G’day, Echidna’s
Here we are in the salubrious surrounds of Tiger Airways’
departure lounge…
on the rail transit from Brisbane airport… and on the
apartment ledge in Brissie.
We’re up here for Wombats’ No:2 daughters’ part in a group
exhibition at
Queensland Centre for Photography.
More of that later.
Its been a very long time since I was in Brissie and it
has changed a lot.
Image on left: used to be the Treasury Building, now a
Casino... and if that’s not a metaphor of Australian governance I don’t know what
is.
Man upstaging dog…. I’m not kidding!
Young buskers had me thinking of a little girl drawing in
the Musee Rodin. they were very good, too.
A much more vibrant city than when last seen…may it
continue as such under its new regime.
At The Art Gallery I met and chatted with Henri van
Noordenburg who was also going to QCP…. check his website .. very fine work.
http://www.vannoordenburg.com.au
Kate Bernauer “I need a compass not an anchor”
Interesting works “…is an examination of our purpose and
place in society.”
“Circles” I found quite intriguing in that the figure in
the centre seemed to be a symbol for a nipple on a breast. Interestingly, too I
found the increase in contrast in the catalogue images added much to the punch
of the pictures.
Kathleen Winder “Columba Livia”
Portraits of pigeons .. clear, simple, straightforward
expositions which allow an informing view of genetically modified birds. One
comment was that they were in the vein of haute-couture fashion photography
statements which although an
interesting insight says, I think, more about the commentator than the images.
Gerwyn Davies “Steel Town Disciples”
“…playfully interrogates the construction and
performance of normative and dominant masculinities and their iconography and
in doing so, aims to contest the authority of prevailing masculinities and
their commonplace representations”.
Yep! They were fetishistic and reference was made to
Baroque Nature Morte and lighting but Caravaggio ‘s brio has become turgidly
tub thumping.
Yavuz Erkan “Unorthodox Aphorisms”
“…..poeticise in the power relationships between
showing, looking and being looked at.”
Catalogue made reference to “…a range of hues that are
highly sensual”
I found the high key and limited tonal range belied that
sensuality in the images. Rather, they took on a thin, sickly, cloying and
insipid tone.
The placements struck me as too precise for such little content
… these had the effect on me of a finger-nail being dragged down a chalkboard.
Nicolette Johnson “A Real Winter”
A rite of passage, a return to roots and a documentary of
a journey… very gentle and personal
images that needed cross referencing to effectively contextualise them.
Was the framing intended as an institutionalised document?
Paula Mahoney “Just a Touch of Death”
A presentation of a series of portraits of different
people, in the same pose, from the same viewpoint and in the same lighting, not
resting their hands on the skull, symbol of vanitas…. Which is presented as a
lone, irrelevant, or ignored(?) image.
It was an interesting concept in that you are somewhat
forced by the repetition of elements to concentrate on the differences in the
personalities.
“The images were photographed in the traditional way of
the Baroque portraitist Cornelis de Vos.” This is disconcerting as much of de
Vos work is generally lit from almost front, top and not as presented here at
90’ , “off prompt.”
Hmm, Baroque? More
High-Renaissance to me.. the light is not an active part in the
composition as it invariably is in baroque work and these are presented in a
very planar fashion, space stepping back parallel to the picture plane rather
than sliding obliquely away which would have suggested a more complex lighting
plan. I also thought these works could have been more
successful, framed and at a smaller scale.
Annemarie Dzendrowskyj
“Betwixt and Between”
The notional terms- ‘Twilight’/’Haze’ suggest a
relationship of sorts that already exists between these two states
Painterly and evocative videos.
The contemporary fashion of extensive external referencing
to somehow validate the existence of the works really gets an outing in this
show.
I have now, the same rule of thumb for this practice as I
do for advertising: The quality of the product is generally inversely
proportionate to the amount of blather!
I think it’s a “blind” for the conceptually askew and
those suffering from personality relevance deprivation.
