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FOLLOW US
2010
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Katalin Bayer & Ferenc Varga NSW,
Peter Callas NSW, Ricky Cox NSW,
Tina Gonsalves QLD, Garrett Hughes
VIC, Garth Knight NSW, Peter
Lyssiotis VIC, Rod McRae NSW, Peter
Maloney ACT, Therese Ritchie & Chips
Mackinolty NT, Lynne Sanderson SA,
|Irene Torres VIC
Curated by Alasdair Foster
SATIRICAL, SUBVERSIVE, FANTASTICAL AND
FETISHISTIC
For generations the simple art of
cut'n'paste has been harnessed to shock, amuse and
amaze. Today 'cut' and 'paste' describe two
software routines initiated by the simple click on
the icons 'scissors' and 'clipboard'. But while the
computer programs have made the seamless
amalgamation of pictorial elements a virtual
breeze, some prefer the physicality of blade and
adhesive. Is there any real difference in the end
result?
In this exhibition we explore the contemporary
practices of photomedia collage, bringing together
the red-eyed computer geeks with the sticky
fingered artisans to journey through a world of
intense imaginings and perverse beauty.
Katalin
Bayer & Ferenc Varga
works
from the series
I Love Sydney 2004
inkjet prints
Katalin Bayer and Ferenc Varga take images made
around Sydney and its environs and reshape them in
the computer to create witty fantastical images of
the city. Bondi become a Mediterranean island; a
ship sails through the clouds; Qantas planes crowd
the skies like busy commuters. Whimsical though
their images are, they touch upon the fantasies and
inconsistencies of daily life.
"We give a new structure to the elements
collected together in our images, so that the good
and the bad are equivalent, and the nice and the
ugly are interchangeable."
Katalin Bayer and Ferenc Varga
Katalin Bayer and Ferenc Varga are photographic
artists based in Sydney.
Therese
Ritchie & Chips
Mackinolty
If You See This Exhibition You Know We Have Been
Murdered 1998
inkjet prints
Therese Ritchie and Chips Mackinolty satirise the
figures and failings of Top End politics, from
mandatory sentencing that disproportionately
targets Indigenous people to a homophobic
politician caught leaving a King's Cross sex shop
with a gay fireman video ("for research purposes
only"). The works are created in the computer using
a variety of photographic elements which are then
treated to give a result resembling a silk-screen
print, an effect further enhanced by printing onto
heavy watercolour paper.
Chips Mackinolty has exhibited widely since 1980
and his work is in many collections including the
National Gallery of Australia and the Museum Modern
Art in New York. Therese Ritchie has shown in
exhibitions around Australia since 1989 and is
represented in the collection of the National
Gallery of Australia. Both artists live and work in
Darwin.
Therese Ritchie and Chips Mackinolty are
represented by Karen Brown Gallery, Darwin
Garth
Knight
Imaginery
Menagery 2003-2005
digital type C prints
Garth Knight's images of insects are made from
thousands of picture fragments. Many have been
grouped using software programs which employ a
process of iteration to create fractal-like swirls
and spirals. The original fragments come from
photographs the artist makes of figures in erotic
forms of bondage and detailed viewing begins to
reveal this other level of scale and subject
matter. The insects are presented not in dynamic
action but symmetrically spread, as if pinned in
place by an etymologist … just as the human
figures are secured with knots and cords to present
their bodies as objects of contemplation.
"Each stage of this work arises from a kind of
contemplation. Elaborate bondage takes time and
involves an empathetic response to the person being
restrained. Photographing the result is a second
form of exploration - how does the person respond
to the bonds. And the many hours spent playing with
the photographs and assembling them on the computer
screen is certainly meditative. The images evolve.
I sometimes undertake research of a particular area
(such as fractals or insects) but when I start the
work I let go of all that and allow the work to
'make' itself." Garth Knight
Garth Knight is an artist, designer and performance
artist based in Sydney.
