happy halloween!

happy halloween everybody!

hope you all had you're share of frights.....I certainly did today at work. As it was so hot, I had a number of male customers come in without shirts on, and I must say at least 99% were rather horrifying, particualry one who was hairier than Ron Mueck's "Wild Man" with moobies ( man boobs), and a fat gut hanging out which he insisted on pressing up agains tthe sneeze glass. Who needs horror films when you can look at Narren Warren bogans on a hot day?

Anywho, now I have burned that mental image into you minds, you should all check this guy, he is a master at pumpkin carvings!

http://www.villafanestudios.com/pumpkins.htm

And now for something completely different

And for no reason at all here is a video I recorded at one of the soundwave concerts I went to earlier this year:

The Dwelling

ACCA”s exhibition of “The Dwelling” brings together a series of spooky works from leading contemporary artists to show their interpretation of what a dwelling can represent. It was a different exhibition to what we usually see. Twelve artist from all over the world created may different views on what a dwelling can mean,

One particular artwork that stood out to me was Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller titled “ Opera for a small room”. It was created in 2005, and it is a room that is 260 x 300 x 450 cm big. In this room, there is one main viewing point, and 3 small side views. As you look through the main viewing room, you see 2 desks, with a vintage record player, and a microphone that looks like it’s from the 1950’s. The walls and floors are all covered in vintage records and they all have the name “R.Dennehy” on them. The artist purchased these from an Op Shop, so there was always a fascination about what the man was like, and has he had such a vast collection of different styles of music, I think this artwork was an interpretation of what they think his life might have been like.

There are different coloured light bulbs surrounding the edges of the room. There are old Persian rugs on the floor, and a Campbell’s tomato tin that is acting as a lamp shade. There is a chandelier hanging from the center of the room with chains coming off the side and going into the corners in the ceiling. There is one chair next to the main table with the record players on them. Behind the main tables are loads of record/vinyl players from the 1950’s to the 1970’s. Just in front of the table is a red velvet curtain on either side, and 4 chairs facing the table, almost like a concert/opera.

The beginning of the performance the lighting in the room and the exhibition area is normal, the music sounds like an orchestra is warming up. The lights dim in the exhibition room, only 4 lights are on in the wooden room. Some nostalgic music from the 1940’s comes on; a demented and deep male voice comes on through the speakers and says:

“A man alone in a room
Turn Table records
She was walking the road
With her shoes in her hand
Where the fuck was she going?”

A few moments pass, he hums along with the female voice on the radio. Then the sound of thunder and rain comes on, the music slows down then stops. His voice comes on again:

“Animals taking over the walls
Chewing on the wires
If they start on the records I am going to have to poison them
He begins to weep
(At this point a soft female’s voice comes on and starts to sing an opera song)
Doctor….
I need to talk to a doctor”

At this point an even deeper and demonic voice comes on and tells him repeatedly to relax. Then the main character says:

“I’m disappearing”

Suddenly only the red lights are lighting up the room and “When a man loves a woman” by Percy Sledge comes on the speakers. The demonic doctor’s voice appears again, telling him to relax. The main character then says:

“Forget everything
I want to remember
Yes, I remember
I was walking down the road that night
Cows watching me in the field
Could see a train coming
Slowly towards me lighting up the trees”

There is a loud train noise, it is so loud it rocks the room, the chandelier shakes and the lights turn to a dull blue. The sound of crickets then comes on the speakers and covers up the sound and overpowers the sound of footsteps in the gravel. The man’s voice comes back on:

“The man howls at the moon”
(He howls)

The tape clicks over. The blue lights disappear, only a light shining on the tomato tin lights up, then followed by the normal lights. Suddenly a loud male voice signs a triumphant opera tune, the lights then flicker as though the power of the voice is affecting them, it then slowly dies and a soft piano tune comes on and the voice says:

“He waits in the room
Plays records over and over
Is that all you do?
Where the fuck was she going?
It was the train
Trying to beat the train
Music doesn’t really change anything
But helps him in a way he can’t understand
It’s an opera after all
Everyone understands it in the end”

The lights then dim, until you can barely see anything in the room, his voice comes back on and says:

