The Zebra-Factory Blog - Christopher Young & Elisa Markes-Young

Expectation vs Perception vs Actuality

2012-01-11T12:57:00.002+08:00

Elisa and I will be moving into a suite of artist studios at the end of January and the process of designing my space has got me thinking about the difference between actual 'work', the perception of 'work' and any visitors expectation of what work 'should' look like.

An example of this might commonly be referred to as an inspiration board/wall and their prevalence in artist studios. Often these are quite chaotic and could illustrate some type of mindset but I do wonder if, for some, are they functional or just perception/expectation devices?

It's difficult to gauge as our visits to artist studios in Perth and Fremantle have often been in the context of some formal event. That is to say that the space has highly likely been transformed/tidied/polished to accommodate large numbers of visitors over a short time-frame.

Are brushes, pencils and oily rags scattered for effect? Is work product hidden away for fear that any imperfections might colour perception? Are shopping lists, birthday cards and other normal day-to-day stuff swapped out for creative product?

I had to think of an old television commercial where the cook warms this or that up in the microwave then proceeds to mess both the kitchen and him/herself up so that the guests get the impression some mammoth effort is behind that which appears in front of them.

In designing my space I am trying to port my current space into a new room. This is typically very minimalist will only small minatures of series I'm working on pinned to the wall. Any visual clutter is avoided so I can concentrate on just those images and nothing else when I turn from the noise of the digital aspects of my work to the quiet, dry analogue world of a simple, white wall.

I'm almost concerned the design doesn't look enough like what others might expect of a working artists space.

A good analogy to all this would be the shuffle function on an iPod. We once read (saw?) an interesting piece about how people complained that the shuffle wasn't random enough in that the music from some artists and/or genres sometimes appeared in clusters of songs. The software engineers then had to actually program out some of the randomness to give the perception that it was truly random.

This is not to say that I think some people are cluttering their work spaces to fit perception. There is every chance that others thrive in visual noise.

Nonetheless the 'shopping list' of what should go where has got me thinking about such things. I'm hesitant to create a space that might be perceived as an artist studio but ultimately works against my creative process.

The greatness of Lewis Hine...

2011-12-11T10:32:00.001+08:00

Every now and then I jump onto LOC and lose myself in their archives. I've written about Lewis Hine's textile children images before but I constantly find myself being drawn back to them. LOC has 50+MB Tiffs of a lot of these shots and the archive itself is huge (5000+ Hine images alone). They include a mixture of scans from prints as well as from the original negatives.

Here just a small - mildly tweaked - selection of both the textile shots and some other supporting images.

The Anxiety of Everything

2011-11-18T11:25:00.000+08:00

I've written about the 'problem' with accessibility to masses of images before but it reared it's head again today. We often have these moments where we see something that is so close to the bone of another creatives work that it makes you wince. This has been widely discussed in the past with the idea of motif 'ownership' being raised. That is to say, who 'owns' a particular object. Does Man Ray 'own' toilets? Does Emin 'own' beds? Does Hirst 'own' sharks? Does Weston 'own' capsicums? Does Mapplethorpe 'own' flowers and male genitals? The list could go on and on.

A few years ago I started (but - again - abandoned) a series called 'whispers'. Two of the prints were finalised, with one being shown at an award in 2009. Otherwise the series never migrated out from the cupboard and only stayed as digital sketches.

Today I noticed that a Canadian artist is essentially doing the same idea much more successfully. I don't claim it as a necessarily original idea and I'm sure if I scratched a bit deeper around the traps I could find much older examples of the same idea.

Nonetheless, the awareness is both frustrating creatively (now the work will most definitely be abandoned) and personally.

Plagiarism (and the perception thereof) is a big issue especially when you factor in attribution, referencing and mass media to the equation. That is, is it legitimate to reference/copy work provided it's attributed? What when the work is a background element? What when it's not attributed and knowledge is 'assumed'? Recent examples include Sam Leach at the 2010 Wynn Prize as well as the winner of the portrait prize at the 2011 Cossack Art Awards.

In 2008, a street artist - Cartrain - used Hirst's diamond skull as a small element in a series of work. Damien Hirst contacted the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) demanding action be taken over the works. On the advice of his gallery, Cartrain handed over the artworks to DACS and forfeited the £200 he had made. The same artist later stole a series of pencils from a Hirst show at the Tate, held them 'hostage' demanding the return of his works. He even used the pencils to sign his own work.

Hirst himself has had his fair share of legal scrapes on multiple occasions. Most famously for his giant anatomy doll but also for multiple works by John Le Kay. Funnily enough when I first saw the Hirst skull, I immediately thought of Arthur C. Clarke's show - the titles including one of the images of our generation.

You can find hundreds and hundreds of similar examples easily online. Is ignorance a valid argument any more? Is awareness ultimately stifling, especially if you have to establish the originality of an idea prior to actually 'doing' something?

As a side note, 'Whispers' was unsuccessfully proposed as an exhibition in Perth a few years ago.

More reading:
"When does similar become too similar"
"Who owns cooling towers?"

Artwork Removed from Major Art Award.

2011-10-20T14:51:00.009+08:00

UPDATE ONE: I posted this to encourage debate about what roles, rights, engagement, empowerment (or lack thereof) there is or should be in the artist/curator relationship. Please feel free to contribute comments.

UPDATE TWO: Once an artist clears the selection process, they are asked to sign off on terms and conditions and submit an 'acceptance form' confirming their willingness to participate. If the reconfiguration of the work was curatorially-driven (that is, part of a 'big idea') then I would suggest the City include something akin to the following in that document:

'The curator may add to, change or remove any part of submitted artworks at any time, without notice and without liability.'

This contravenes NAVA's best practice guidelines* but if artists sign-off then the curator could theoretically be given free reign.

* 'The artists’/craft practitioners’ moral rights must be observed. Moral rights provisions in the Copyright Act give to the artist/craft practitioner the right to be known as the author of a work (attribution), not have the work falsely attributed and the right to have integrity of their art/craft work respected (not to be altered, tampered with or damaged in any way).' - SOURCE: 'Code of Practice for the Professional Australian Visual Arts, Craft and Design Sector'.

UPDATE THREE: There would seem to be an attitude that, when it comes to the artist/curator relationship, 'beggars can't be choosers'. It's arguable that this analogy is not only offensive to artists but also to beggars.

ORIGINAL POST:
I recently decided to remove my artwork from one of the bigger Western Australia award shows prior to it's closing on the basis of how it had been treated by the curatorial team. This was not a light decision but one of principle, especially when you factor in the various conditions that surround this particular style of event.

Basically I supplied a simple diptych with clear instructions about spacing and the configuration of the two panels. The piece itself was small (approximately 140cm wide when installed) so it's modification supposedly had nothing to do with space issues. This especially considering other works in the same show were significantly larger.

The work itself included two separate images of singular light bulbs: One red (left panel) and one green (right panel). These bulbs (together with many others) had been recycled from a garden of a friend and have a - for want of a better word - patina. They were photographed in isolation on a black background.

Instead of a rather linear (and quiet) reading with the two panels sitting next to each other, the curator instead decided to split the panels, placing them on either side of an 'exit gate' of the award with approximately 2-3 metres between them. This reconfiguration of the work was done with no consultation whatsoever and I only saw the work like this whilst attending the opening.

The event itself is an annual $12,000+ acquisitive award held in a large open area inside a big shopping centre. This 2-3 metre gap included a multitude of distractions including branding elements from stores, people traffic and other visual noise.

Essentially to an uninformed viewer the curatorial positioning appeared as some form of tool of judgement over other works in the show. ie. Was visiting the show a good or bad experience? Were the works on show good or bad?

Further to this - and critically - the installation gave the impression that I had revisited some conceptual, installation-like approach in my practice rather than my current series of essentially 'straight' images. To some in the art's 'industry', this would even contravene ideas that I have discussed with them previously and for others (installation 'fans') any subsequent showings might prove disappointing.

Such awards are rare opportunities for myself (as other artists) to get our work in front of a notoriously apathetic hierarchy. This was completely new work previously only seen by a handful of people. As it was the audiences' first engagement with the series, they now have a perception that will not marry with the broader series itself.

To use context is well and good (ie. proximity of works to manipulate meaning) even should these works be combined with components (non-art objects, performance, 'noise', etc) that we might find 'odd'. Such things can be stimulating on a multitude of levels but actually physically interring with work is crossing a whole series of lines.

As an artist, I would expect some degree of consultation in any invasive processes and – most importantly – that the art object itself is treated respectfully and as it was 'designed' - for want of a better word.

With all this in mind, I expressed my concerns to a staff member during the opening and later that night formally requested via email that my work be removed completely.

This provoked a long telephone call with an arts administrator in which he presented the idea that the reconfiguration of the work was well within his curatorial 'rights' and that he thought that the 'work plays an important part in the holistic layout and without it the narrative of the exhibition is affected.' When challenging him with various scenarios (lying a sculpture on it's side or hanging an image upside down - again without consultation) he agreed that these were also viable ideas.

I then asked if he would mark a work (ie. paint an artist's sculpture) and he said that this would be damaging or changing the work so he wouldn't consider doing such a thing.

In a later email he stated:

'The ever-expanding role of the curator should be considered in terms of potential overlaps, complements, and conflicts with the role of the artist. As curators have become more actively involved in the production of meaning, their work has been increasingly read through the notions of "artistry" and "creativity".

The "curator/artist", on the other hand, emerges from and works within a different set of circumstances. As the role of the curator shifted towards further participation in the production of meaning, curatorial work could be seen as creative or artistic in ways that would have been difficult to conceive of in its more conventional, custodial position. This increased potential for creativity led to the rise of what could be described as the auteur curator. This model of curatorial function posits the curator as a visionary, and the exhibition as their medium.'

I posited that the perception of my practice has been distorted/damaged with his interference into the work itself. I also said that this was not something that I can simply recover from with a reinstall or movement of the work. This especially so when you consider that the majority of the 'professional' audience was in attendance at the opening and was extremely unlikely to revisit the show.

Another analogy I drew in discussions with others (as well as the supervisor of said curator) related to an artist delivering a sculpture of a human figure in three parts with instructions of 'head on top of torso on top of legs'. The curator effectively did the equivalent of ignoring that and scattered the parts as they saw fit - all without consulting the artist in any form.

I will leave the last word to a friend who wrote the following:

'I would challenge the curator to manipulate a work by a renowned artist without their knowledge and see what happens. I still think he should have discussed it with the artist, particularly if there was a clear intention and directions for the display of the work. Any change nullifies the intent of the artist as unimportant, that the artist has not thought about how he/she wants their work seen and experienced or if it fits into a long standing display criteria, an ongoing approach to image making and storytelling which is intrinsically linked to that artist. Sometimes how the work is displayed automatically makes the work recognisable as much as the work content itself.'

Cultural Manifesto

2011-10-13T11:45:00.000+08:00

I'll prefix this by saying that this is written from the point of view of someone who doesn't fit into the existing model and that these thoughts are relatively fluid. There are surely many who are satisfied and may even thrive within that which is currently in favour.

The suggestions are utopian ideals that politically might not score as many points as a colourful, but ultimately hollow soundbite culture.

At the moment it would seem that a significant chunk of arts funding - both civil and corporate - is focused on two or three streams. Each of these has it's problems but equally provide an easy photo opportunity for those who are at the helm of the responsible ship. ie. 'I made THIS happen'.

The first - rather garish and glaring - example is public art. There are many arguments about how public art helps activate space, engages with the protagonists in that space or simply 'makes it prettier'. Unfortunately this is often not the case when public art projects are 'enforced' by something akin to Western Australia's 'Percent for Art' Scheme.

The artworks are often treated as flourish or - worse still - used as 'ersatz' elements. Basically an architect might be obligated to design in a way finding system but will instead kill two birds by combining the artwork with the signage. The artwork is potentially compromised by this.

Public art is very much defined by material choice, robustness and safety considerations. i.e. You can't offend anyone, it should be 'uplifting', everything must have a dull edge, be out of reach, etc, etc. It also must often pass committees. This can be stacked with people who are either ill-informed or tainted by an agenda. The art object can then be homogenized to the point of tastelessness.

The second is the art award circuit. We personally enter a limited number of such things (those with pre-selection processes) for the rare opportunity to get our work in front of what I term the 'Mysterious Few', something that would otherwise seem very difficult for outsiders in Perth.

Awards are easy fodder for councils. They then get to throw around large numbers (ie. $45,000 in prizes, 6,000+ people saw the show) and ultimately provide nice, round KPIs for reports as well as excellent photo opportunities.

