VOLUME 18 VOLUME NO. 4 DECEMBER 2009 THE JOURNAL OF THE ASIAN ARTS SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA TAASA Review ADORNMENT CONTENTS Volume 18 No.4 December 2009 3 EDITORIAL TAASA REVIEW Sandra Forbes and Sabrina Snow, guest editors THE ASIAN ARTS SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA INC. Abn 64093697537 • Vol. 18 No. 4, December 2009 ISSN 1037.6674 4 WHITE RABBIT Registered by Australia Post. Publication No. NBQ 4134 Elizabeth Keenan editoriAL • email: [email protected] 6 SO WHAT IS ‘CONTEMPORARY’? QUEENSLAND’S APT6 General editor, Josefa Green Russell Storer publications COMMITTEE Josefa Green (convenor) • Tina burge 9 ON BEING ART: DADANG CHRISTANTO’S SURVIVOR Melanie Eastburn • Sandra Forbes • Ann MacArthur Helen Holmes Jim Masselos • Ann Proctor • Susan Scollay Sabrina Snow • Christina Sumner 10 THE ARTISTS OF ANGKOR: CONTEMPORARY AND MEDIEVAL STONE WORKSHOPS IN CAMBODIA DESIGN/layout Ingo Voss, VossDesign Martin Polkinghorne PRINTING 13 GREAT PERFECTED BEINGS John Fisher Printing Jackie Menzies Published by The Asian Arts Society of Australia Inc. PO Box 996 Potts Point NSW 2011 16 THE ART OF IMITATION: MING WONG AT THE VENICE BIENNALE www.taasa.org.au Alexandra Crosby Enquiries: [email protected] TAASA Review is published quarterly and is distributed to members 19 SYDNEY’S BLANKET OF CLAY: A VIEW OF THE AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS TRIENNALE of The Asian Arts Society of Australia Inc. TAASA Review welcomes Merran Esson submissions of articles, notes and reviews on Asian visual and performing arts. All articles are refereed. Additional copies and subscription to TAASA Review are available on request. 21 THE PAZYRYK CARPET, 60 YEARS ON Leigh Mackay No opinion or point of view is to be construed as the opinion of The Asian Arts Society of Australia Inc., its staff, servants or agents. No claim for loss or damage will be acknowledged by TAASA 24 IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN: TWO JAPANESE TEMPLE GUARDIANS Review as a result of material published within its pages or Russell Kelty in other material published by it. We reserve the right to alter or omit any article or advertisements submitted and require indemnity from the advertisers and contributors against damages 25 ALASTAIR MORRISON (1915-2009) or liabilities that may arise from material published. Claire Roberts All reasonable efforts have been made to trace copyright holders. 26 CITIES OF THE SILK ROAD: A TAASA SEMINAR TAASA MEMBERSHIP RATES Christina Sumner $60 Single $90 Dual 28 RECENT TAASA ACTIVITIES / TAASA MEMBERS’ DIARY $90 Single overseas (includes postage) $30 Concession (students/pensioners with ID) $95 Libraries (overseas, $95 + $20 postage) 29 BOOK REVIEW: COMMUNITY AND MEMORY $195 Corporate/institutional (up to 10 employees) Jocelyn Chey $425 Corporate/institutional (more than 10 employees) $650 Life membership (free admission all events) 30 WHAT’S ON IN AUSTRALIA: DECEMBER 2009 – FEBRUARY 2010 advertising RATES Compiled by Tina Burge TAASA Review welcomes advertisements from appropriate companies, institutions and individuals. Rates below are GST inclusive. Back page $850 Full inner page $725 Half page horizontal $484 Third page (vertical or horizontal) $364 Half column $265 Insert $300 For further information re advertising, including COVER discounts for regular quarterly advertising, please contact OBJECT OF DESIRE by WANG ZHIYUAN, CHINA, 2008,FIBREGLASS, BAKING PAINT, [email protected] LIGHTS, SOUND, 355 X 356 X 70 CM THE DEADLINE FOR ALL ARTICLES FOR OUR NEXT ISSUE IS 15 DECEMBER 2009 A FULL INDEX OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN TAASA REVIEW since its beginnings THE DEADLINE FOR ALL ADVERTISING IN 1991 IS available ON THE TAASA WEB SITE, WWW.taasa.ORG.au FOR OUR NEXT ISSUE IS 1 FEBRUARY 2010 2 TAASA COMMITTEE EDITORIAL Judith rutherford • PRESIDENT Sandra Forbes and Sabrina Snow, guest editors Collector and specialist in Chinese textiles GiLL Green • VICE PRESIDENT Art historian specialising in Cambodian culture Ann GuiLd • TREASURER This December edition of the TAASA Review, pressures of life today, these artists interpret Former Director of the Embroiders Guild (UK) is indeed a collaborative effort: Josefa Green aspects both of traditional and modern life in KAte JohnSTON • SECRETARY and myself soliciting articles, Sandra Forbes China to produce works of striking creativity, Intellectual property lawyer with completing the bulk of the editorial work, and wit, and freshness - especially in the inventive an interest in Asian textiles finally myself pulling it all together! Excellent range of media used. The work of White HWEI-FE’N CHEAH teamwork from the TAASA Publications Rabbit artists are represented on both our Lecturer, Art History, Australian National University, with an interest in needlework committee!! front and back covers this edition. JOCELYN CHEY Visiting Professor, Department of Chinese Studies, This Review was intended as general issue, Alexandra Crosby, writing from the Venice University of Sydney; former diplomat but in early 2009, our publications team Biennale, discusses how the Singaporean Matt COX discovered that Australia