn buggies and carts through the city.

The first room showcases a general introductory wall panel and a large scale panorama with an interesting contemporary replica of the same view of Town Hall. Accompanying this is a ‘making of’ audio visual which alludes to the fact that these turn of the 20th century panoramas are no mean feat.

The second room displays another five panoramas of various pastoral, urban and harbour and scenes. They show industry and a world going about its business, where cargo is delivered by steamships and the old rail tracks are laden with coal for the city’s sustenance. Again the remarkable detail shows that in amongst all the activity, a worker pausing against a fence railing for a mid-morning cigarette. There is something quaint and nostalgic about this lost city and I’m drawn in to scene after scene comparing them to the modern Sydney I know so well. Is that building still standing? Is that view of the harbor down Bathurst Street still the same? I wonder if the old painted signage remains on that façade.

The panoramas are large scale graphic reproductions with interpretive text integrated in the panels. While the images themselves are compelling, at this point in the exhibition, I couldn’t help but feel a little let down with the overall spartan approach to the curatorial direction and design. A foreword to the exhibition describes how “the State Library of New South Wales is fortunate to hold the world’s finest and most extensive collection of photographic panoramas by Melvin Vaniman”. If this is so, then why are so few on display?

I understand that the platinum contact prints from the original negatives are obviously too fragile for display and that a pragmatic approach creating high res scans and reproduction graphics have to prevail. BUT, on learning that Vaniman scaled a 30m pole he constructed, if a ships mast or hill wasn’t available for a birds-eye view, you can’t help but think “this is really quite something! Now here’s a man with a wholehearted passion for his art”. ...by the way - what did this pole look like and what compelled Vaniman to continue with the panorama format?

Another seven panoramas appeared in the third room. The most interesting image here is of Sydney looking south from Crows Nest where Vaniman tethered his imported American hot air balloon some 180m above the ground to take the shot of the then ‘bridgeless’ harbour. And so my original disappointment continued. Again I couldn’t help but wonder; how did he do this? Perhaps some information about this would have shed some light on the remarkable results that Vaniman achieved. It was only in the room brochure that I gleaned he had used developed special large format camera to make the most of a panoramic view. His invention allowed a single photograph 2 meters by 50 cm high in a single shot! Sounds impressive hey? Well …what did this camera look like? How did he achieve the crystal clear detail with his equipment even way up high, amongst the elements in moving balloon?

Some further research into the man, the social history of the time, or even historical info about the specific locations at the turn of the century would certainly have elevated these photographic images from a general sentiment of ‘olde-worlde’ nostalgia. Vaniman is the perfect romantic adventurer and a more than worthy subject for an exciting, breathtaking and out of the ordinary experience that COULD have been this exhibition.

The exhibition continues until January 2010 so wouldn’t you expect more effort from such a long running program? Perhaps this is a sign and a prelude to future disappointments as government cutbacks continue in the arts and heritage sector? I certainly hope not! If I had to rate the exhibit I’d give it a deflated 2/10.

State Library of New South Wales

20 June 2009 - 31 January 2010
Free entry
Monday -Thursday 9am -5pm
Weekends 10am - 5pm

Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2001
http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/

Another Silk Road

Referencing the trade routes between Asia, the Mediterranean and Europe this exhibition of 9 artists shows works embodying highly varied cultural exchange. All the artists have a connection to China and all their work is based on ceramic production, but contrast through personal experience, two-way exchange and reflection of relationships and the impact of technologies.

In fact this exhibition is not just about ceramics. There are large scale photographic backdrops, a video projection, a looped slideshow and a documentary which help flesh out some of the artists ideas about ceramics, tradition, production and cultural reflections.

It was a pretty straight forward exhibition where the contemporary art space allowed the objects to ‘speak’ in their own terms within the minimalist ‘white cube’. Although there wasn’t much interpretation as far as the labels went, (just the regular data-style art gallery label) I didn’t mind this because a room brochure was at hand for detailed, more narrative information.