Awards shows suffer from many flaws not least of which they are often held in horrendous venues with terrible lighting, ear-splitting white noise and an apathetic audience. Big numbers look good in reports but what when 80% of those simply throw a incidental quick glance between other activities. ie. in the brief walk from a fast food restaurant to a $2 shop?

They also vary wildly in quality, the ability of curators to resolve disparate work and installation style. Given the political aspect of such things, some councils take an all inclusive approach and some exhibitions are salon style to an extreme with massive variations in quality.

So... what are the solutions?

I have seen a few variations on what is loosely termed 'Percent for Space'. That is, rather than erecting political totems that have been funded by an active policy of setting aside a portion of project costs, that same money is allocated to subsidised leases to helps studios, ARIs and other such things get established.

This ultimately feeds back into the 'loop' as areas are often rejuvenated in their activation by creatives, they become more attractive to other businesses who then setup and draw in an audience, etc, etc.

There are a few problems with this model. The key one being how does someone 'qualify' for such things? You could potentially link it to educational outcomes - ie. someone holds a BFA/MFA so they are 'officially' an artist - but qualification doesn't necessarily equal an active artistic practice. This also exempts the multitude of artists who don't fit (willingly or otherwise) that institutional model.

You also can't necessarily link it to membership of particular organisations as these are often without qualified application processes. ie. you pay and you become a member irrelevant of active practice.

The other model that I have seen on a project-by-project scale is micro-philanthropy. Examples (and variations) of this include Kickstarter, Art Angels and Artsource's 'Patrons' fund. I've been thinking about how this same model might be applied to a broader funding pool.

An example would be that a company is specifically setup with not-for-profit status and registers to accept donations. Other companies and/or individuals could donate funds to that company (with associated tax benefits) and money would then be distributed to creatives via an independently qualified application process with some tangible result (edition prints, books, etc) being awarded to those who have originally donated.

That same not-for-profit might also actively purchase artworks rather than simply fund projects. These artworks could then form part of a greater 'cultural collection' that is more indicative of both time and environment.

Scale is important as it encourages others to participate and provides large numbers that are politically rewarding without too much compromise.

Lastly, the awards dilemma. As rewarding as art awards are for a limited number of individuals I think an active acquisitional policy or a series of curatorially robust 'survey' shows would be more sustainable.

The key problem with such things is the need for dedicated staff and space to manage such things and a program of engaging in a broader sense with both creatives and the audiences. This is 'harder' politically as it doesn't necessarily provide soundbites and is more culturally committed.

As mentioned at the start, this is rather fluid. I freely admit that I don't have 'solutions' but I do recognise that I am not the only one that doesn't fit.

It's not simply a matter of recutting the clothes, some times the mannequin is the one in need of a tweak!

1st Tamworth Textile Triennial

2011-10-09T14:32:00.003+08:00

In 2008 I was lucky enough to accompany Elisa to the opening of the 18th Tamworth Fibre Textile Biennial. It was a great weekend and we both met a collection of passionate, creative people who most definitely didn't fit any cliches of knitting needle-wielding 'cloth-based crafty person'.

The show presented a wealth of interesting ideas and at the time I wrote about a distinctive modernist approach to materials in that a large proportion of participating artists worked in a distinctively transformative manner. Hard substances were twisted, tied and moulded to simulate softness and equally soft substances were used to simulate that which was robust.

In some ways you might argue that the artists - at least those selected - were almost uncomfortable to use simple thread, cotton or wool in a 'traditional' way for fear of being 'typecast' by the broader arts community. By subverting materials and substrates, they were perhaps more confident in the presentation of conceptual ideas and could rationalize the artification of any resultant objects.

This is a problem that is also encountered by photo media artists as with various craft disciplines. Art photographers in particular often suffer from a form of anxiety in that a straight, unmanipulated image - in their mind - 'needs' embellishment or support (ie text, sound or secondary elements) to be accepted as a 'serious' piece.

Pictorialism is taught as a flawed movement, yet the number of young photo media artists who fall into the same trap is extraordinary. Equally, many - myself included - find it difficult to allow images to speak as singular entities.

At the end of September Elisa and I attended the next edition in the form of the 1st Tamworth Textile Triennial. As before, the collection of artists was inspiring and rich in it's diversity.

Themes in the work - as you'd expect - overlapped to a certain extent with the previous show but equally some were more dominant than others. This could be the curatorial hand but it could also be indicative of the concerns of textile-based practitioners.

Hearing some artists talk about their work it seemed very clear that whilst many worked almost monk-like over prolonged periods on their art objects, some practices bordered on self-flagellation. A few artists very clearly physically 'suffer' to make their work and process is integral to the production of the objects.

Whilst broader concepts of work, effort and repetition have been historically celebrated in robust artworks, when 'work' marries with 'beauty' the art industry tends to have problems reconciling the two. This becomes even more problematic when pattern and what might loosely be termed women's work are integrated. It is sad that conceptual work is often then ugly and deliberately unresolved to fulfil expectations critically. ie. it almost needs to look like a 'work in progress' or very obviously 'WORK' with failings, waste and all.

Even with me being aware of these issues, I readily admit to being initially dismissive of some work in both editions of the Tamworth show that I have seen. That which was refined, resolved and polished appeared at first glance effortless and lacking in substance. This is however a failing on my behalf as an audience member and only highlighted my (as surely others') technical ignorance.

Artworks - and the representation of WORK - shouldn't have to appease the lowest common denominator aesthetically and by doing so it will inevitably be simplistic, populist and ultimately lacking in substance.

Michele Elliot

One of the first artworks you encounter as you enter the Tamworth Regional Art Gallery is that of Michele Elliot. Two large paper circles, each with 1,000 small wooden pegs inserted in them, are loosely attached to the wall approximately 2 metres apart. Between these two forms a thin, red thread runs from peg to peg. The work is aesthetically beautiful with the threads overlapping and creating a complex texture and interesting variations in density resulting from the differing thread lengths.

It was only later when listening to her artist talk that you realise the effort you are looking at. As an example, each of the 2,000 pegs was hand-made and the threads were installed in situ by the artist and a gallery assistant. This effort is supposedly to be repeated in each subsequent installation of the work as the show tours over the next two years.

Further to ideas of connectedness and the fragility of relationships, I was particularly interested in the idea of how these 'nodes' might be affected by the install and deinstall. What should happen if the pegs were damaged or happened to fall out? Will the work be repaired or will the entropy be celebrated? A question was also posed about the deinstall process. According to the artist the threads should be simply cut through at the end of the show… poetically this is particularly interesting. More photos of the work can also be seen on Michele's website.

Tania Spencer

Not far from Michele's work, a three dimensional form by Tania Spencer hung suspended from the ceiling. This large work, made from fencing wire, appeared to float effortlessly yet it surely was extremely heavy. From one particular angle a distinctive pattern revealed itself, yet the work appeared visually chaotic from others. Tania spoke during her talk about the physical strain involved in the production of the work and these contrasts - hard pretending to be soft, heavy pretending to be light and three dimensions appearing as two - overlapped with similar ideas explored by Alana Clifton-Cunningham. Alana's work - in particular from the previous edition of the Tamworth show - was armour-like visually yet made from soft, woollen materials.

Lucy Irvine

The arguable hero work of the exhibition was that of Lucy Irvine. Many metres of reticulation pipe were assembled over three large wire mesh shapes to make a gnarled, organic form that seemed to cling to the wall. This visually striking work - reminiscent of some alien fungal growth - invited inspection from multiple angles and it's complexity and intricacy was very rewarding. Lucy's artist statement describes the production of the work in performative terms yet - as mentioned before - at first glance the refinement of the work doesn't betray that process. ie. it doesn't look improvised in any way. I particularly liked the ideas that it - in my mind at least - explored in regards to organic vs artificial nutrition, water vs fire and native vs introduced plant forms.

Contrasts and conflicts have always intrigued me in art works and in the reasoning of those who make them. It is always difficult to gauge whether they might be intentional or flaws but nonetheless it proves fruitful ground.

Rodney Love

Rodney Love's work - a collection of figures shrouded by a cloth - was installed on top of a plinth which approximated his own height. This made the viewing of the work in close proximity obviously very difficult but nonetheless invited effort and curiosity from viewers. He was rather dismissive of his personal reasoning behind this particular work in his artist talk and statement with his rationale being that the ambiguity in the work should encourage narrative development (or access) on behalf of the viewer. That said, there were many conflicts in the work that I found interesting and that require addressing.

The major one being that the figures are chaotically arranged under the shroud yet the shroud itself is refined and beautifully made. The later aspect appears then ritualistic rather than a simple, respectful covering of the recently (and seemingly randomly collected) deceased. The dead are ceremonially arranged symmetrically in most cultures - ie. graves are set in grids - so I'm not sure about the chaos in the work. Ultimately, it reminded of a key work from Walker Evans and how aspects of that work overlap with ideas explored here. That is, without it's caption but within context (together with FSA photographs of depression-era America), it's ambiguity could prove problematic.

Walker Evans, 'Squeakie asleep. Othel Lee, known as Squeakie, son of Floyd Burroughs, sharecropper'.

As with the last edition of this show, I could write something about nearly every artist and this is but a small selection of the work on show at the 1st Tamworth Textile Triennial. It will be on in Tamworth until November 26 then will tour to RMIT in Melbourne from February 2012 and other venues across Australia until late 2013.

As a post-script, it was sad to hear of the lack of funding and other forms of support for the event from various quarters. It borders on shameful that such a rewarding, dynamic and historically significant event struggles for media coverage and 'bigger' funding.

One only needs to see the often intense emotional response that some viewers have to textile work to see how enriching such events can be on both community and creative levels. Typecasting of such events and work on an arts administration level borders on farcical.

Artist Talks at the 1st Tamworth Textile Triennial

2011-10-07T20:40:00.003+08:00

The Tamworth Textile Triennial opened in Tamworth, New South Wales in late September. Here are some images from the artist talks held over the opening weekend.

Will write some more about the show itself once I clear my head a bit!

Michele Elliot

Rodney Love

Belinda Von Mengersen

Carly Scoufos

Elisa Markes-Young

Demelza Sherwood

The Strange Quiet of Things Misplaced #37

2011-08-14T16:26:00.002+08:00

Short preview of the work as recently shown at Kurb Gallery.

Straws and Camels

2011-07-16T08:18:00.002+08:00

Much more than funding for projects, grants are tools of legitimacy. That is, your practice is 'good' enough to warrant support, your thinking clear and those in the machine formally state as much. We are often told that grants are springboards to bigger things. They should expose you to new 'stuff', make new opportunities available and give you a degree of freedom you mightn't otherwise have.

That said, they - both the application process and any success - also involve huge commitments on multiple levels. The application process can be very detailed, requiring a lot of research, favour-calling and emotional investment.

Recently we got knocked back for a grant the 9th time from 9 attempts in recent years. Add to this the obscene number of exhibition proposals that have been rejected (or ignored in one case), the black hole that we've experienced when approaching galleries here and 'you have not been selected' letters then it does start to get very draining.

Emotionally it's getting too hard. We work up ideas for projects we otherwise couldn't do, fall in love with them then look at them - slowly a collection of 'them' - cowering in the corner every other week.

I have no idea what the solution is but I do know my limits. It is perhaps better that I surrender that delusion and just make work for the cupboard.

"Multiple-award entering artist with extensive grant/exhibition proposal history announces his retirement from..."? From what?

The other side of the coin...

2011-07-01T12:21:00.000+08:00

The key arguments put forward - often will a much reddened face - by climate skeptics seem to revolve around three points:

1. that climate is simply changing but not necessarily exclusively by our hand. We might have 'something' to do with it but our efforts will ultimately be so miniscule to be ineffectual and will instead simple damage the world economy;
2. any opposition to climate change 'tenets' is painted as heresy and it's not conducive to robust debate; and
3. that climate change 'tenets' are taught as facts when - in the mind of skeptics - they are still very much debatable.

1. The skeptics, oddly enough, don't connect the dots between the necessary shift away from oil/coal-based economy not just due to ecological issues but also based on the finite nature of the substances. Add to this the pollutive aspect, it becomes a much larger - and necessary - cultural shift. Whilst the efforts themselves might seem ineffectual and very much a Western luxury, the shift away from waste in general will have a roll-on effect across the various systems.

The same sceptics - often heavily funded by multi-national oil-based companies - are surely versed and practice principles of 'risk-management' and 'harm minimization' in their business decisions. The climate change 'action plans' are simply attempting to do the same on a national/global scale.