It seems to me that much “art-photography” really tries
too hard to be ART.
The heavy hands of “relevance”, the “glance askance” faux
snapshot, the “choreographed meaningfulness” of staged landscape, the banal
obviousness of “seminal metaphor”, the misappropriation of “art historical
concepts”.
All of this is so bloody mock-serious.
Where’s the fun?
But its good to see it all; as each has its own merits and
its also fun to hear other “takes” on the meanings, although as said earlier,
we often express more about ourselves when critique-ing than we do of the work.
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| Kathleen with significant admirer |
And finishing with a “teaser” for the next post
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| Giselle, Wilis.... |
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Politics
State of Tardis’ top bird, the reluctant Ted Baillieu
(genus: Silvertail lncompetens) was finally snared (after ten invites) for an
interview with the redoubtable Josie Taylor on ABC’s “7.30 Victoria”:
subsequent interview showed why.
His best shot came when challenged as to why he’d taken so
long to appear; answering along the lines of ….I give lots of interviews and
you’re quite welcome to come along any time.
So there!
And looked embarrassingly uncomfortable when Taylor
suggested there were rumours that his media minders were advising him to go
public as little as possible.
It was a contrived set-piece; there were no questions as
to the obliteration of public secondary school and TAFE funding, Whooping Cough
vaccinations, the sacking of environment workers, the corporate shambles at
Hartie’s, the demise of private school, Mowbray College (from the
maladministrations of a board of “enthusiastic amateurs”).
Baillieu doesn’t think his backbencher
(allegedly)-with-hand-in-the-till, Geoff Shaw, should be charged by the police
as no-one has laid a complaint…. I wonder if I could?
A member of the public did try and was fobbed-off by the
police with what he said sounded like Tardis Govt. “spin”.
When Police start being overtly party-political you know something
is really rotting in the state fabric.
But he thinks his Liarbrils are “….growing the State….”
Yeah, right!
(Museum of Victoria has canned its work experience program
for school students …”lack of funding” from Tardis Govt.)
The Tardis State: where all goes Backwards.
Mr Rabbit and Pyne the Whyne competed for the “Best
Parliamentary Schoolboy Lark” by trying to escape Federal Parliament Question
time by………………….. running away!
These people see themselves as a credible government in
waiting?
Duuhhh!
Apart from their tasteless jibes, like “…dead man…” and
their importation of the worst of American political practice what else can one
think of them except as being a vicious, vacuous and policy bereft assortment
of petty mealy mouths whose lack of alternative policy was exposed when recent
Treasury numbers showed Auz to be in quite a healthy state.
The “Henny-Penny” crew’s doom-sayings were shown to be
just dismal rantings for a bogan audience; Dun & Bradstreet quoted in its
Global Risk Indicator that: “… Australia is one of the safest trade and foreign
investment destinations globally…. best ranked in the Asia-Pacific….”
Australian Federal Police are looking decidedly dog-legged
and impure after it is revealed (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-05/people-smuggler-discovery-a-catastrophic-failure/4052174)that
people smugglers operating out of Canberra were admitted as refugees and spent
3 months in detention (fellow passengers spent 2 years) and when the prime
suspect escapes the country after being publicly revealed AFP said they
couldn’t arrest as they had not enough evidence “…. because of lack of
resources”.
Wheat Board execs in Iraq bribery? Case closed due to “…lack of resources”…
smelly? You bet!
Should Howard, Reith, Costello and Downer feel relieved?
You Bet!
Prostitute “found” by Ch.Nine alleged to have bonked
Thomson (Labor) 5 years ago escapes to Ch Seven and says she got it wrong and
apologises to Thomson and family. Shows more ethics than either Nine or Seven
and the Liarbrils with their grubby tabloid boganisms.
Ex Senator Mark Abib (nominally Labor) now works for James
Packer. Always was a numbers man!
Beware the “kingmaker”, James, he’s got form.
Cheers Echidnas,
Shane