There were two standout highlights to the show, Julie Bartholomew’s installation of objects comprising Vuitton Dynasty, 2008 and Qing Prada, 2008 and Douglas Cham’s Banana-kids series, 2008-9. Bartholomew makes a bold statement about global brands competing with traditional cultural forms. Her beautiful replica ‘objects des arts’ delicately express ideas about cultural integration and changing globalized ideals usurping themselves within the modern China.

Douglas Cham’s polished earthenware on the other hand, packs more of a political punch and reflects on his personal experience of displacement as a Chinese male in Australia. The title Banana-kids, is drawn from the term used by immigrant Chinese about first generation children, inferring “yellow on the outside, but white on the inside”. The assemblages of half peeled bananas revealing colloquial motifs such as a crocodile holding a tinny (beer can), are meticulously produced with bright glossy glazed skin and the soft white creamy texture of the unglazed creatures within. They are beautifully rendered pieces which make you want to move right up close to view them. Upon doing so, you are confronted with a subtle sourness in the detail, such as the red inked banana brand stamp on the each skin showing the date 1901-1973, the lengthy period of the White Australia Policy. Among the 8 or so banana skins, Cham also displays an audio visual in which immigrants are interviewed and set the task of hailing a taxi in Sydney city. It is an experiment that, not so subtly, explores racism in Australia. Through his ceramics, Cham isn’t just reflecting his personal immigrant experience and the tension between traditional and Western culture, he also looks at his standing in a broader, collective, Australian position on cultural relations, to expose some interesting tensions.


Ivan Dougherty Gallery
2 – 25 July 2009
Free entry
Monday – Saturday 10am – 5pm
Closed Sundays and public holidays

College of Fine Arts
Selwyn Street
Paddington NSW 2021
http://www.cofa.unsw.edu.au/galleries/idg/

Intensely Dutch: Image, Abstraction and the Word

I wasn’t sure what to really expect from this show at first... For some reason, I hadn’t followed any of the publicity, but, I did anticipate something slightly different to the generalist ‘masters’ shows the Art Gallery so often pushes on to the public. I’m glad my suspicions were correct. I couldn’t help a huge sigh at the entry as I peered through to the first room filled with abstract expressionism. There’s nothing like a really thick, roughly gestured, slab, of paint smeared over a canvas to get my blood pumping! (Well...maybe that’s just me)

Vigorously animated, child-like and primitive, the selection of canvases, portfolios and lithographs exemplify the vitality of the modernist Dutch painters joined in expressing a new optimism post WWII. Early works by the artists of the CoBrA movement, such as Karel Appel, Jaap Nanninga and Constant are bright and energetic, but amongst all the rough edges and flurry of brush marks, the subjects depict innocence and sincerity. My favourite painting, Animal Tamer, 1984 by Lucebert was a beautiful mix of an untidy and grotesque assemblage of teeth and eyes, together with playful and endearing expressions. Most of the works of the 1970s-80s were abstracted and restrained landscapes, but were still truly expressionistic with the heavy impasto finishing. From the instantly recognisable Wilem De Kooning to artists such as Jaap Wagemaker, Bram Bogart and Jan Shoonhoven the exhibition shows the continued style and gusto of the movement through their geometric and sculptural approach to building up the surface of the canvas. Even in the uber-abstracted styles their works are just as emotional and sensual as their CoBrA predecessors.

If you’re into a liberal use of paint like I am, you should enjoy the overall visceral ‘messiness’ of this genre of painting and be prepare to have your emotions stirred. The curator, Hendrik Kolenberg, has cleverly compiled this retrospective of painting and poetry with honesty and wit; successfully revealing some eccentric and surprising elements you’d expect from the Dutch.

Art Gallery of New South Wales
5 June - 23 August 2009
Open every day, 10am - 5pm
Free admission, special exhibition fees apply

Art Gallery Road,
The Domain Sydney NSW 2000,
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/

FINK - Fostering Design

A retrospective of the entire FINK + Co range is impressive to see in one space. Robert Foster has certainly proven a track record of unique and enduring product design over the past fifteen years. This exhibition of Foster's production range showcases not only his individual designs but the continued collaboration with other leading Australian designer-makers. From Fosters iconic spun, pressed and anodised aluminium beakers and tray, 2005, and Rohan Nichol's jig-formed and hand anodised bracelet, 1998, to Remi Verchot's ply-laminate, hand-turned, wooden bowl 2002, it's hard not to recognise a huge range of talent in one room.