2. This is difficult to rebuff as there is - as in most industries - surely an aspect of mobbing involved. Where it becomes exceptionally grey is the lack of either interest or willingness by some scientists/commentators to submit work for peer review. This becomes a political football for both sides. ie. outspoken skeptic Lord Monckton has supposedly never published any peer-reviewed articles on climate science and reputedly some leading scientists won't 'expose' their raw data for analysis.

3. Similar to the 'intelligent' design proponents, climate skeptics maintain that alternatives to climate change tenets should be given equal weight in the educational and media systems. This is simply resolved in that they should be given 'proportional' weighting. ie. if 95% of scientists agree with argument x and only 5% with argument y then the later should be given 5 minutes/words out of every 100.

Where this becomes 'dangerous' is popular opinion shouldn't override scientific rigor and drive policy. ie. according to CBC, 51% of Americans believe "god created humans" and a further 30% believe "humans evolved with god guiding the process".

Opportunity for Cafes/Restaurants

2011-06-30T12:47:00.003+08:00

In keeping with the socially sustainable principles of artworks, artists want to showcase local food producers and explore how they can support cafes/restaurants. Rather than use cheap, nasty fast food to feed creative people, the artists believe this would be a great opportunity for local producers, cafes and restaurants to specifically feed and sustain artists and gain exposure to a broad range of people who may not necessarily purchase their products or visit high-end cafes and restaurants.

Each selected producer, cafe or restaurant would - provided sufficient notice is given - be able to visit the artist with potential clients up to four times a year for up to two years. Further to this, displayed next to each meal would be contact details of the producer, cafe or restaurant, so if any visitors were interested in eating a similar meal, or seeing more of their food, they could contact the producer, cafe or restaurant directly. No commission would be charged by the artist on any sales generated and no fee would be charged for this unique opportunity.

Opportunity for Construction Company

2011-06-30T12:26:00.003+08:00

In keeping with the socially sustainable principles of artworks, artists want to showcase local architects and explore how they can support local builders. Rather than use cheap off-the-plan buildings to house creative people, the artists believe this would be a great opportunity for the local construction industry to specifically design and build homes around the artists and gain exposure to a broad range of people who may not necessarily visit architecturally-designed homes.

Each selected company would - from the date of completion and provided sufficient notice is given - be able to visit the artist with potential clients up to four times a year for up to two years. Further to this, displayed next to each building would be contact details of the company, so if any visitors were interested in commissioning a building, or seeing more of their work, they could contact the company directly. No commission would be charged by the artist on any sales generated and no fee would be charged for this unique opportunity.

Would you like fries with that?

2011-06-19T18:44:00.000+08:00

We were at a rather 'flash' restaurant the other day and the table of four next to us was an interesting study in how the bigger 'We' engage with the world. Each of the four had a camera at the table and they all photographed every dish that came out. That is not to say just their own but rather EVERY plate on the table.

At another restaurant, we overheard a customer request that the Chef come out as he (the customer) had 'eaten at some of the best restaurants at the world, etc, etc' and would like to photographed with him/her. As a side note, according to the waitress the kitchen was too busy (the restaurant was empty other than our two tables), the Chef was 'shy' and didn't have time to come out.

It's always been interesting to us how people engage with 'culture'. The classic example is the phenomenon of people photographing artworks in galleries/churches. Often they do so as a replacement to actually looking at the work. That is, they view the work through a tiny, shaky viewfinder. They then photograph it under 'duress' by using a flash and running away when attendants attempt to admonish them.

Ultimately they don't experience the work anywhere near as well as they would in the 'flesh' but - interestingly - also not as well as they likely have seen the same in a book. So.... what's the point?

This is also the case with concerts. You see white fields of cameras held at arms length when you look at concert footage. Are people looking at the viewfinders or 'experiencing' the concert?

This is not to say that the food (or music) goes cold whilst people fiddle with their various dials but you do have to wonder what is, in the end, achieved?

Most likely the quality is exceedingly bad so why 'work' without purpose when you could other wise simply enjoy?

More artworks as wallpaper...

2011-06-09T18:58:00.001+08:00

Further to this post from March, now SBS has done the same. Maybe the journo has switched teams?

'Clean', 'Green', 'Safe' and other harmless - but loaded - words.

2011-06-08T10:11:00.000+08:00

The other day whilst driving I saw a van from a cleaning business with the following claim on it's side: 'Creating a Cleaner, Safer World'. My immediate impression was that they must have some ecological-credentials or ideology to back that up but when you break the claim down it could, theoretically mean the complete opposite.

As an example, in a previous life I knew a few truck drivers who would boast of doing 160km/h+ downhill in 18-wheelers full of Hydrochloric Acid. The acid was used to clean huge silos at a local factory... basically creating a 'clean' and 'safe' (bacteria-free) mini-world in which food products could be stored. That said, should the same material be outside that controlled environment - ie. as a result of an accident - then it would obviously not be the case.

'Safe' and 'Clean' also doesn't necessarily mean 'food-safe'. It equally could mean 'non-slippery' or 'protected' and a multitude of other things, all of which don't necessarily mean 'healthy'.

A provider of Hydrochloric Acid could - should they find a dye robust enough - tint their acid green and legitimately claim it as 'clean', 'green' and 'safe'.

The other term often abused is 'organic'. If something is plant-based (ie. compost), isn't it technically 'organic matter'? Would a consumer be able to differentiate 'organic compost' from 'organic organic compost'? Can something be called 'organic compost' even if the source material comes from questionable sources.

Isn't 'organic manure' from intensive, repugnant chicken farms still technically 'organic matter'?

Prickly is the wind

2011-06-07T16:20:00.000+08:00

Quite often when going through the process of gaining access to new locations for my work I encounter a handful of ‘prickly’ questions. I’m finding it harder and harder lately to answer these queries in good ‘conscience’. These include – amongst others - ‘What are the images for?’, a bigger ‘Why?’ and ‘Where will they be shown?’

The answers to the first and second are quite often too abstract for most, ie. I’m making work simply because that’s just what I do. The third is difficult as I can hardly say I’d be wasting my time/money/energy trying to show work in Perth and they’ll likely never see the full prints 'conveniently' on a big, pretty white wall. In the often parochial climate of Perth this tends to not go down well. Typically I fall back to a ‘book’ idea... Slowly there are a small library of books to make!

I have to confess to feeling a bit ‘puff-less’ of late. Genuinely struggling to find enthusiasm due to a lack of purpose and ... dare I say it ... hope.

The Strange Quiet of Things Misplaced - Flip through...

2011-05-22T16:09:00.000+08:00

Finally got my act together to do the flip through of Elisa's new book.

Available for purchase on the zebra-factory.com website.

Word of the day: Luddite.

2011-05-22T09:41:00.000+08:00

"The Luddites were a social movement of British textile artisans in the nineteenth century who protested – often by destroying mechanized looms – against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their way of life.

The principal objection of the Luddites was to the introduction of new wide-framed automated looms that could be operated by cheap, relatively unskilled labour, resulting in the loss of jobs for many skilled textile workers.

In modern usage, "Luddite" is a term describing those opposed to industrialisation, automation, computerisation or new technologies in general."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite

Reticence, Respect, Recognition and Rancidness

2011-05-21T17:08:00.001+08:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about goals and what we would like to achieve in the next few years. I've more recently consciously avoided such things as I'm inevitably disappointed. As an example, I set myself a suite of ideals around the end of 2007, only two* of which have eventuated in the last four years and all the others (some grandiose, others 'simple') are significantly missing from my 'calculations'. This does have the effect of irritating almost all self-doubts.

It could be that my expectations are too high and/or I'm (often wildly) mistaken in my assumptions about (other) human behavior. Either which way I've been gauging the various 'sorts' of achievements and have tried to balance them against the logistical practicalities of simply 'getting on with it'.

A simple example is 'awards' vs 'funding'. An award is - supposedly at least - given out to celebrate the merits of a particular artwork whereas a grant is an acknowledgement of an artist's general ability and professional aptitude to bring a project to fruition within certain parameters.

That last point is key. Almost all grants are very much outcomes-driven. In some forms, practices are also skewed to accommodate certain 'KPIs' - community engagement, cultural sensitivity, etc - that might not be integral to a 'source' practice.

Equally awards can distort a practice as work is often produced that is larger and more bombastic to garner attention or to fit - for want of a better word - a venue's quirks. ie. high ceilings, big open spaces, conditions placed on entries, etc.

At the moment, I'm considering opting out of both these cycles as they are expensive on multiple levels.

In a similar vein, all sales - should they eventuate - aren't created equally. A piece going into a collection (and potentially into storage) is inevitably valued more than a 'civilian' purchase. The later is very much about intimacy and engagement where the former is very much about respect or that dreaded term: 'importance'.

I can count on one hand - with room to move - the number of 'civilians' who have purchased my work in 17 years of 'practicing'. I've been lucky enough to sell a bit of work to various collections and their ilk but oddly enough find the lack of a personal audience vexing.

How work is shown is also an interesting balancing act. ie. personally being curated into a show is valued more than a commercial show which is in turn valued more than an ARI or civil/community space with 'pay-to-play' venues tailing the field.

Lately the 2nd and 3rd spots are getting blurred, in my mind at least. Whilst it almost certainly is jadedness, I'm finding myself less and less interested in seeking some form of commercial 'success'.

Ultimately - perhaps jadedness speaking again - even sales in general aren't that important.

So... what then IS important to me?

There is inevitably an ego component in the seeking of recognition which, by it's very nature, involves getting on the various carousels.

The best term I have managed to find - even if it's loaded in all sorts of wrong ways - is 'respect'.

It's suitably abstract - ie. how should that manifest? - but it has become more and more evident in a few situations over the years when I couldn't describe someone's behaviour as anything else than 'disrespectful'. ie. ideally I would wish them to behave the diametric opposite of how they did.

I don't think my - as other's - expectations are that high when it comes to professional practice from ALL segments of the industry.

Anyway... banging my head against a wall for no particular reason, not least of which some magical, tangible outcome. Frustrated and really need to get away from this computer.

* Exhibit interstate and sell work into a 'major' collection.

Seems apt....

2011-05-21T12:35:00.000+08:00

Images courtesy Library of Congress.

The problem with making something you actually like...

2011-05-14T21:42:00.000+08:00

I have been trying to 'get over' the idea of spending money showing work 'large' in Perth and instead focusing on getting stuff out through more economical - for want of a better word - channels. It's not so much 'where' but 'what' and 'how'. I've been struggling with the realisation that I'm spending thousands trying to get a handful of people here to look at my work.

I can't drag the mysterious few (MF) to shows so you have to wonder if the 2-3 week window is really the best way to get stuff in front of them. Even then, the lack of any response to various approaches makes me wonder if it's perhaps not worth the effort at all in whatever form the 'presentation' takes.

I shouldn't be bitter about it or take it personally but it does prove a bit problematic when you make something you actually like and feel people 'should' see it.

I recently enlarged two new images (shot in mid-January and early February) to full size. This as my latest attempt to raise funds for an important 'adventure' that has tormented me for a few years now. Only through that process did I realise that one of the images is something I genuinely like rather than simply found appealing.

It's odd that at 800px x 600px I find it quite harmless, yet at 800mm x 640mm it becomes a completely different, luminous creature.

A month or two ago, I received an informal invite to show that image together with a suite of other works in Fremantle. I'm hesitant to commit to another show with it's associated expenses, especially given my track record here. Ultimately after a 2-3 week show, it will be packed up and buried in the plan draw with a huge quantity of work from the last few years.

Whilst it's only plastic and paper, it still feels like a huge waste of energy on multiple levels.

The problem with ideology....

2011-05-05T19:55:00.002+08:00

I was thinking the other day how philosophically driven vegans/vegetarians might reconcile the use of animal manures - supposedly 'obtained' under duress - that support the growth of their food? It is not dissimilar to the anxiety the organic generation faces with produce choice. Ie. Organic food doesn't necessarily equal ethical food, just as it doesn't necessarily mean sustainable, fair trade or local.

In an ideal world, organic 'should' mean something quite specific but as with 'free range' it's true meaning and ideals has been distorted by marketing, loose regulatory definitions and hype.

If we were to sit down and weigh up how specifically every item in our 'shopping basket' has been grown or processed, we would inevitable collapse in a quivering heap.

This is not to say that ideals should be dissolved, but there is a line where most have to compromise simply to survive.

Early in my 'career' there was always this fantastical statement that if you are a true artist you will 'make it work' regardless. That said, those who were forced to work part-time are almost seen as lesser than those who somehow can sustain a full-time creative practice.

