Art Express

 

Persons of Perception; Avoid Things Coloured Red; One and Five Pencils; A Bunch of Paintings Containing Lessons for the Future - detail view

Tal Chodos - Mariah College

Today at work, instead of having our Monday morning meeting in the office. We went out to see Art Express instead (yes, I do have a cool job thank you very much!). I've been a bit of a regular attendee of the show over the years, from my hopeful visits in year 9, 10 and 11. To my more bitter visit post year 12 when my work didn't make the grade! ; )

Untitled (Dialogue with Average Significance)  - detail view

Tara Rose Gurisik - Wyndham College

Dragster
Joshua Warren - Barrenjoey High School
 
This year I was quite blown away by the standard of work. To be honest, a lot of years I've been, there's been a lot of coverage given to some, well, to be honest, quite derivative artworks. (you know, Bill Henson lookalikes etc). Or, they've stuffed it full of too many pieces, all crammed into a small space.

Arpeggio
Belinda Bortolin - Terrigal High

Precious Cargo

Cassandra Simonetti - Santa Sabina College

This year, it is relatively sparsely hung, and overall the standard of work was exceptionally high, and really original....then I started to look closer at the school names where the students were from. It seemed to me to be a massive representation from some of the top private schools in the state (mainly Sydney). Knox, Ascham, Queenwood etc. While not taking away from the achievements of these students, I can't help but wonder whether these entries were hung because of their gallery-standard presentation that these students could afford to do...? Is that a terrible thing to wonder?

Work in progress - finished!

Here's the finished product of the painting I posted recently from Rozelle. Would I be the only one that would attempt to post my mail in this meter box?

Les Archives Du Coeur

While in Tasmania recently, the Count and I stumbled upon Mona Foma a contemporary art festival head annually in Hobart. I was so excited that our trip coincided with it as I had heard a great interview on the radio with Brian Ritchie the curator (and also Violet Femmes member). We didn't get to see much while we were there, but we did get to take part in Christian Boltanksi's 'Archives Du Coeur' project!

The Count getting his heartbeat recorded for Christian Boltanksi's 'Les Archives Du Coeur'

Since 2005 Christian Boltanski seeks to collect heartbeat recordings around the world, to bring together all the hearts of mankind. A truly universal project, these Archives du coeur will be kept sheltered from the effects of time on the Japanese island of Teshima, in the Inland Seto Sea, made available by a philanthropist 

I now have a CD recording of my heartbeat, all the proceeds of the recordings - (the charge $5 for the CD), were going to disaster relief in Haiti. But I can be safe in the knowledge that even if I lose this said CD my heartbeat is locked up in some vault on the Japanese island of Teshima. Which thus far seems to be famous for illegal waste dumping.

 

Rozelle

Cute work in progress covering an electricty meter box near Darling St Rozelle. Wonder how it's going to end up? I think it's by Chris Whelan (that's if I've spelt his name right) He left a note on the top with his name and website details saying that the work had been comissioned by Leichhardt council. 

My Rozelle meandering also led me to Atereal a gallery that represents my old amazing photo media tutor Simone Douglas. They've got a really nice exhibition there at the moment showcasing Claude Jones and Rhonda Dee. Rhonda Dee's work really seemed to sum up my mood today!

Who needs a light meter?

Blackheath

New Year's for us was spent at Blackheath at this fantastic guesthouse. We bushwalked, ate and slept and fantasised about leaving the big smoke and living up in the Mountains. I think this is always a good indicator of a great holiday - when you start to entertain notions of de-camping from the day to day and moving into your holiday full time!...or maybe it just means we need more holidays!

Blackheath
 

I shot these images during our last (misty) morning up in the mountains, and only just received the film back. There is something great about having to wait for your images in the digital age! Towards the end of the filming I realised I hadn't turned my light meter on! D'oh! So I was extremely trepidatious about whether anything would turn out. When I got the film back I gingerly eased out a few feet of it, hoping to see something...but as far as I could see it was a blank, then I eased out a few more feet, and a few legible frames appeared! Hooray!

Untitled?

Untitled - Type C print

 

Mmm, the title of no title. I've always kind of poked fun at it a bit, but sometimes it can be the right thing to do. Not sure it would be the right thing to do with this image. But I have yet to discover where exactly this series is going, so it will remained untitled for now, but not 'Untitled' you see...

 

Untitled - Type C print

I've often dreamed up titles for works before they are created. In fact, I currently have a one particular project that I've been ruminating on for quite some time now, which has a kick ass title. But here, with this work, I feel as if I'm still working it out. With a lot of my work being quite abstract and yet deliberately suggestive of form or narrative, I often feel that my titles are clues. They function for me as breadcrumbs, to attempt to coax the viewer into a deeper interaction with the work.

Untitled - Type C print

My Trusty Boots Projector

 

                                              the zoom master 200

This is my trusty super 8 film projector, my knight in shining armour bought it for me when we were living in London. It came complete with a fantastic and invaluable instruction booklet, that I still need to consult most times it gets dragged out! There's something very special to me inherent in the qualities of images created through film. Something that I feel is lost in the digital capture.

When I print photos from negative, the printing process most often becomes more important than the image capture itself. Using my super 8 at home is my way of creating my very own home darkroom.