Life of the System 1980 - 2005
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University of Wollongong Research Online Faculty of Creative Arts - Papers (Archive) Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities 1-1-2007 Life of the System 1980 - 2005 Jacky Redgate University of Wollongong, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/creartspapers Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Redgate, Jacky: Life of the System 1980 - 2005 2007. https://ro.uow.edu.au/creartspapers/380 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Art Inspiring Education AN INTRODUCTION FROM THE CURATOR In the eleven years throughout the artists such as Bill Henson, Rosemary Redlands Westpac Art Prize’s existence, Laing, Patricia Piccinini, Robert Owen, the exhibition has focused exclusively Hossein Valamanesh or Shaun Gladwell on painting. I believe it was a very good might still be accessible for the Redlands concept to keep the prize within these Art Collection. narrow constraints for such a sustained The second reason for expanding the period and the resultant collection parameters beyond just painting is that, is of a remarkably high standard. It today, such categories seem a little too includes significant paintings by a range compartmentalised or even redundant. of Australia’s leading artists including For example, the Art Gallery of New South Gordon Bennett, Sally Smart, Lindy Lee, Wales’ new Contemporary Handbook Savanhdary Vongpoothorn, Rosella eschews such categories, grouping artists Namok and myself among them. according to movements, concerns or However, when I was asked to be the themes rather than the media in which curator for the prize this year, my first they express themselves. As Edmund impulse was to broaden the scope of the Capon, the director of the AGNSW, exhibition, and thus the collection, to and this year’s judge of the Redlands include the whole range of media used Westpac Art Prize, writes: “The world by contemporary artists today. There were of contemporary art is extraordinarily several reasons for this. dynamic, wide-ranging and bristling with Firstly, I felt that the prize money was an energy that genuinely reflects the perhaps no longer enough (given the pace and tenor of contemporary life and rapid expansion of the Australian art society.” world and the growth of prices in the So in keeping with this sentiment, which last ten years) to attract the top echelon I share with Edmund and many others, of today’s painters, whereas it was I wanted an art exhibition which would still sufficient to attract the foremost be both dynamic and exciting and also contemporary practitioners in other present an up-to-date cross-section of the media, for example photography, and best contemporary art practice today. As even in sculpture, installation and video. a teaching resource for Redlands students Thus works by such leading contemporary I felt that both the exhibition and the Beth Norling “Nothing to Hold on to” Nominated Artist winner 2006 2 collection should reflect the diversity of art It was a stroke of good fortune that which is already present in the secondary Edmund Capon agreed to judge the art curriculum, rather than focusing on prize and I am very grateful to him. I just one form – painting. would also like to thank Paul Greenaway In my selection of eighteen artists I from Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide; have chosen a core of older or senior Roslyn Oxley from Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, figures in Australian art such as Robert Sydney; Suzanne Hampel from Arc One Owen, Michael Nelson Jagamarra, Pat Gallery, Melbourne and Michael Eather Brassington and Marianne Baillieu and from Fireworks Gallery in Brisbane for then other significant artists such as Hilarie their suggestions and help in making my Mais, Lindy Lee, Jacky Redgate, Hossein exhibition possible. Also many thanks to Valamanesh, John Young and Vanila Olivia Sophia for her indispensable and Netto (who all appear in the AGNSW cheerful assistance and to Meg Lomm, handbook). Mark Harpley, David Day and the other staff at Redlands who have facilitated the In addition, there are often contemporary planning of this exhibition. Finally I would artists who are less well known yet who like to thank Redlands for asking me to produce work that I find exciting and of curate this exhibition and my daughter a high calibre. I am pleased to present Saskia (who is a student at Redlands) for a significant amount of contemporary giving me the pretext for agreeing to do indigenous art, and the works come from it. Also I would like to thank my partner all over Australia from as far away as Jennifer Slatyer for her encouragement Cairns, Adelaide, Hobart and Papunya as and advice. well as from metropolitan Sydney. I am very grateful to all the artists for accepting Above all I am