This is potentially dangerous as those who have third party support that keeps them afloat are not necessarily any more sincere or righteous than those who have to spend a portion of their time simply baking crusts.

It is also biased towards those who are financially successful. Just because something sells, it is not necessarily 'good'.

Personally, the creative 'gig' is - as for most - a disaster financially and equates to literally cents per hour if you were to apply 'real world' standards.

I am long past the insecurities about the quality (and equally faults) of the work itself but will still put in the effort regardless of ideals. The ideal shifts from some utopia to simply making the next piece better and learning from the experience.

Just as we subscribe to lifestyle and food ideals, we can't and shouldn't have sleepless nights about every gram of 'life' that crosses our paths.

If work doesn't sell, the show isn't reviewed or xyz didn't get out of bed it doesn't mean the work is 'bad'.

Bitterness whilst immediately satisfying - blame transference - doesn't accomplish much other than leaving one hungrily and anxiously looking at the label on the packet.

How to be a grumpy artist...

2011-05-04T17:06:00.000+08:00

There really should be a clause built into art-related tendering processes that is akin to 'Employees and their immediate families of xyz and their associated agencies and companies (including sub-contractors) are not eligible to enter. Immediate family means any of the following: spouse, ex-spouse, de-facto spouse, child or step-child (whether by natural or by adoption), parent, step-parent, grandparent, step-grandparent, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, brother, sister, step-brother, step-sister or first cousin.'

I've seen it a few times in Perth that a project's 'coordinator' also ends up being a 'selected artist' after an open call has been circulated. Whilst the coordinator is not necessarily the 'selection committee', it still - to me at least - seems to be a conflict of interest that their hats should even be in the ring.

Whilst they ultimately might be the best qualified artists for the gig and it surely is 'innocent', I still think the role they wish to play should be very clear to avoid any slapped faces.

Exploitation loops

2011-05-02T07:28:00.001+08:00

I'm not sure where I heard about them but either which way I have been following Artscrowd for a little while. The concept is simple enough in that they are 'agents' between artists and venues. The later - at the moment at least - being predominantly cafes and restaurants.

I've always had mixed feelings about work in such venues as the concept can be exploitive in that the venue gets wall candy for free and the artists potentially 'soiled' work back when they inevitably don't sell.

Admittedly Artscrowd offers the venues a commission model so potentially there is more motivation to sell work but beware the sales 'staff'. They are not necessarily interested in the work, unburdened from other concerns or even aware of your motivations.

I don't bemoan their efforts but idealistically there should be some compensation model for artists even if work doesn't sell.... Ie. Leasing fees, etc.

The other exploitive loop - that is, you get on the train and the bastard thing fuels all kinds of anxiety - is the awards/grants circuit. For a crowd already bipolar between feelings of greatness/specialness (ego) and quaking insecurity (fear of irrelevance/death), these prove fruitful grounds for the 'money makers'.*

The model is much more prevalent internationally as countless 'competitions' put out calls akin to '10 works for $60, 20 for $110'. Juries are then put together - often the same ones - that appeal to wide demographics that ultimately play on the idea that it's the 'best way to get xyz to look at your work.' Prizes are offered, residencies, etc but even the mathematically illiterate can figure out that it's often a one-way street.

Some are genuinely dangerous in that artists are asked to also surrender IP over their 'entries' through the process.

Just as others, the 'industry' does have it's fair share of feeders and it's unfortunate that they are often willing to prey on one of the weaker (financially and otherwise) segments of society.

* I was talking to someone the other day and noted that this is exactly the same vein organized religion taps.

More: http://www.artscrowd.com/

Genre-bending vs Genre-making....

2011-04-30T16:28:00.000+08:00

I heard a promo a while back on RTR for Golden Apples of the Sun and they described the show on their website as '... a journey into folktronica, freak folk, new wierd (sic) glitch and lo-fi chillwave.' It's funny that we feel the need to put a tidy little circle around everything but you do have to laugh that almost as soon as the line is finished, something breaks the edges.... problem solved by simply 'adding' another genre!

Occasionally I think about the 'future' of music and sometimes hear something - often enough on RTR - and consider that might be a likable 'Future'.

A classic example of this was the first time I heard Amon Tobin's 'Foley Room', DJ Spooky and a number of other bits and pieces. Inevitably there are - painful - moments that border on kitsch but others that 'fix' it. Tobin's newest 'Isam' is on his website and you can stream it live.

Another example of this is my love/hate relationship to Dubstep and it's ilk... often the lead-ins are completely cringe-worthy but then the tracks open up into utter chaos. There are some tracks that I particularly like where the music almost collapses with a lot of half-notes, static, 8-bit sounds, etc. I struggle to find exactly what I want in the genre but it does tend to come 'close' on occasion. ie. Lorn's 'Grief Machine' (2007) has it's moments.

Tying up the post, I guess the analogy would be that as artists we are encouraged to engage with the idea that 'anything goes' early in our careers. It doesn't (and perhaps shouldn't) need to be verse/chorus (repeat x 3). More over it shouldn't necessarily sit in something clear and definable. You should be aware of that around you but ultimately not constrained by it.

Only later do you find that the 'open house' very much isn't the case in the 'real' world. Too often we encounter Institutionals who are - often blatantly and shockingly so - closed off to certain mediums and/or concerns. This is even worse once dollars come into the equation.

Like any 'industry', the creative realm is very much handicapped by financial-ness, especially when regulated by what loosely could be termed market forces.

Where it gets dangerous, potentially damaging and ultimately tepid is when artists attempt to 'fit' rather than simply get on with it.

Doubt....

2011-04-28T12:27:00.000+08:00

"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!" - Douglas Adams.

Milk as a Metaphor

2011-04-26T11:55:00.001+08:00

Our local supermarket is small enough that it's very easy to identify their selling strategies throughout the day. If you should enter the supermarket even within a few hours of it opening, various items aren't restocked once sold. The supermarket's own brands are topped up constantly so that the shelves almost buckle whereas any competing products are only allocated tiny - and often 'difficult'- amounts of shelf space. Fresh fruit and vegetables are also poorly restocked so that instant foods with higher profit margins are more appealing.

A good example of this is 'normal' milk. The supermarket's brand takes up close to 80-90% of the allocated shelf space. All the other brands are crammed into the remainder which is actually less than that allocated to flavoured milks.

The supermarket's brand also undercuts the other milk brands by close to 40%, a price that approaches slave labour for the producers of the milk itself.

The problem with this rather overt homogenisation - if you'll excuse the pun - is that once alternatives have been vanquished, quality inevitably is dialled back to increase profits.

Ultimately mediocrity is accepted because it's affordable, populist and 'easy'.

So... the metaphor part as it relates to one of those perpetual itches I have ... Public Art. An opinion piece was recently published on PerthNow about the disparities in arts funding.

In Western Australia, '...the State Government Percent for Art (PFA) Scheme allocates up to one percent of the estimated total construction cost of each State capital works project, valued at $2 million and over, to a commissioned Western Australian artwork.' (1)

This manifests overwhelmingly in public, photogenic artworks often with broader parameters than simply being artworks. ie. some are clearly signage or architectural 'flourish' in another guise.

It is remarkably difficult to find 'clear' statistics from Government sources about the scheme but over 700 artworks have been installed since 1989 and in 2009, 30 art projects were commissioned, to the tune of $3.7 million. Further to that $1.8 million has recently been allocated for Public Art to the Fiona Stanley Hospital alone, $1 million for the Situate project at Forrest Place (2) and $500,000 for the St George's Cathedral Project.

My 'bug' is that such things are very much driven by outcomes than creative excellence. A classic example of this would be a populist work that makes for good PR photos versus the abstract idea of people simply getting on with creating 'stuff'.

This is not to say that there isn't good work in the public realm. I also don't bemoan those who make a career from working in the - golden goose - field. I do however have issue with the imbalance.

Imagine if a portion of the PFA's one percent was redirected to subsidising artist studios, ARIs and other 'lesser' ventures? It's politically 'harder' as such venues inevitably challenge the 'norms' but how else should a society move forward and - importantly - away from hedonistic banality?

In a city/state where it is notoriously difficult to 'crack it', wouldn't it make more sense to encourage diversity rather than sickly, watered down milk?

Notes:
Images from Library of Congress.
(1) http://www.dca.wa.gov.au/
(2) http://www.scoop.com.au/Feature/ART-CHALLENGE

The ubiquitous 'skip' and 'like' buttons...

2011-03-30T13:03:00.000+08:00

I sometimes wish we could turn off all the 'skip' and 'like' buttons in our lives. To access something in a simple linear fashion as conceptualised by it's creator is a laborious exercise that, for most, involves genuine 'monk-like' discipline.

A classic example of the fight against the concept of random access is that of Pink Floyd's dispute with EMI/iTunes.

Pink Floyd, together with other bands, has issue with the idea that 'concept' albums could be divided up and sold as individual songs. This compromised the artistic integrity of the creative 'object' and, in Pink Floyd's case at least, contravened several contractual clauses.

Once you factor in the idea of 'shuffling' as well it becomes even more muddied.

So how does this affect creative 'consumption'? How do artists account for the idea that their work can often be consumed in widely diverse environments, often in association with other works that the artist might find problematic?

I'm not advocating that the viewing experience be regulated (as in this concept from June last year) but considering the amount of effort many of us put into the 'reading' of work, it's not hard to be frustrated by the 'skimmers'.

And - as it's a personal itch - the collective 'we' are no longer 'writers' or 'thinkers' but rather half-blind 'referrers' or 'forward on-ers'... eventually everyone will just refer everything on - or 'like' it - and the world with collapse in an existential lump.

This is especially problematic as many don't check their 'sources' and often forward on stuff from 'dodgy' sources. Classic examples of this are to be found in scholarly articles where people have not authenticated that which they quote only to be caught out by politically motivated texts.

This twitching, writhing mass will simply continuously mumble 'like me, like me, why don't you like me?' under it's breath.

Anniversary ... Of a sort

2011-03-22T07:25:00.000+08:00

Just over four years ago I decided to put the - not insignificant energy - required into getting a website - www.artperth.com - that focussed on the local arts community off the ground. This has been through a few manifestations but has settled a bit over the last year or two. The site now includes close to 80 galleries and over 200 artists on it's 'books', all of which are from Perth and regional Western Australia.

The key purposes of this was an attempt to engage with the 'industry' as we were/are struggling to get a foothold let alone any tangible response from it. Financially it's - as you'd expect - ridiculously underfunded but proportionally speaking it is more cost effective - PR-wise - than putting on a show. Ie. $4,000 to get 10 odd people to look at my work by putting on a show vs xyz effort with minimal third party costs to put together the site for broader 'brand' recognition.

The problem I have - as many I imagine - with exhibiting is it is difficult to get any response from the industry. I can't drag the Mysterious Few to shows and, even if they do turn up, equally can't force them to like my work.

I freely admit that at the time - 2007 - I was feeling particularly jaded by the apathy we were experiencing so it was a Costneresque decision to build something in the hope that they 'would come'.

Lately I've been daydreaming of 'doing' my own gallery but I almost find that tragic. Not to belittle the qualities of artists who do this but I feel it's close to admitting defeat.

Anyway... Four years ago almost to the day, artperth was registered.

What shall we call them?

2011-03-12T18:04:00.000+08:00

In other news... I discovered evidence of alien life today (or a computer glitch). Signed up for the Setiquest Explorer Beta and stumbled across the above within 10 minutes or so.

Not sure what the various names and 'hertzes' mean but for boffins... this is 'off galanticenter 3991 1' and the line appears in regular 'steps' of 0.0013 MHz.

Midwest Art Prize @ Geraldton Regional Art Gallery

2011-03-12T15:24:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday Elisa was awarded the inaugural 'Midwest Art Prize' at the beautiful Geraldton Regional Art Gallery for her piece 'The Strange Quiet of Things Misplaced #24'.

2010 was a particularly difficult and challenging one so the validation of the time, effort and emotional energy invested in this new series was/is very much appreciated. This especially given that the show itself was full of Perth 'stars' and is of a very high standard across the board.

She was, in her words, shocked to have won but nonetheless grateful for the acknowledgment.

It runs through to May 29 at the Geraldton Regional Art Gallery.

Artworks as wallpaper

2011-03-11T19:21:00.006+08:00

I've never really taken it too seriously before but ABC Perth and/or the politicians being interviewed seem to have a tendency to position themselves using artworks as backgrounds. These are often not shown as part of a bigger scene but almost exclusively alone on a simply coloured wall. This is - for want of a better word - dodgy and most come close to a copyright infringement. The works are being 'reproduced' outside the conditions likely in place to protect the artist.

