Hany Armanious Benjamin Armstrong Peter Booth Daniel Boyd Pat Brassington Nadine Christensen Daniel Crooks Juan Davila Destiny D
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE SHAPE OF THINGS HANY ARMANIOUS BENJAMIN ARMSTRONG PETER BOOTH DANIEL BOYD PAT BRASSINGTON NADINE CHRISTENSEN DANIEL CROOKS JUAN DAVILA DESTINY DEACON & VIRGINIA FRASER MIKALA DWYER EMILY FLOYD MARCO FUSINATO TONY GARIFALAKIS DIENA GEORGETTI SHAUN GLADWELL HELEN JOHNSON JESS JOHNSON NICHOLAS MANGAN JAMES MORRISON DAVID NOONAN TO MIKE PARR PATRICIA PICCININI DAVID ROSETZKY RICKY SWALLOW PETER TYNDALL COME FRANCIS UPRITCHARD BUXTON CONTEMPORARY THE SHAPE OF THINGS HANY ARMANIOUS BENJAMIN ARMSTRONG PETER BOOTH DANIEL BOYD PAT BRASSINGTON NADINE CHRISTENSEN DANIEL CROOKS JUAN DAVILA DESTINY DEACON & VIRGINIA FRASER MIKALA DWYER EMILY FLOYD MARCO FUSINATO TONY GARIFALAKIS DIENA GEORGETTI SHAUN GLADWELL HELEN JOHNSON JESS JOHNSON NICHOLAS MANGAN JAMES MORRISON DAVID NOONAN TO MIKE PARR PATRICIA PICCININI DAVID ROSETZKY RICKY SWALLOW PETER TYNDALL COME FRANCIS UPRITCHARD 6 Director’s Foreword — Ryan Johnston 10 The shape of things to come — Melissa Keys 39 Stories and counter-histories — Astrid Lorange 69 Unsafe — Edward Colless 95 Art and failure: of things The shape of things to come Title The editor and publisher perfecting and corrupting Buxton Contemporary, The shape of things of things respectfully acknowledge the University of Melbourne to come Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri metallick bodies peoples of the Kulin Nation, their — Jan Bryant Published on the occasion of the Authors ancestors and Elders, on whose inaugural Buxton Contemporary Jan Bryant, Edward Colless, land this book was produced, exhibition The shape of things to Melissa Keys, Astrid Lorange and who form part of the longest 112 Artists’ Biographies come, 9 March – 24 June 2018 continuing culture in the world. ISBN 978-0-6482584-0-7 Director Buxton Contemporary 126 List of Works Ryan Johnston Subjects Corner Southbank Boulevard Contemporary Art, Australasian Art, and Dodds Street Curator 20th century Art, 21st century Art Southbank Victoria 3006 Australia Melissa Keys www.buxtoncontemporary.com Other creators/c ontributors Program and Services Coordinator Hany Armanious, Benjamin Contributors Ashlee Baldwin Armstrong, Peter Booth, Daniel — Dr Jan Bryant is a writer and senior Boyd, Pat Brassington, Nadine lecturer of Theory of Art & Design Subediting and proofing Christensen, Daniel Crooks, Juan in the Department of Fine Arts, Hilary Ericksen and Clare Davila, Destiny Deacon & Virginia Monash University Williamson. Arabic script and Fraser, Mikala Dwyer, Emily Floyd, — Dr Edward Colless is editor of transliterations Dr Christina Mayer. Marco Fusinato, Tony Garifalakis, Art + Australia and senior lecturer Additional proofing Olga Bennett, Diena Georgetti, Shaun Gladwell, in Critical and Theoretical Studies Jeremy Eaton and Eleanor Simcoe Helen Johnson, Jess Johnson, at the Victorian College of the Arts, Nicholas Mangan, James Morrison, University of Melbourne This work is copyright. Apart David Noonan, Mike Parr, Patricia — Melissa Keys is curator of Buxton from any use as permitted under Piccinini, David Rosetzky, Ricky Contemporary Copyright Act 1968, no part may Swallow, Peter Tyndall, Francis — Dr Astrid Lorange is a writer, be reproduced by any process Upritchard researcher and lecturer in the without written permission. Faculty of Art & Design, Enquires should be directed to University of New South Wales the publisher. Design Studio Round, Melbourne © Copyright 2018 Buxton Typeset in GT Walsheim, Favorit, Contemporary, University of Favorit Mono Melbourne Printing The views expressed in this Press Print publication are those of the Stocks: Pacesetter Satin Digital contributing authors and not 170gsm, Silk-HD Matt 113gsm, necessarily those of the editor Knight Digital Smooth 120gsm, or publisher. Kaskad Sparrow Grey 100gsm Edition: 800 Director’s foreword to acknowledge all artists whose work is held in the collection. — Ryan Johnston We look forward to introducing their work to our audiences over time Director, Buxton Contemporary through Buxton Contemporary’s ongoing program of exhibitions, commissions and publications, as well as through a diverse range It gives me great pleasure to introduce both Buxton Contemporary – of other public engagement activities. Melbourne’s exciting new cultural institution – and its inaugural exhibition, The shape of things to come. As incoming director of this new institution, I extend my deepest appreciation to Michael and Janet Buxton for their extraordinary gift. Integrated into the heritage fabric of the Victorian College of the I would like to recognise the leadership of those at the University Arts, Buxton Contemporary is the vision of Michael and Janet Buxton, of Melbourne who have supported this major initiative, including: realised