indebted to all the artists my invitation – all accepted except for Bill in the exhibition for supporting my Henson who while very positive about concept and I hope that it is a stimulating and interesting event not only for the the exhibition was unwilling to break a Redlands community but for a much 30 year habit of not entering prizes. wider audience. My thanks also go One of the joys of this exhibition is that to the three eminent speakers in the the artists I have nominated will in turn associated speaker series: Luca Belgiorno- each nominate a younger ‘emerging’ Nettis, Leon Paroissien and Ivor Indyk. artist and therefore the composition of Their contribution will give an important the exhibition as a whole is to a large intellectual dimension and context to degree a mystery to me. This might an exhibition which is primarily a visual seem a risky curatorial practice, but I am experience. confident that there will be some very dynamic younger participants, given the Imants Tillers high calibre and sophistication of the Curator more established artists. Redlands Westpac Art Prize 2007 Imants Tillers “The Day of Metaphysical Healing” Art Prize winner 1996 3 SELECTED ARTISTS 1. Marianne Baillieu 2. John Beard 3. Pat Brassington 4. Maria Fernanda Cardoso Born in Stockholm, Marianne lives in Born in Aberdare, Wales, John studied at Pat is one of Australia’s leading Maria is a Colombian artist who uses Williamstown, Victoria. Marianne studied the University of London and the Royal photomedia artists. She has exhibited unconventional materials to produce Art at Canterbury University in NZ and College of Art. He has held numerous widely both in Australia and overseas for her sculptures and installations. Striking Science and Anthropology at Monash solo exhibitions and participated in the past 20 years. enough to be the girl in the skimpy University. group shows around the world. In 2005 Pat’s images are at once charming bikini flying high on a trapeze, she was John was awarded a major grant from and menacing. They rouse a sense of also serious enough to graduate from “As it was in the beginning” the Pollock Krasner Foundation. Last year disquiet as they subtly and humorously Yale. Instead of running away to join he won the Art Gallery of New South scratch at the underbelly of the human the circus, she decided to make her own In all of Marianne’s paintings; colours Wales Wynne Prize and the Kedumba – The Cardoso Flea Circus. Now she’s and abstract images are used to express condition. In her unique way, she blurs Contemporary Drawing Award, was the boundaries of the real and imagined, ringmaster, flea-trainer, prop-builder, set energies underlying visible reality. This invited to participate in the Australian and costume designer, friend and lunch one suggests creative forces stirring in stripping photography of its authority, Drawing Biennale and was made a bestowing it instead with the logic of to a bunch of highly-educated fleas: the primordial dark. Other interpretations Visiting Professorial Fellow at the College the stars of her tiny ‘Spectacular’. In her are possible. The title is provisional. Only dream or fantasy. Her work was selected of Fine Art, University of New South for inclusion in the Biennale of Sydney former life as a sculptor and installation after being long and livingly lived will Wales. This year he won the Archibald artist, Maria exhibited widely in major such a work speak its real name. in 2004, underlining the importance of Prize for Portrait Painting. her work in the context of international museums and galleries in Latin America, the U.S., and Europe. She currently Price: $24,000 contemporary art. “Sphinx” resides in Bogota and Sydney. “House Guest # 1” Sphinx is part of a new series called “Emu (Rectangle)” Other Faces, which is a solo exhibition “House Guest # 2” The emu is the national bird of Australia, opening in London in November. It Pat’s scenes hide the familiar. At a very tall bird, prominently featured in is an enigma and sits on the edge of first glance these new works appear the Australian emblem. perception – there is a silent dignity somewhat perplexing as the extra- about the painting. There are strong ordinary subjects allure the viewer The Emu works are a way of connecting images, which express a vulnerability in a into a strange intimacy. She explores to the land where I now live. Emu’s cultural sense. the uncanny of the everyday while camouflage with their background and Price: $37,500 unleashing the human desire of the colours and textures are reminiscent of the colours of the Australian bush. seduction and curiosity. House Guest 1 The feathers, which are unlike any other & 2 capture the fragile moment when a bird feather (double shaft, and they look curious child crawls or swings freely until and feel a little bit like straw), move in confronted by a feeling of vertigo.