The easiest analogy would be music. Imagine a scene but with some music playing faintly in the background as ambient noise from the not so immediate surrounds. Obviously it would be much different - and unambiguous - if a stereo speaker was positioned immediately out of shot and designed to provide 'background' to the interview. The later would trigger royalty provisions.

The artworks used in these interviews have nothing to do with the substance of the articles so the usual 'news' arguments shouldn't apply. Given the isolation of the works, you could also argue that it's not exactly an ambient scene. An interview in front of a more complex scene, ie. Lamps, bookcase, desk, etc that just happens to have an artwork in the background would pass this test but surely not a head and shoulders shot with the artwork dominating the frame?

Ironically enough it might be a copyright infringement to post screen dumps of the articles in question but as they are put here the course of critical debate and/or arts news I can only assume the same conditions apply that do to news organizations themselves.

Savage averages...

2011-03-01T07:03:00.010+08:00

Thought for the day: mediocrity is still nothing more than mediocrity even if it 'works'.

The other day I was talking to someone about household power use and how the solar panels we'd installed 18 months ago, together with credits from both the state and federal governments meant that our last two power bills have been credits. This even with the significant increases in utility costs in Western Australia.

Not long after she opened her own bill to see a figure in the mid three digit range and with an average daily power usage of 42kWh (ambiguously called 'units' on the bill). Thinking it must be a mistake akin to the meter man swapping numbers when transcribing* she then checked older bills and this came up as 'average'.

'Units' are difficult to put into more tangible, comprehensible 'stuff' but the way I understand it a kWh is wattage usage over time. ie. an old incandescent 100W lightbulb being on for 10 hours would result in 1000W usage or 1kWh (kilowatt hour). 42kWh would then equate to 42 100W light bulbs being on for 10 hours, every day.

To each their own with the power usage but it did make me think about the Water Utility here and how they use a marketing strategy to potentially shame users into using less.

On each water consumption bill you are presented with a bar graph that has your usage from the same period in the previous year, this bill's volume as well as the suburb's average. For us at least, it is surprisingly motivating to try to be 'below' average.

The problem with power usage is that it could potentially back fire. ie. if the average for the whole of Perth is relatively high - which it undoubtedly is - then people will potentially use even more thinking they don't need to be so 'angelic'.

We often hypothesis that some must be consuming exceptional amounts to bring the universal average up. An example of this would be the consumption figures for meat:

In 2005/06 the averages for annual meat consumption per capita in Australia:

Beef and Veal: 36.7 kilograms
Poultry: 38 kilograms
Pork: 22.2 kilograms
Lamb and Mutton: 13 kilograms

A total of 109.9 kilograms per year.

Source: Green Living Tips

This would equate to EVERY Australian eating over 2kg (!) of meat a week which I find highly doubtful.

I poked around a bit more and found another set of interesting, per capita consumption figures indirectly from the ABS in 2000:

Meat and meat products: 71.6 kg;
Seafood: 10.9 kg;
Fruit and fruit products (including fruit juices): 135.0 kg;
Tomatoes: 24.9 kg;
Other (?) vegetables: 25.1 kg.

Reading that I think people must be doing nothing else other than eating.

* Prior to the installation of our panels we used 7-8kWH per day.

Tokenism, Quasi-Criticism and other failings...

2011-02-26T10:15:00.003+08:00

As mentioned here before, I have a love/hate relationship with Christopher Allen and his latest highlights once again his inability (or unwillingness) to talk about the formal qualities of photographic images. With the exception of one half-hearted paragraph that closes the article he is completely absorbed in content and treats the show at the NGV as a museum exposition rather than art exhibition.

Works by Atget, Abbott, Stieglitz and Steichen are relegated to 'documentation' in his writing with the occasional adjective inserted to value it as some form of tokenistic, 'critical' writing.

The anxiety in recognition of any 'goodness'

2011-02-18T20:48:00.005+08:00

The other night whilst in a concert given by quartet and a pianist I noticed how clumsy I felt listening to the music itself. It was an interesting parallel to the visual arts experience in that it's often enriched by context and prior experiences. Without these 'tools' we are often helpless and have to instead rely on the visceral.

Feeling uncomfortable with any value judgements - Was it a 'good' performance? Were the pieces something significant? - meant that I instead simply focussed on what sounded 'good' to my ear.

Interesting enough one particular movement that I liked was then described by Elisa - who's ear is extremely broad in both jazz and classical music - as one of the most boring bits of music that she'd heard in a very long time.

Different quartet but same piece of music:

Admittedly my personal taste, as anyone's, varies from arguable 'tenets' of goodness. We often read articles about how this or that pop musician is some revelation and has won multitudes of awards to only find the music itself very dull and uninspiring.

In the classical and jazz genres there are particular styles that I find appealing and I seek those out in any piece of music. I might excuse faults on the basis of some moments that appeal. Equally I might dismiss a piece if an unappealing instrument is featured.

This does bother me sometimes as I begrudge anyone who dismisses artworks on the basis of medium so why do I excuse my own attitude to another art form?

Later on we really enjoyed the Debussy portion of the programme as it satisfied both of our 'requests'. That said, I did come away still feeling I might like the 'wrong' composer.

Again, different quartet but same piece:

Ridiculous thoughts but this 'goodness' anxiety seems so broad in contemporary life - ie. the problems of too much choice and how we are fearful we are making the 'wrong' decision - that the parallels make for interesting ideas.

Gems in the rough....

2011-02-12T14:50:00.004+08:00

Every now and then I go through 'phases' of tidying up and today it's the 'art' folder on the computer's turn to be harassed. In amongst it was some early research for a series I'd titled 'Sarabande'. Whilst looking around for some background info I came across a 'language' that I wasn't aware of in the form of dance notation. They are fascinating to look at as they feel so alien.

The Dynamics of a Reshoot

2011-02-10T15:39:00.003+08:00

Typically I'm not such a fan of revisiting something due to a technical 'anomaly'. This is normally just a pride thing - who really wants to admit their mistakes - but it also feels philosophically wrong. The work is supposed to be about discovery as well as that initial experience so it's obviously compromised by the 'been there done that' aspect.

The second experience of making the work is reduced to a simple technical exercise of not c#%king it up again.

Today I visited a site for the third time after the first two shoots proved very fruitful. This last shoot was to tie up a few loose-ends and reshoot two images from a previous shoot as they weren't sharp.

I find that when doing such things, I tend to over-compensate. I actually ended up shooting those two images multiple times to cover all the bases. They were extremely difficult to focus as they were in very low light but I'm hopeful that in amongst the many attempts there will be the 'right' two.

The work will likely add to the content of two books - both from the 'spectacle' vein of 'five' - that I hope to produce over the next few months. These will include work from shoots from the last 5 years and images that are particularly distracted by/distracting in their content.

People tend to find these appealing - for the wrong reasons - so I've held them back. That said, they almost seem to clarify the ideas when put in context... ie. you need something 'black' to see how 'white' (or not) something else is.

Is 'rustic' another name for...

2011-02-05T20:09:00.003+08:00

We have to laugh when we see stuff branded 'rustic'. It implies something hand made, rough around the edges but brimming with substance. Such products are then often sold as a premium product. The truth is more likely akin to 'these are the rolls made by a first year apprentice with a hangover.' As consumers we demand symmetrical, blemish-free apples but asymmetry is accepted without a blink provided it is branded 'right'.

I often have similar feelings about the institutional approach to conceptual art. Work can (should?) be conceptually 'up there' but is it necessary that the art objects are often so poorly 'made'? Are they only accepted as valid if they are clearly 'sketches'? Do we value well crafted objects less as 'art' simply because they are well made?

Further to that, I personally find process-driven work far more interesting in the form of documentation ... Ie. I would much rather see a photograph of paint flying through the air than the resultant puddle - framed or otherwise - three days after the fact. If it's all about the process, an artist's meditative experience or some form of self-flagellation then show me substantial and well made documentation of that, not some half-baked stain of an art object.

Just a thought - admittedly a skewed one - after buying some rolls today and realizing how foolish the qualitative process was only when at the cashier.

The Future of Art Viewing.... Part 2

2011-02-03T11:39:00.004+08:00

Further to my post from October last year about the virtues of Haltadefinizione, Google (as they inevitably seem to do) has since released Art Project. It's a pity that the quality is a bit haphazard but it is still nonetheless interesting.

First select the museum from the top left then 'floor plan' on the far right. Mouseover to see the contents of the various rooms and navigate similar to Street View. Alternatively, you can pull out selected works immediately to the right of the museum name.

What I particularly like is the ability to click on particular images on enlarge them akin to the Haltadefinizione concept. ie. The Medusa from Caravaggio. This particular image was 'unreachable' when we visited the Uffizi.

Tangled Knots....

2011-01-31T17:05:00.003+08:00

Thought of the day: "The making and presentation of useless art is a massive, twisted knot of hysterical delusion. The perpetual challenge to artist, institution and viewer alike is whether the attempt to disentangle or 'smooth out' any resultant art object is warranted."

A dog with three legs....

2011-01-27T20:28:00.002+08:00

I've met a few over the years and also saw an extremely happy three-legged puppy on tv a few minutes ago. Each of them ran, or rather hopped, through life oblivious that the other dogs around them might be more capable than themselves. They just got on with the fine art of being a dog instead of foucussing on what they did or didn't have.

Some (vague) thoughts...

2011-01-12T19:40:00.007+08:00

I did quite a bit of driving yesterday morning down to a photoshoot which itself took 5 hours then back and forth with other things. So much driving and cable-release-holding gives me a disturbing amount of time to think ... Never a good idea. The shoot itself went very well. It was the second phase at one venue with some of the images from the first phase being included in the qcp show. It wasn't really what I expected but it did fill up a few holes in older ideas.

On the way there I saw a sign - 'Senior citizen library' - that I first found amusing but then later engaging as a concept. The first thing that popped into my head was a group of elders who you could poke - or 'borrow' - for information. Looking at it with more distance I really like the idea of some form of digital archive of thoughts from those with more experience of life. Not so much a historical document of what life really was/is like but rather how it was/is perceived.

My initial ideas involved going to various elder 'outlets' and filming interviews but I actually prefer a crowd-sourced model. That way, he/she who is being filmed is potentially more comfortable and less inhibited.

I saw something similar whilst researching a location two years ago in that a writer interviewed some of the last protagonists on audio cassette prior to the venue closing. These were then archived at the state library. Similarly, photographic projects have been made where an artist engages with an environment close to it's closing to give a 'snapshot' of it's last moments.... Warts and all.

The other thought that has bounced around for the last week or so is an older concept that I've rather lazily not developed. Whilst shooting work in 2005 for 'What I Am' at breadbox, I noticed that I was drawn to measuring devices like gauges, rulers, wheelwright travelers, etc. Typically I personally avoid as much as possible measurement of my abilities as I've noticed how anxious this makes me. That said, such things do tend to populate my life and it does take up a significant patch of headspace.

As an example, at this time of year it does get a bit warm in Perth so we have a thermometer outside and well as one inside so we know the magic moment to open the doors and windows to cool the house. The other morning I woke up, opened all the doors and noticed how often I would glance at both thermometers rather than read my book. The same routine happens every night.

Similarly when driving, we spend so much of our time looking at the speedo or clock rather than the road. Others count, weigh and otherwise quantify swathes of variables in their lives to ensure what they are doing is 'right'.... The key problem being that what is 'right' varies from commentator to commentator so people run though their lives perpetually worried that they have it 'wrong'.

It's a vague - and not particularly unique - idea but something that was further prodded by said book - 'Omnivore's Dilemma' (Michael Pollan) - and how it puts you off a huge portion of the food landscape. As outlined in the book, marketers play on this right/wrong dilemma by using vague, non-consistent terms. The consumer is then confused by yet more variables and more likely to fall into their traps.

Disturbingly the book also introduces the concept of 'industrial organic' and how that also proves problematic. A classic example of this is the 'organic spaghetti in can' that I spotted on the shelf the other day.

Rant over....

Photofile discontinued....

2010-12-30T11:49:00.002+08:00

Received the latest issue today and it contained a note saying this issue (91) will be the last print-based issue. Genuinely sad especially considering it has - in ACP's words - been published in 'one form or another for nearly three decades'. They will be moving it to a free, digital only format but it will nonetheless be sorely missed in print form.

Ill-fittingness....

2010-12-29T08:48:00.005+08:00

We spend so much of our lives trying to fit into some faint schematic that the institutional overlords have determined as 'right'. In trying to subscribe to these tenets, there is a danger you end up being cold to that outside the (hop-scotch?) square(s). To celebrate the different, Ill-fitting, misaligned and otherwise 'wrong' is a catalyst to the potential discovery of the 'new'.