“He picks up his guitar
Walks center stage
Audience waits
(the song then turns into a powerful rock ballad, the blue, red and yellows lights light up the room like a rock concert)
She was walking down the road
With a dazed look on her face
Fellow in the ditch
(then rather than speaking, he sings this next part)
Coppers in flames
Road kill is crawling
Wings flapping in the wind
Run through smoke
(he then goes back to speaking this part)
The truck was weaving towards me through the flame
I didn’t know what to do
She was walking down the road
Shoes in her hand
(The music then beings to climax, and get more powerful)
Smudge marks on her face
Wind blew back her hair”

The music softens, the lights in the “stage” disappears. The house lights light up the exhibition room and the wooden room, there is a roar of applause, then quiet.

I really liked this artwork, it was a deep insight into the psyche of a man who is controlled by his music and is essentially a shut in. He describes how he is fine with the rats eating his home and essentially leaving him in darkness but not if they eat his records. I then think that he relives the loss of his love interest, as he thinks he needs a doctor the room take on a dark and evil appearance as he talks about the speeding train and truck going through the flames, which suggests that she was killed, and as he howls at the moon he realizes he is a monster, He then feels guilty as I think she had a fight with him because all he does is listen to his music, and as she was leaving him, she died. So he is left to wallow in his small room, controlled by his music for the rest of his life, alone. The title of the artwork “opera for a small room” is very fitting as operas tend to tell a story, usually containing some form of tragedy, with a climatic ending. And as he says “It’s an opera after all, everyone understands in the end” I think he is trying to figure out what went wrong, trying to understand his own story.

And while we are on the subject of opera, you should check out this video clip from one of my favorite films called “Repo! The Genetic Opera”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otdH3SLNx-s

Ron Mueck - Wild Man

Although I was overwhelmed when I saw “Wild Man” by Ron Mueck, this was not my first encounter with his artwork. I think in 2005 or 2006 I went to the National Gallery of Victoria to see his sculpture called “Pregnant Woman”. Mueck's early career was as a model maker and puppeteer for children's television and films, notably the film Labyrinth for which he also contributed the voice of Ludo, and the Jim Henson series The Storyteller. Ron Mueck’s hyper real sculptures of humans both clothed and naked are replicated in micro detail in every aspect of the body – pores, veins, hairs, blemishes, wrinkles – with a veracity that deceives the eye and challenges our perception of reality. To achieve this Mueck also plays with scale – his sculptures despite their apparent truthfulness to life are never life size they are either gargantuan or miniature.

I really liked this artwork, it shows a man with long hair, an equally long beard and a hairy body. Immense detail has gone into showing every detail on the human form, from showing the protruding veins in the figures tense and red hands, moles and pimples over his body, and the size difference in the pores over his skin as they get bigger on his face. I think this figure is intimated by those around him, he has a fearful expression on his face and his upper body is very uptight and he is kind of leading backwards and has tense hands and feet. This artwork suggests that regardless of the figures large scale he can be just as intimidated as a small child, as he is clutching the chair so hard I feel that it his safety in his exposed state. The layout of the exhibition was rather spacious, but the sculpture was placed in the back corner, as though her were trying to hide from the viewer.


I loved how Mueck could create a 9ft sculpture that has all intimidating features that people would expect in today’s society, yet with the scared expression on his face, you feel sorry for him.

Another artist that you should look up if you like this type of work is Patricia Piccinini. I saw her exhibition in Bendigo on 2006, well worth a look.

The Offering

Robbie Rowlands is a sculpture artist who discovered and transformed old building sits to make a statement about the community. For the exhibition of “The Offering”, Rowland discovered an old church in Dandenong that was due to be demolished. The church was an active building in the community until January this year and was built 105 years ago.

Rowland uses this church to try and show how it being demolished shows what is happening to the community. He cuts through parts of the building to show how the community is falling apart, along with the building. He grew up in a Christian family so this project was a bit sensitive for him. He felt the need to cut parts of the roof off, a part of the floor covering the old baptism bath, and cutting a cross out of the cupboard, and cutting little lines in it to make it look shriveled and dead in the back corner of the building, which is where the old Sunday school room was. By placing the dead cross here, it suggests that due to the lack of interest in the youth to save this building it has died, along with their faith.