was offering this year artist – curator team Ming Wong and Tang Fu Study Room Co-ordinator, Art Gallery of New South a most vibrant and exciting exhibition scene, Kuen manipulate stereotypes of race, gender Wales, with a particular interest in Islamic Art of especially in the context of contemporary Southeast Asia and nationality, to show the changing nature Asian art. Since July, Sydney has played of cultural identity in an increasingly global PHILIP Courtenay host to the Australian Ceramics Triennal; has Former Professor and Rector of the Cairns Campus, world. Wong does this with wit and humour James Cook University, with a special interest in seen the opening in August of the exciting through the medium of video, giving insights Southeast Asian ceramics new private museum specializing in Chinese into the changing interpretations of national SANDRA FORBES contemporary art, The White Rabbit, and film and its identities. Editorial consultant with long-standing interest has witnessed the stirring performance art in South and Southeast Asian art of Indonesian Dadang Christanto at Gallery Underlying many of the works of Asian artists Josefa GREEN 4A. In addition, in Brisbane, on December discussed in this review is an awareness of General editor of TAASA Review. Collector of Chinese ceramics, with long-standing interest in East Asian 5th, the sixth Australian Triennal of Asian tradition, where traditional media and art art as student and traveller Pacific Art (APT) a major regional forum practices have been revised or reinterpreted GERALDINE HARDMAN for contemporary art, will open at the using contemporary methods and ideas. This Collector of Chinese furniture and Burmese lacquerware Queensland Art Gallery (QAG). To complete is evident in the work as much at the APT ANN PROCTOR the Asian exhibition coverage with a more as it was in that of the emerging ceramicists Lecturer in Asian Art, Sydney University traditional theme, we feature an article on at the Ceramics Triennale. Many of these and the National Art School, Sydney the stunning Indian art collection of the royal artists draw their inspiration from Asia, ANN ROBERTS Rathore family of Jodhpur, now on show at especially China, as reflected in the title of Art consultant specialising in Chinese the Art Gallery of New South Wales. So if this ceramics and works of art one of its 40 exhibitions Another Silk Road. edition were to have a title, ‘Australian Asian The Review carries this theme further with SABRINA SNOW Has a long association with the Art Gallery of New art exhibitions and Events 2009’ would seem a report on the TAASA seminar on The Silk South Wales and a particular interest in the arts of China a most appropriate one. Road held in Sydney in September. A series CHRISTINA SUMNER of speakers offered a variety of perspectives Principal Curator, Design and Society, The 2009 APT at the QAG is a culmination on the history, architecture, art and texture Powerhouse Museum, Sydney of sixteen years showcasing the exciting of human life in the Silk Road cities from SPECIALIST ADVISOR ON NE ASIA developments in contemporary art in our antiquity to the present. Leigh Mackay also Min-Jung Kim region, amongst the most dynamic in the presents here a fascinating article on the oldest HON. Auditor global context. ( See TAASA Reviews Aug 93; preserved Persian pile carpet ever excavated, Rosenfeld Kant and Co Dec 96; Sep 99; Sep, Dec 02; Dec 06 ) Here, from Pazyryk on the edges of the Silk Road in state representatives Russell Storer traces the changes in the aims North Central Asia, thought to be from a 3rd AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY and orientation of the Triennial, showing how century BCE Persian inspired workshop. ROBYN MAXWELL it has responded over the years to the artistic Visiting Fellow in Art History, ANU; movements in Asia and the Pacific. From an For lovers of sculpture and Khmer art, this Senior Curator of Asian Art, National Gallery of Australia early focus on a general introduction to artists edition of TAASA Review carries a leading NORTHERN TERRITORY and practices in the region, to that of looking at article on contemporary and medieval Joanna Barrkman individual practices, it is now launching its most stone workshops in Cambodia, by Martin Curator of Southeast Asian Art and Material Culture, ambitious project yet, in 2009 exhibiting over Polkinghorne. Martin’s detailed research Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory 100 artists from 25 countries. This APT presents provides new light on the methods and QUEENSLAND challenging questions on the intrinsic meaning practices of the artists who continue to Suhanya RAFFEL of contemporary art, covering its varied Head of Asian and Pacific Art, Queensland Art Gallery pass on exquisite carving techniques from practices, forms and approaches, and goes on centuries - old prototypes . SOUTH AUSTRALIA to explore the dominant themes that preoccupy JAMES BENNETT contemporary Asian artists – popular culture, Curator of Asian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia This December edition of TAASA I think consumerism, social issues, dislocation, place offers something for everyone.