A highlight for me was the wine chiller by Bronwyn Riddiford which is a clever laser-cut pressed anodised aluminium vessel incorporating a rotation moulded, plastic chiller insert that very subtly emits the dayglo hues from within. With the suped-up colour scheme and the sumptuous velveteen finishing of the sandblasted anodised surface, these meticuluously resolved pieces certainly look right at home in the gallery setting. Dare I say, they're almost too sexy to be utilitarian pieces for the home.

Object: Australian Centre for Craft and Design
26 June - 30 August 2009
Tuesday - Sunday, 11am-6pm
Free admission

417 Bourke Street
Surry Hills, NSW, 2010
www.object.com.au

Khaled Sabsabi - Integration, assimilation and a fair go for all

After migrating to Australia from Lebanon in the 1970s, Khaled Sabsabi has worked in music production, audio-visual design and the visual arts for the past 16 years. This exhibition incorporates three video installations over both floors of Gallery 4A.

Australians, 2006/2009, on the ground floor is multi-channel video installation and is viewable 24 hours a day through the street window. The pastiche of interchanging face parts: eyes; noses; mouths, meticulously oscillates over 12 monitors to show bold portraits of multiplicity and multiculturalism.

On the upper level industrial clanging and mysterious sounds permeate and draw you in to the installation. At first the shards of stringy-bark strewn as a landscape prevented me from getting close to view the main wall. The half light created by the red projection of a small pool or well in a cycle of spilling and filling in the centre of the floor also made it difficult to navigate the installation. After a few moments with eyes adjusting to the landscape, the oversized black lettering on the 8 metre black walls, Fuck off We’re Full hit me with confronting brevity.

I love the way Sabsabi says so much about contact, traditional ownership, migration, occupation, policy and politics in this single work.

The third installation continues to bridge the creative and the political by reconfiguring another landscape. Left-Centre-Right presents footage taken of a thunder storm over Newcastle in 2007, where the lightning is abstracted and fragmented to extent you are left wondering whether the phenomena is in fact footage from a man-made warzone rather than nature unleashed.

I left the exhibition pondering the title as much of a question as a statement.

Gallery 4A – Asia-Australia Arts Centre
13 June – 25 July 2009
Tuesday – Saturday 11am-6pm

181-187 Hay Street
Sydney NSW 2000
www.4a.com.au

Andy Summers - Desirer Walks the Streets

"A dark stream of black and white photographs that are culled from Any Summers' life as a travelling musician"

You may, at first, assume these 40 photos highlight the illustrious guitarist's glamorous touring schedule with the Police. But rather than images of a footloose and fancy free, rock 'n' roll life-style, the images document a more solitary, personal and somewhat 'rear window' view of Andy's everyday experiences and encounters.

The archival silver gelatin prints are dark but subtle, moody, soft and alluring. His subjects, whether people or places, are the focus of the compositions and often expose an eccentricity, which may reveal as much about the artist as the quirky situations depicted. There is no doubt Summers is a talented photographer with an eye for interesting compositions and spontaneity. From Cowgirl, San Francisco, 1982, showing ornate boots poking from the foot of the bedcovers, to Monk, Tokyo, 2008 depicting a wise man enjoying a cigarette, Summers seems to capture candid moments with ease as he wanders, a voyeur amongst both his familiar subculture and unfamiliar cultural landscapes abroad.

With concurrent exhibitions in Santa Monica (and previously in April in Tokyo) you'd best be quick to snaffle one of these prints as they are very limited editions of 10 worldwide. Prices vary on the edition but overall later editions fetch higher prices up to $3,950. Don't let the commercial gallery presentation deter you from checking out this exhibition, it's well worth seeing an alternative view outside the life of a roving rock star.

...if you so desire!


4-30 June 2009
Blender Gallery
16 Elizabeth Street Paddington
http://www.blender.com.au/
Tuesday - Saturday, 11am - 6pm