in partnership with the University of Melbourne. It constitutes Chancellor Allan Myers AC; Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis a significant new addition to the Southbank arts precinct, which is AC; Pro Vice-Chancellor (Engagement) and Co-chair of the Buxton in many ways at the centre of Melbourne’s cultural life. This superb Contemporary Committee Professor Su Baker; members of the Buxton custom-built museum, designed by architects Fender Katsalidis, Contemporary Committee and the project management team, Luke provides a dynamic new forum through which the many communities Flanagan and Michelle Eattell. I would also like to acknowledge and served by the university can engage with contemporary art and ideas. thank Luisa Bosci, Director of the Michael Buxton Collection, and Kelly Over coming years, Buxton Contemporary will also provide local, Gellatly, Director of the Ian Potter Museum of Art, as well as her team, national and international contexts and connections that will foster for the exceptional work undertaken in the lead-up to the opening of and promote artistic practice in Australia. Buxton Contemporary. With its evocative title and appropriately forward-thinking focus, The launch of a new cultural institution is a rare moment. Buxton The shape of things to come is the introductory exhibition at Buxton Contemporary has been more than twenty years in the making, and its Contemporary. Featuring a selection of more than 70 works of art opening to the public in 2018 offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity 6 7 by 26 artists from the Buxton collection, this exhibition explores a to increase engagement with, and understanding of, contemporary constellation of ideas relating to the role and agency of the artist artistic practices. Along with the Buxton Contemporary Committee in society, culture and politics. It presents notions of artists as and staff, I look forward to realising the artistic, educational and storytellers, visionaries, witnesses, dissenters and foreseers, as well cultural potential of this remarkable donation, and to welcoming you as imaginers of different possibilities and futures. I would like to offer to Australia’s newest art museum. my congratulations and thanks to each of the participating artists, and to Buxton Contemporary Curator Melissa Keys for her discerning stewardship of this project. I would also like to thank Dr Jan Bryant, Dr Edward Colless and Dr Astrid Lorange for the insightful essays included in this catalogue. I extend my thanks also to the installation team, Beau Emmett, Liam O’Brien, Danae Valenza and Sam Murnae, carpenter Brian Scales as well as to curatorial intern Eleanor Simcoe, for their important contributions. Buxton Contemporary’s location at the Victorian College of the Arts reflects the fact that artists (both present and future) are very much at its heart. The collection currently consists of more than 350 works of art by 59 artists. Of course, it is not possible to include work by each of the artists in this opening exhibition, so I take this opportunity Director’s foreword Ryan Johnston 8 9 Daniel Boyd, Untitled (TI1) 2014 Courtesy the artist, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney and STATION, Melbourne The shape of things to come transformations of matter and with aspirations for the creative act itself. — Melissa Keys Through processes of casting and moulding, Armanious reproduces everyday objects, transmuting them into facsimiles that are sometimes Developed over more than two decades, the Michael Buxton Collection barely distinguishable from their actual selves. Exploring ideas of spans work by three or more generations of Australasian artists and artifice and representation, these uncertain forms are arranged together is representative of practices from the 1980s onwards. The collection in eclectic displays that are installed on sculptural furniture within comprises more than 350 works and encompasses a broad range the gallery. Forging the energy body (Swegypt), 2004, and Turns in of visual media: from painting, sculpture, photography and drawing Arabba, 2005, reflect Armanious’s Egyptian-Australian heritage as to ambitious installations. This rich diversity of work showcases the well as his interest in the mystical, transformative possibilities of art. myriad ways artists experiment with distinct forms, ideas and subjects. These works emerged at a time when Armanious was replicating and casting objects that were simultaneously reminiscent of Middle-Eastern The shape of things to come, which takes its name from a work in the forms, modernist Scandinavian design and a childhood immersed collection by Benjamin Armstrong, mines this remarkable resource. in 1970s pop sensation ABBA. Throughout his practice Armanious It sets out to trace a constellation of ideas around the role and agency obsessively explores and continually comes back