It was a harder job for Rowland to do as he usually rips up mist of the floors, but the demolition crew had already removed about 97% of the floors and due to his upbringing, it was constantly on his mind what his mother would think of him, helping to destroy a church.
I appreciate Rowland for what he was trying to achieve, I like that some artist push the boundaries of art, and go outside the traditional paint on canvas or clay sculpture, but I personally don’t believe this is art. I can understand that by ripping up parts of the church to represent the downfall of the community and to some extent people’s faith, but the demolition crew did a much more successful job at destroying the inside of the church.

Roger Ballen: Brutal, Tender, Human, Animal

Roger Ballen’s exhibition Brutal, Tender, Human, Animal was a powerful and disturbing exhibition showing a wide range of photography from 1983 to 2007. As Shaune Lakin, Director of the MGA states "Roger Ballen is one of the world's most important photographers. As with all great works of art, Ballen's photographs are at once beautiful and challenging: they raise serious questions about ethics and social responsibility, class and race. This is a rare opportunity to see some of the most powerful images produced in our lifetime."

Ballen’s photographs show his experience in the slums of South African. Ballan was trained as a geologist and taught himself photography in his spare time which soon turned into his career. In the 1970’s, while looking for a potential mining site he began to photograph the houses and people he met. He then travelled to some of the poorest areas and built a relationship with those who lived there which enabled him to get the photos. His images appear not to have an awful lot of depth, they appear to be taken straight forward and there are very little shadows.

The exhibition was rather spacious and a vast majority of the images were small, so to really see the disturbing features in the images you to go up close to view them. A photograph that really stood out for me what titled “ Dresie and Casie twins” which was taken in 1993. This picture shows two very tall men, with well defined features, they almost look mutated. Their ears really stick out to the sides, and have more of a square and tall head. They are both drooling, but are wearing white shirts which show that they have been worn for quite some time without being cleaned, if they can be cleaned. The also seem to have a judgmental stare, as though they are fending off outsiders. The photograph is black and white as it can show the use of line, shape and a small amount of contrast in the photograph considerably better than colour and it can reflect what the society in South Africa is like, very bleak.

I like the exhibition for its shock value, but didn’t like the images of dead dogs and rats. Mainly because I have pet rats and have seen one die in my arms, and my dog whom I had since I was 5 years old had to be put down the day before we went to this exhibition bought up some emotions that one would not like to feel, ever.

Design Now!

Design Now! was an exhibition at the Melbourne Museum is an annual exhibition that presents the work of outstanding graduates from applied art and design courses nationwide. There was a broad range of designs that were shown from furniture to jewelry to embroidery. The exhibition was very spacious which allowed you study the artworks in great detail however the lighting was a bit of an issue, it only highlighted the artworks which created a lot of shadows so it was hard to tell if this look is what the artists were aspiring to achieve.

One design that I really liked was by a student from the University of South Australia called Harrah Wright. Her artwork titled “Your Threads Are Showing” was completed in 2008. The artwork showed a series of phrases and images of a girl’s face and hands placed carefully on the wall that have been created by embroidery. Although the front of the embroided pieces are tight and neat, the threads are left flowing out the back.

There are nine phrases in the artwork and this is what they say as they descend down the wall:

“She’s a lot like you”
“She can do no wrong”
“She is the only”
“She knows how”
“She won’t let it”
“She said it’s easy”
“She takes”
“She used to be”
“She sees what she wants”

Next to these phases are the following embroided images from bottom going up the wall:

A hand reaching up out of darkness
Hand over face
A face half covered in shadows
Shadowed face hiding behind hands
Face looking up, slightly happy expression
Face, very light at the top

It appears as the images descend down the wall they appear to get darker and more hidden by the hands. It shows the subject is slowly falling into a downward spiral of darkness. I feel that when she depicts the subject with hands over her face, I think she is attempting to shield herself from doubt and pain. But the last image of her face is nearly completely covered in shadows, almost like she has accepted her fate.
I think that by having the loose threads of cotton hanging out the back of the images and phrases, the artist is trying to show that the person and phrases put on a strong and sturdy portrayal on the outside to try and be defensive again attacks. But the small and frail threads that make up this front are really weak and lifeless. The phrases have a positive outlook, but are just as frail and fake as the person it is trying to comfort.