Whilst imperfect and inevitably rough around the edges, this differentiates art from 'art industry' with the later becoming increasingly quasi-design. This is especially the case in public art circles. Pieces are (half-joking) more 'interpretative signage or architectural flourish' than works of any substance or quality. That is not to say that they all suffer from this but increasingly public art fund allocations seem to be twisted to other purposes to fulfill odd agendas or the works themselves are used as giant, soft, rose-colored spectacles.

Do artists ultimately do themselves a disservice by expending so much energy chiseling off their 'edges' in an attempt to fit into the limited 'holes' the mysterious few make available?

Artist as Collector… Collector as Artist.

2010-12-23T11:29:00.001+08:00

At various stages of my life I've encountered a barter culture in small sections of the arts community. The simplest manifestation of this is evident in the crafts sector where, for example, a glass artist might exchange an object with a ceramist. This concept functions particularly well with anything even mildly utilitarian but seems problematic with objects that are - for want of a better word - useless.

One of the genuine tragedies of any form of creative pursuit is the inevitable swath of art objects that are out of sight, unlikely to ever resurface and slowly degrading in inadequate storage facilities. Perhaps it would be a prudent strategy to develop a 'swap' or 'loan' culture so that artworks at least partially fulfil their intended purpose.

Some artists approach this in a different way by simply buying work, presumingly with the hope that others in the arts community might do the same with their work. This is a good strategy in that the protagonists develop a form of cultural-driven equity that might prove important on a number of levels later in life and equally it is a validation of artistic practices.

The inverse of this is also interesting both aesthetically and curatorially. I am often surprised by the little snippets on ABC's 'Collectors' where they walk through the various eccentric collections.

Notions must be getting tired from all this mucking about...

2010-12-11T17:05:00.003+08:00

Further to a post from September 2009, there would seem a re-emergence of 'notion playing' in artist statements.

Still love the overview Artlife provided for both 'based in' and 'bi-/polypolar' creatives.

Swimming upstream...

2010-11-28T13:57:00.007+08:00

I had been thinking about writing some long-winded rant about a niggling and frustrating feeling of 'treading water' when I got distracted by images on LOC again.

Double take.... Audrey Gordon and 'Dawn'

2010-11-20T09:16:00.000+08:00

"There is not a large demand in Perth for exhibition space...."

2010-11-19T11:41:00.002+08:00

I'm finally getting around to reading a report about the activation of 'dead' space above various retail outlets in the inner city.

It raises some interesting issues about general access, disability access, loss of retail footprint to reinstall stairs, fire escape issues, etc but the 'bombshell' was a quote under Opportunities/Cultural and Entertainment:

"Additionally, there is not a large demand in Perth for exhibition space, therefore a programme of cultural promotion would likely be necessary in order to improve the viability of cultural and entertainment businesses. Exhibition space also requires the production or procurement of art, and upper floors may provide a good and inexpensive option for artists studios.

Whilst these particular uses tend to add much to the social capital of the city, they also tend to provide a lower return to building owners than other more commercial land uses. This limits the opportunity for one-off galleries to be created; rather, a collection of galleries and studio spaces may be required in order to create a reasonable scale and thus identifiable attraction for returns to be made."

The ideas of a 'hub' rather than singular spaces is obviously appealing but I heavily dispute the lack of demand.

It goes through various case studies later in the report and the general financial aspects wouldn't make such a hub even close to viable other than through massive subsidies.

Full report (34MB) is here: http://www.perth.wa.gov.au/ed/Forgotten_Spaces_Upper_Floor_Activation_2010.pdf

Gauging success...

2010-11-14T11:03:00.002+08:00

Prior to any work going up on walls or a series coming to some form of apex, both of us find ourselves inevitably trying to quantify what would make an event successful. You can't help but want some tangible outcomes, even if only to justify the event itself.

Inevitably you come away disappointed if you are in anyway specific. ie. we've had shows that have been well visited but we haven't managed to get the 'right' people to look at the work.

Worse still is when you make an exceptional, often expensive effort - books, microsites, mailouts, etc - and all you hear is a deadly silence. The later is so often the case in Perth that I wonder if it is worth catering to the mysterious 'Them' at all if even a simple 'thanks but no thanks' is beyond them.

Sales are, for the most part, irrelevant and if they should happen they almost always only partially cover costs. If you were to quantify what the work costs to produce and looked at it as a traditional business model most would get the packing boxes out very quickly.

I was thinking this morning about long-term success and what form that might take. ie. what would make us feel like we'd 'made it' ... for want of a better term.

I discarded 'digital' success ('Likes', 'Friends' and hits) fairly quickly as this is extremely temporal in this day and age.

I also discarded awards as whilst peer acknowledgment is appealing, I find the politics and ridiculous nature of such things disquieting. We often enter awards because it's a chance to show work rather than any expectation of ever winning anything.

Elisa has often mentioned 'formal acknowledgment' in the form of inclusion in curated shows or institutional collectors ... collecting. I tend to agree with that although I'm a bit foggy about whether it should be valued higher than someone buying or following work because they are passionate about it.

I'm not sure what I personally 'want'. I think 'respect' is a good term - if a bit loaded - as I'm aware that I react quite strongly when the antithesis manifests.

I've had more than a few occasions over the last two years when I come away thinking that this or that person must value my work poorly due to their (in)actions.

Philip-Lorca DiCorcia on 'Heads'

2010-11-09T21:08:00.002+08:00

I've written and spoken a bit about this series so I was fascinated to watch this 'confession'.

Most fascinating of all is the 3,000 (!) people he shot to get the 17 images that were exhibited. The distillation factor comes very much into play as it becomes much less about chance but rather more about hyper-editing.

Creativity ... in a nutshell

2010-11-06T12:07:00.003+08:00

I'm going through my normal exhibition swings and thought to steady my mind it might be a good idea to 'graphicise' how creativity works (or rather doesn't) in my head.

I'm not sure if this is universal but I do notice distinctive mood swings depending on the outcomes of certain things.

I sometimes wish I would be aware enough to 'plan ahead' prior to falling into all these potholes I seem to have in my 'laps' ... one day I'm likely to break an axle.

Not a fan of saxophone... but...

2010-11-06T10:43:00.002+08:00

Invitation to Elisa's next show...

2010-11-04T17:25:00.000+08:00

Selected shots from the QCP show...

2010-11-04T17:12:00.003+08:00

Original ideas vs good ideas....

2010-10-31T07:03:00.002+08:00

So... The opening in Brisbane went really well last night. Everyone was very supportive and I stayed for close to three hours. That alone, for those who know me, is an exceptional achievement!

Being here I've really noticed that good ideas don't necessarily need to be original. I won't name the various parallel universes as originality is held up as some holy Grail in the art world. Suffice to say I have seen quite a bit that if mixed up in a show most people couldn't discern which work belongs to which artist.

It's hard to tell if this or that person is aware of the other but good ideas are still good ideas regardless of whether 2 or 2000 have thought of them. I am assuming that people aren't stupid enough to steal ideas in this day and age so what's ultimately wrong with parallels?

Southbank has got me thinking about the farce that is the Perth foreshore. I was quite surprised as I'd just assumed it would be a party strip but it has a good mixture of high culture, social environments, leisure, food, etc. Perth would never dare be so brash as to copy it one-to-one but perhaps they should. Such things are too much about politic posturing so to not be original and grandeous wouldn't leave this much desired legacy for the tupee crowd.

Southbank very likely has it's own problems but would seem to have multiple streams of public transport feeding to within metres of attractions, is not overcrowded or touristy and even carries off having a stupidly huge ferris wheel without it looking like tokenism.

In the end, the Brisbane experience has been very positive and it's refreshing to feel good about what I put up on the wall .... More over that it actually stayed there!

The Lives of the Artists (21st Century Edition)

2010-10-23T17:51:00.002+08:00

With apologies to Vasari.

Embedded value....

2010-10-21T15:04:00.003+08:00

I recently had the misfortune of having one of my prints quite severely damaged in transit to an award over east. This was packed and sent via a specialist company (Pack'N'Send Balcatta) at considerable expense.

It turned up with two distinctive folds and a few creases, rendering it worthless and excluded it as a salable item. Further to this it was, professionally-speaking, extremely embarrassing.

I am currently going through the process of filing an insurance claim. The work was insured to it's 'wholesale' value as the form asked for 'Market Value'. That is, what would be left after commission was calculated on any potential sale.

I have been told that I'm now supposed to calculate the cost of 'replacement' or 'repair' excluding any 'loss of profit'.

I am having problems communicating to the company the idea of embedded value. Whilst it might cost me x to reprint the image, it doesn't mean the damaged artwork is worth x. The example I sited was that of a painting. If a painting was ruined would they then expect the artist to get a quote of x sqm of canvas and y litres of paint?

I'm seriously considering put together a costing of the photo shoots, proofs, travel, parking, film, scanning, head time, administration, etc to prove the point.

The fine art of cake baking... and analogies.

2010-10-20T20:24:00.005+08:00

I was walking past a cafe that had closed for the day and through the window you could see the not insignificant quantity of unsold desserts in a cabinet.

My first thought was to avoid ever buying a piece of cake from there as who knows how old it would be before it landed on a customers plate? Even though the cabinet was likely refrigerated, you still have to wonder how long it would be from baking to consumption.

It got me thinking about the 'catering' problems that we all face. Do you risk disappointing an audience by being potentially 'out' of something when it's needed or - equally problematic - risk throwing out masses of 'food' for lack of a large enough audience?

So what do you do? Do you make smaller bite-sized, over-salted portions akin to canapes? Do you create 'on demand' rather than simply create? ... Or do you produce without inhibitions and hope it doesn't go 'off' before someone points at it and grunts?

Minor White on Equivalence

2010-10-17T13:25:00.001+08:00

"... Our usual tendency, if we make the attempt to engage, rather than reject, the ambiguous rendering of a subject in a photograph, is to invent a subject for it. What we invent is out of the stuff and substance of ourselves. When we invent a subject we turn the photograph into a mirror of some part of ourselves."

More here: http://jnevins.com/whitereading.htm

Ups and downs...

2010-10-16T20:49:00.000+08:00

Last week I had two 'might happens' that picked me up a bit. One 'might' happen at the end of the month and hopefully will be a rare moment of having the right people look at the work at the right time. The other was an informal interest in some images being added to a civil collection.

On top of those two, both Elisa and I put work up for the Joondalup Invitational award that we actually liked... Something that is rarer than you might imagine.

five #49 (2010).

Today QCP posted the October/November shows on their website. One of my big fears was context and how my work would or wouldn't fit with the others.

I feel much better for getting a glimpse at the work as I - importantly - very much like the work of the other artists.

That all said, this week I feel like every OTHER moment is giving me paper cuts, pouring lemon juice on it and kicking me in the shins.

Crowdfunding...

2010-10-15T13:46:00.002+08:00

I'm a big fan of Kickstarter and it's ilk but the majority of the sites are either exclusively available to US-based projects or otherwise problematic. There are quite a few music sites that Crowdfund but today I found a local site - FundBreak - that also does visual arts projects. It would seem early days but something to follow nonetheless.

'five' at the Queensland Centre for Photography

2010-10-14T17:36:00.001+08:00

New work from this series will be shown at the Queensland Centre for Photography from October 30 to November 28, 2010. See http://www.zebra-factory.com/five for more details.

Songs used under Creative Commons are portions of '2 - Ghosts I', '5 - Ghosts I' and 'Corona Radiata' all from Nine Inch Nails. http://ghosts.nin.com/

Haltadefinizione - the future of art viewing?

2010-10-13T10:46:00.004+08:00

There is something appealing about the idea of being able to inspect work more thoroughly than ever possible in art galleries or museums. The experience of viewing a painting becomes much more intimate and quiet. This especially when you consider the heaving, sweaty masses when you enter the major museums of the world.

The original painting is 95 x 85 cm (in the Uffizi) so you have to wonder how the immersive aspect of being in front of the image, and potentially overwhelmed by it, is compromised by a 20" screen?

We did visit the Uffizi but - as would often seem our luck - the applicable room was closed. That said, I did manage to sneak a glance at his Medusa though. I was also lucky enough to have a Caravaggio pretty much to myself - visited mid-week - at the Kunstmuseum in Bonn when a show toured there.

I would hope that those behind 'Bedroom Secrets' would consider doing the same with Van Gogh's 'The Bedroom'.

The pitfalls of over catering...

2010-10-02T20:02:00.011+08:00

In 2004 when Elisa had her debut solo show we, amongst other things, organised 60 portions of sushi for the opening. It was a small-ish affair and those who were there turned out to not be particularly keen on sushi. We ended up taking over 30 home with us and it was with great regret that we ended up throwing quite a bit out after trying our best to eat them.

We've had similar experiences with the liquid aspects of such events. For convenience we would fill up a swath of glasses only to find them untouched at the end of the night.

Equally at other events we have held back from filling dozens of glasses only to have grumbling from the drinking crowd when those in hand weren't filled immediately as the vacuous bottom beckoned.

My latest personal experience involved me expending quite a bit of energy to put together a talk about not just my work but also some photographic history. I over catered for the three people that eventually were there. All three of which, whilst interested and kind (for want of a better word) were staff from the venue.

So... essentially no-one turned up. Such things do tend to rock whatever confidence you might have so I find myself wondering if I should avoid - or 'not fill some many glasses' - in the future? At the same time.... If I deliver a half cooked product for fear of such things am I under selling my work?

Source:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/gsc1994028282/PP/resource/

More work in progress...

2010-10-01T11:16:00.002+08:00

Elisa working on 'The Strange Quiet of Things Misplaced #24'.

More details of her upcoming exhibition can be found on her website:
www.zebra-factory.com/strangequiet

Work in progress...

2010-09-30T12:58:00.004+08:00

Elisa working on 'The Strange Quiet of Things Misplaced #28'.

More details of her upcoming exhibition can be found on her website:
www.zebra-factory.com/strangequiet

The only fear greater...

2010-09-30T08:54:00.003+08:00

... than speaking to a room full of people is speaking to an almost empty room of people. I'm doing an artist talk tonight and I'm genuinely fearful no-one will be there.

I approved the last image for the Brisbane show yesterday after a few anxious moments. I'm finding that I'm over complicating it this time as I seem to be trying to match tones from one image to the next. They - with one exception - will be hung 80-90cm apart on one long wall so I might just be bashing my head unnecessarily against that wall.

I'm frustrated with the work as it's always been a difficult child, even more so given the linear aspects of having eight images in one run. When the images sit in clusters of two or three they work very well but I'm concerned they will appear cold in one large suite.

Not sure what to expect with Brisbane ... Just hope I don't look foolish.

Elisa is working like a woman possessed on her next show as well so it's a tense household. She had a visit from a curator from RMIT on Monday which went well. He came over to see her and one other artist for a triennial that will happen late next year.

How to survive exhibition openings....

2010-09-25T11:50:00.003+08:00

I'm not a big fan of going to openings for a variety of reasons. Not least of which is the discomfort of not knowing what to do with myself after the 15-20 minutes I normally take to consume the shows. This takes the form of 2-3 circulations and after that, in most Perth shows at least, I start to feel like I'm killing time.

I'm often left lost as I don't drink/eat at such things and the 'smoker' retreat isn't an option.

If someone is there that I know, I might chat to them for a while but without them I just feel out of place and inadequate. This is even worse if my work should be on the walls.

So... I was thinking before that I've had 'success' (in regards to staying longer) at such events when I can dig through an artist statement or stare at a piece of paper for a while. This has the effect that I might potentially 'meet' a friendly face and I also appear engaged with the work.

Unfortunately, there often isn't a statement or price list to fondle so I had thought a good idea might be to make my own and bring it with me. That way I can catch up with some reading at the same time.

It also has the effect of being a talking point. i.e. 'Excuse me. Where did you get that from?'

I can then appear 'eccentric' (or a nut job) for having something unassociated with the show in an odd context.

So... the lesson is: if you want people to stay at your shows for longer, give them something to 'do'. So often I see people fumbling around at shows looking for a price list or statement to carry with them and their frustration is clearly evident when they can't find the security blanket they crave.

Inevitably they will 'complain' how obscure your statement is but eyes on walls should always be preferable to eyes on the bottom of a wine goblet.

Pondering, pandering and proposing....

2010-09-08T18:21:00.002+08:00

Today has been rough for a variety of reasons and has left me pondering discontinuing showing large prints in galleries. Given that the shows are to get the mysterious few (MF) - unsuccessfully - to look at my work, I have started to consider whether the considerable amounts of money could be better spent.

I'm thinking about focusing on books as art objects as they are less disposable than 'click culture' or the passing glance when people are looking at works on walls. I've also had much more tangible success through the books that I have previous produced than the shows. Local MFs tend to miss the work actually hung in a gallery for a variety of reasons and those interstate are extremely unlikely to travel for the show.

Admittedly I will lose the immersion aspect that comes with scale but conversely a book form feeds into the narrative component much better.

Balance between access and viability...

2010-09-04T11:48:00.003+08:00

A CD was distributed on Friday last week to a large portion of the WA design community that highlighted 'accessible' design.

There is a well-intentioned but rather painful movement to shift design objects to full accessibility. That is, that the device is both legible and comprehensible to all possible viewers of that object. This includes those who are colour-blind, have poor vision or are otherwise disabled.

Ironically enough the device used to illustrate this was clumsy and difficult to handle... I'm sure I'm not the only one who saw the irony in that.

Most of the components are just common sense - contrast, colour choice, text alignment, web standards, etc - but others are ecologically a disaster.

One of the chief problems is the demands on font size and font selection. Whilst Sans Serif fonts without certain treatments (no all caps, no underlining, no italics) isn't so difficult, the 12pt for body copy will prove both expensive and paper intense. As an example, an 8pp brochure set in 9/13pt (arguably close to an industry standard) will blow out to at least 12pp. If you account for the Government fetish for bullet points, this will likely go up another 4pp again.

Reprints of existing jobs 'might' require significant resets if they need to comply. Whilst good for the design industry, these are big expenses that could be spent on other projects.

Much is made in the same information about offering alternative formats (text only) so you have to wonder about the sense of creating clumsy objects to accommodate every possible demographic. Given that a lot of Government departments are only printing very small runs of mandatory reports, you could argue that as most will view the object on screen, the 12pt is close to irrelevant due to screen size on the viewer-side.

The Bane of access to a few billion images....

2010-09-01T14:28:00.005+08:00

For those familiar with Narelle Autio's 'Summer of Us' (as shown at WAMM in this year's FotoFreo), Peter Tonningsen's 'Flotsam and Jetsam' might cause a few to wince. These two series of work, whilst supposedly blind to each other, raise some interesting questions about originality. As mentioned in this post back in May, when 'honest' why can't they both explore the same issues without guilt? That said, I would be curious to know how they would/will respond once they become 'aware' of each other.

From a purely aesthetic perspective, this is even more complicated when you include general images of entropy similar to Albert Watson's 'Tutankhamun's Glove'.

Chew toys....

2010-08-22T10:29:00.009+08:00

I was looking through the great flickr commons page of the powerhouse museum this morning and have put together a small selection of images. Many feel surprisingly fresh even though on average they are approaching 80 years old.

Best and worst-case scenario

2010-08-21T09:34:00.000+08:00

Best scenario: For all the fear-mongering, irrelevant of who wins the most seats, it would be best if the Greens somehow got the casting vote on policies and the Stephen Fieldings of the world got completely taken out of the equation. A similar scenario happened in the 90's in Germany and although it eventually shattered the Gruenen, it did prove fruitful for more ecological- and socially-driven programs.

Worst scenario: Libs with a free pass. The mini-me Howard-era conservative with a chip on his shoulder combined with bullish Hockey is a frightful prospect. In amongst all the scary bits, there is every chance some of the first chops will be arts-related once they 'get to look at the books and realize they need to fix this and that'.

Feel sick thinking about the second scenario as even if Labor cocked a lot up, for us Abbott is the embodiment of a right-wing wolf dressed up - scantily - in sheep's clothing.

Word of the Day: Cabal

2010-08-18T14:18:00.004+08:00

The first part of Waldemar Januszczak's excellent series 'Baroque' screened last night and Cabal was used to describe 'bully' artists in Naples.

A telefax in every house by 2020

2010-08-17T07:44:00.001+08:00

Federal opposition leader Tony Abbott pledged on ABC's 7.30 Report last night that a Liberal Government would ensure that every Australian household has a telefax by 2020.

'I've been in discussions with contacts in New Zealand and we've managed to secure a remarkable discount on this wonderful new technology.', he said.

Mr Abbott continued saying that 'they magically transmit images and I think this will give Australian business the edge it needs in this new century. Every other day really is like an episode of Star Trek!'

Why that left eye keeps a twitchin'

2010-08-12T16:02:00.005+08:00

When putting together a body of work both Elisa and I tend to think of a larger set of works as one 'piece' rather than individual, self-contained objects. This is especially so when working towards an exhibition.

Elisa, for example, will repeat motifs, colours and shapes across multiple works and I tend to have a 'thing' of repeating compositional dynamics as well as certain objects that are imaged. At the moment the later includes power points, switches, doors and windows.

I sometimes wonder if a series is compromised by this constant game of 'one of these things is not like the other.' I personally find myself excluding work that I might like very much because it doesn't necessarily fit in with the rest of a series.

This can also be a traumatic exercise as I'm constantly balancing a multitude of factors to obtain some form of 'line' through a series. I sometimes work with 10x8 prints that are pinned up, separated by small gaps, in the studio. That dynamic is not actually evident when they are installed as the size of gallery spaces typically doesn't allow it. That is, you would need to be standing back 10-15 metres to get the same perspective. Even with that knowledge I tend to compose a series on a much more intimate level.

The QCP show will be 9-10 pieces which will all, bar one, be shown on one very long wall. Whilst the spacing in the gallery means that it's impossible to see them all in one eyeful, I am conscious that they should read from left to right and not jar. PCP had the advantage that I could cluster a few images together and it was much easier to get three to work than five. 8-9 in one row makes for an interesting headache.

Plastic, some paper and a bit of chemistry...

2010-08-08T17:37:00.003+08:00

For the exhibition of 'five' at PCP I wrote an essay titled 'Nothing to see here....'. In it I talked about the inability of people to disconnect content from form, especially when portraiture (ie. friends or family) is involved... Imagine burning a family photo. This lack of disconnect is exploited by ambiguous images that play with personal reference points. As an example, consider an image of a particular style of chair and how that might, for some, be associated with a lost relative or other personal moment in their own history.

Over the last few days I've been cleaning out various sections of my archive and disposing of proof sheets as well as test prints, etc. The source material is still whole so that which is in the bin is merely non-unique process objects. What I found interesting was the significant twinge I had when it came to getting rid of any image that was mildly personally. It almost feels disrespectful and I'm still tempted to sort them out from the rubbish.

I feel queasy for both their disposal but equally with the thought that I don't have the disconnect I thought I had.

Academia vs Experience

2010-08-07T16:44:00.004+08:00

"I prefer to not do much heavy research because I don't want to be over influenced by what I expect to find." - Alec Soth talking about the 'Niagara'* series to Andrei Codrescu at the Walker Art Centre.

* NSFW.

Messing with the checkout chicks...

2010-08-06T17:32:00.000+08:00

I do feel sympathy for them when we present a choko, jerusalem artichokes, a few tamarillos and a custard apple in one visit but do find myself tilting my head when a 'long' eggplant and other simple fruit and vegetables cause confusion.

Apparently Mr Oliver will next be taking on Australian school children - which will not end well! - so the 'look at the silly Americans, we're not that bad'-attitude might be challenged.

Tony Abbott pledges to stop the planes

2010-08-05T19:27:00.005+08:00

Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott announced today that a coalition government pledges to stop the planes, particular those originating from Heathrow.

"At any given moment there are close to 50,000 illegal overstayers in Australia and it has to stop!", he said to Tony Jones on ABC's Late Line last night. "[Minister for Immigration] Chris Evans freely states that the majority are young Englishmen simply having too good a time.... If he was fair dinkum he'd stop the planes!"

In fact the largest number of overstayers come from the US, followed by China and then the UK.

If overstayers are caught, they are no longer detained but issued with another temporary visa, and according to some reports from within the Department of Immigration they are allowed up to six more months to make their way home.

Green's senator Sarah Hanson-Young added that 'it is easier to demonstrate and peddle fear and hysteria through pictures of people on boats, than it is through people coming off planes at Sydney international airport.'

The Greens have since taken the unusual step of supporting the Liberal proposal.

Minister Evans, himself an English migrant, responded that 'they're often young Englishmen who have gone to a party and are a few days late .... Or they've met a young lady and [they're] having a good time.'

A spokesmen for the UK Prime Minister David Cameron commented that it was an English rite of passage to visit the colonies and that the Australian opposition leader should learn his place.

He also stated that the United Kindgom's immigration department had no plans to screen out potential overstayers.

Prime Minister Julia Gilliard was noticably absent from the debate and has been accused by Mr Abbott of a bias due to her Welsh heritage.

The weight of expectation and a convenient scapegoat....

2010-08-04T16:03:00.002+08:00

In times of crisis, you can just feel the tingling in the opportunists of the world. Finding a vent for unpopular decisions is critical to Corporate/Political PR and ensures that they don't get personally bitten.

If you want to scale back philanthropic and community activities, layoff staff or shift resources and - at the same time - justify a weakened balance sheet to shareholders, what better way to do it than find a scapegoat?

That way it's EXCLUSIVELY 'their fault' that you don't do x or y and not your own ineptitude or lack of risk management. The disappointment of anyone who might otherwise benefit is conveniently transferred to another protagonist and the corporation dances away to the next cocktail party with another bonus in the back pocket.

Corporations are not so bound by community support and can easily blackmail their way out of corners whereas political systems are much more fragile on such a short electoral cycle. This is exploited continuously - especially in Western Australia - to maintain the status quo environmentally and socially.

Thus ANY price on pollution will mean you need to sell your first born and any social benefits from a resources tax means that you'll need to hand over the kidney.

Failure as a motivator...

2010-07-26T20:53:00.004+08:00

Often when spurned, people mutter under their breath that they will 'show them'.... With that in mind, I've always loved this from the Raconteurs' 'Salute Your Solution'.

"...And I got what I got all despite you ... And I get what I get just to spite you ...."

Pointless in the whole scheme of things but typically how I get past every other hiccup on the road towards my Pulitzer.

Coffee-driven Philosophy

2010-07-22T09:43:00.001+08:00

For most, life is a choice between digging holes for a living or digging holes for a living... Either which way you are in it up to your neck.

Midsomer Mediocrity

2010-07-18T09:54:00.002+08:00

I find Midsomer Murders incredibly irritating - surely half the town should be dead by now as at least a few die each episode - but we still seem to end up stuck in front of it every now and then.

Had to laugh last night as they would must have a screenwriter who sneaks a few gems in amongst the kitsch. "Beauty is too small a word, it's like saying the ocean is a bit wet." - paraphrased but a bit above the usual.

Law and Order is also worth a laugh as they must have a staffer who comes up with a pun or two at the start of each episode to end scenes. Akin to 'he must have struck a chord' when someone dies by the 'hand' of anything musical.

Kidney on Special this Month

2010-07-16T20:58:00.002+08:00

Buy one and get some free nose skin... The problem with writing arts grant applications is that I - at least - conceive projects that I otherwise couldn't do financially. Where it bites is when you fall emotionally for a concept and - after the inevitable knock back - come to the realization that you REALLY otherwise can't do the gig.

Worst still is when you expend a lot of energy researching and, through that, are able to pinpoint the personal importance - if that's the right word - of the conceptual approach.

I'm almost to the point where I'm considering not applying for such things from now on.

Previously my personal argument has been that I should be spending more time making work rather than constantly looking for 'funding'. In the last few months I've started to realize that it's instead just getting too emotionally draining.

Would I be better off literally digging holes for cash to fund work rather than digging myself constantly into these 'holes'?

So.... Considering that I break power tools by looking at them, I decided to put the kidney up. Bidding starts at $20,000 ... Still in good condition, limited alcohol diet (no beer for 15+ years), minimum animal protein consumption, selective diet, etc.

All offers considered.

Responding to Criticism

2010-07-13T23:43:00.001+08:00

From Mr. Winklemann:

'My sincere advice is to think of the artwork you exhibit as your statement. You agreed to put it out there for others' feedback. Your part in this particular round of exchange is complete. Whether the viewers' response is praise or condemnation, you had every opportunity to put your best foot forward...you had your chance.

If you find the response disappointing, you can comfort yourself with the assumption that you're ahead of your time, or the audience needs to learn more, or whatever, but at this point any defensive response by you is parallel to the comeback you finally come up with after your heckler has left the room. It's simply too late. Your only recourse is to ensure that your statement is even better in the next round.

The best way to respond to your critics is, again, to show them next round why they were wrong.'

Mohamed Bourouissa

2010-07-09T09:46:00.001+08:00

Finally got to flick through the latest issue of Foam this morning.

Really like Mohamed Bourouissa's work. Very much in the tradition of Jeff Wall but with a fresh energy.

How to be a successful artist in three easy (?) steps...

2010-07-03T12:26:00.005+08:00

This is partially tongue-in-cheek but would seem to be the 'way to go'.
1. Garner attention... responsibly.
2. Produce mature work under the resultant 'Gaze'.
3. Continue to produce mature work consistently.

To be a commercially successful artist point one should be expanded to 'Garner attention and make regular sales'.

I guess where many fall is point one. If you get attention for the 'wrong' reasons and then can't follow-up, the gaze is actually a bad thing to have on you.

Others don't want (or can't get) the 'all-knowing' looking in their direction so often end up pushing well into point three without formal, institutional 'attention'.

This is - from my point of view - idealic practice as more mature, well edited work is - when eventually in circulation - much healthier for all involved.

Arguably good work will eventually be noticed but having some form of platform is often critical to that process.

If great work is hanging in your bedroom or buried amongst hundreds of mediocre pieces, it's hardly likely to get the attention it deserves.

Edward Winklemann on 'Nomination'

2010-06-27T10:57:00.003+08:00

The politics of selection processes remains the part of the art world I find most obnoxious ... but the more experience I get, the more I realize it's not quite what it seems from the outside. While many of us ... tend to assume there's some vast conspiracy behind our being overlooked at times ... the truth is generally far less intriguing.

So what does it mean, though, when you're convinced an honor should be yours but the committee doesn't see it the same way? This is where networking plays an important role.

Nothing succeeds like success. Perhaps the least painful way to campaign for your desired reward is to ensure the decision makers are (casually, of course) aware of your triumphs. The best way to secure those triumphs, is, as always, to educate yourself and to work your ass off.

Read the entire post....

The punctum of an odd day...

2010-06-24T19:07:00.008+08:00

On a day where the first female Australian prime minister was instated, two tennis players got their own 10 hour version of '15 minutes' and footballers again tugged for both our attention and at our emotions, the thing that most struck me was an architectural oddity ... for want of a better word.

Strangely touching.

Images of Julia Gillard's house/street from SBS's footage on June 24, 2010.

Julia Gillard at home in Altona. Photo: Ken Irwin/SMH, 2005.

Engaging with work....

2010-06-24T11:19:00.003+08:00

I stumbled across Konica's Venus de Milo project and whilst beautiful I did find it a bit disappointing that you couldn't explore the sculpture dynamically.

Naturally aspirated since 1974...

2010-06-23T12:16:00.003+08:00

'tis the car geek way of saying 'non-turbo'... apparently. Why use three syllables when you can use eight? My favourite is the German translation of ET's 'phone home': 'zu Haus Telefonieren'.

I recently rewrote my artist statement after about a year of it being in circulation. Distance makes editing so much easier and through that process I've connected the dots as to why I got a few blank looks. It wasn't a major rewrite but more reorganization and defluffing. All hopefully better for it.

It made sense to me at the time but ideally that's not really the point of such things.

Ideas that I logistically can't make ... but ...

2010-06-20T11:12:00.006+08:00

Idea 01: A rotary milk shed-like* setup that essentially 'forces' opening visitors to focus their consumption outwards rather than inwards. This essentially turns the typical opening dynamic inside out as groups - in Perth at least - often congregate around a virtual pile of handbags rather than even look at the work on display. It also regulates the consumption rate/speed.

Idea 02: This has almost certainly been done but a suite of four galleries generate live video feeds of their openings simultaneously and project each onto separate walls. People become both voyeurs and voyeurees (if that's a word) at the same time. It is also potentially painfully honest to the motivations of the visitor ... ie. see and been seen but with a total lack of control.

Idea 03: Similar to idea 01 although with 'feeding' (a la a reverse sushi train) of the viewers whilst the artwork is centred behind them.

* Cool site.

Malnourishment to obesity in three easy steps...

2010-06-18T14:16:00.004+08:00

Last week I got formal confirmation for an interstate exhibition at the end of October. Where and when exactly will remain quiet for a bit but it has given me a few problems - if that's the right word - in regards to image selection.

With the PCP show I freely admit that I struggled a bit to get the 13 final images on to the wall. Editing the work was extremely difficult and it literally took months of rather loud sighing.

Once the show was actually up I needed to put a folio of 10 shots together for something else and I was genuinely disturbed that I could cull three shots without blinking and that I could have got rid of an extra two without too many tears. Realistically I was a few photo shoots short of where I really needed to be in order to put on that show.

A few weeks ago I finally - after a combination of procrastination and general camera 'hate' - got to shoot one of the locations that should have been in that show. It was very fruitful and has given me a swath of new material.

Now I have the inverse dilemma.... I need to cull 14-15 strong works back to nine.

I have a 15 metre long wall and this complicates the issue. That is, the show needs to 'read' from image-to-image and not jolt, especially considering that the works are not in isolation.

I feel that editing is so fundamental to any show's strength but I really wish it wasn't so hard.

Value vs Price

2010-06-17T20:32:00.001+08:00

A few weeks ago I took some old computer equipment to a rather sobering pawn shop. Amongst the various people was a man in his early 40s selling what I'm assuming was a wedding ring. As he didn't have any receipt or other evidence of cost it was quite literally put on scales to determine value. That is, x grams of gold equals $y.

I was thinking that this is an interesting proposition when applied to other forms. It cancels out workmanship, experience, heritage, design, creativity and a swath of other criteria.

Imagine if the Bromley's of the world were valued purely on the grams of linseed oil, pigments and other materials used to make work.

That is, the virtual values are cancelled out.

This is in part prompted by the hyper-emotive language of those affected by the proposed changes to laws relating to art in superannuation funds.

Not sure how I feel about it all as ultimately a small group of elites would seem to be affected.

I ultimately always hope people buy artwork with love rather than simply as they would shares.

"The artist is a shy genius and may die very soon..."

2010-06-17T12:23:00.002+08:00

"How much do you think you are going to get for that painting?"
"Well... artist wants anything over 300 pounds..."
"And we want 98% commission..."
"So... 12 Grand."

Snippet from Utopia...

2010-06-15T19:23:00.002+08:00

Philip Wolfhagen's current exhibition at Hobart's Bett Gallery, 'The Extended Journey', sold out prior to its opening last week. The gallery confirmed that demand was so great that 90 per cent of those on his waiting list have missed the opportunity to acquire work from this exhibition. - From AAC's weekly newsletter.

A rose-coloured morning rant.

2010-06-12T11:19:00.003+08:00

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

I like - but equally find odd - the idea that some cameras are like putting in a different pair of eyes. They do more than transcribe but rather translate. Some elements suffer from poor translation whilst others are galvanized and romanticized through the process.

Where I think we often go wrong is an over dependence on, and indulgence with the process itself. Similar to other art forms we get distracted by the medium and work can be poorer for that diversion.

Consider the idea that you wouldn't ask a painter what brand of primer they use, nor a writer whether they keyed the book in a particular program.

I am almost hostile when, after the obligatory 'where/who is it?', some one asks me a 'digital or film?' or 'what camera?' type of question.

I admit that my favoured 'pair of eyes' are integral to the look of my work in regards to detail and it's static position due to the weight of the camera but I equally know that I could make the same work with lesser tools and more discipline.

Legless Lethergy

2010-06-06T11:41:00.004+08:00

I was on the first of what I hope will be a four-part formalised photo shoot in one location a few days ago. Whilst it took just over two and a bit hours, I came away completely exhausted and have only just got my legs back.

The shoot itself went quite well and I'll get the six rolls back on Tuesday. I only had one small technically anomaly but picked that up quickly enough and simply re-shot the three or four photos that might have suffered for it.

Some of this work will hopefully slot nicely into the 'Five Epilogue' series.

I've recently had this itch (and opportunity) to roll off a few hyper-minimalist shots. Essentially these are photos of flat, empty blocks of colour. I'm not sure how they fit in a broader sense but I've tried not to resist them when I see them in a space. They are quite difficult to read as they have nothing other than an odd scratch, hole or power point but I do like the geometry and quiet they put out.

In other news, I'm putting some final touches on my Artsource Residency application (NZL, rural NSW and Melbourne) as well as my entry for the Fremantle Print Award. There are a smattering of other things including the idea to enter something into the Wallace Art Awards.

Elisa is working like a woman possessed on her next show and early interest has already been expressed by a collector... no pressure.