Irene
Torres
Various
works 2004
mixed media on board
Irene Torres starts her work with old anonymous
family snapshots found discarded in op-shops and
flea-markets. While any link to the identity and
history of the person represented has been lost,
she speculates on the possibility of who these
people might have been. The images are photocopies
and then cut out and placed onto schematic
panoramic landscapes built up on acrylic, charcoal
and graphite.
"I think of my pictures as a representation of
the experience of others in relation to my own. The
tension between the representation and the abstract
space has been an area of focus for me."
Irene Torres
Irene Torres is a Melbourne-based artist. She has
shown in a number of exhibitions in Victoria and
NSW.
Tina
Gonsalves
Trust
2002
DVD [4.24mins]
Trust uses fragments of rich sensual
imagery and sound to weave a portrait of unrequited
longing for intimacy and emotional contact. Made up
of thousands of picture elements, the artist brings
together photographs and drawings assembling them
in many hundreds of layers in the computer to
create a rich, loosely textured evocation of
uncertainty and isolation.
"We face each other, but we are not able to see
each other clearly. The story of who we are has
become more important than who we actually are. My
expectation shapes my image of you. I am so sure of
what I want, that I don't really see you at all. We
just co-exist. Two people full of fear …
Tomorrow I realise my life is about to change."
Tina Gonsalves
Tina Gonsalves is a multimedia artist from
Queensland currently on a residency in Japan. Her
artworks and animations have been shown extensively
overseas; she has participated in numerous
residencies including those in Canada, Czech
Republic, Thailand and UK, and received numerous
grants and awards for her video work.
Tina Gonsalves is represented by (for video)
Novamedia Arts and (for 2D work) Helen Gory
Gallery, Melbourne http://www.tinagonsalves.com
Peter
Callas
two
works from
Um Novo Tempo reimagining Brazil
1999
Ilford RA4 Gloss IP2000
Peter Callas produced these images following
several trips to Brazil where he researched into
Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomblé
(the Brazilian equivalent of Haitian Voodoo) and
hybrid religions such as Umbanda. The images take
elements from Brazilian political and religious
history and set them in a stage-like or game-like
environment in which they appear to interact or
conflict. The resulting images present an informed
by highly subjective response to the history and
culture of Brazil.
"Fish Market is based on a threatening stalking
experience I had in Manaus fish markets on the Rio
Negro (a tributary of the Amazon), Brazil. In the
image I represent the human species as a ravaging
virus which reaches every nook and cranny of the
biosphere." Peter Callas
Peter Callas is an artists based in NSW. He has
shown extensively around the world since the early
eighties. His work is held in dozens of public
collections worldwide including Museum of Modern
Art, New York, Kawasaki Museum, Japan and Berliner
Kunstverein, Germany.
Peter Callas is represented by Boutwell Draper,
Sydney and Arc One, Melbourne
Peter
Lyssiotis
works
selected from
A Gardener at Midnight 2004
modified magazine pages
Strictly speaking these works by Peter Lyssiotis
are not collage but a form of sgraffito, or
scratching (from which we derive the contemporary
term graffiti). Each sheet is a page from a glossy
magazine which has been manipulated using many
thousands of light scratches to break down the
detail of the image. The result resembles a fine
printing form such as etching (itself a process
involving scratching).
"These works are selected from a larger group
which, together with two original texts, form the
substance of a forthcoming limited-edition book.
The book explores the discovery during the Second
Gulf War of a (fictional) set of "drawings made on
the spot" by one Yabez Al-Kitab who accompanied the
Scottish painter and lithographer Sir David Roberts
on a trip to the Holy Land in 1830s."
Peter Lyssiotis
Peter Lyssiotis is a Melbourne-based artist making
limited edition books and films.
Garrett
Hughes
Various
works 1999-2003
type C prints
Garrett Hughes photographs subjects from various
angles and distances, and at different exposures.
The resulting transparencies are then cut up with a
scalpel and pieces from several images reassembled
using adhesive. This is an organic process in terms
of both the image's concept and physical structure,
with the ideas and the physical form of the work
flowing from direct manipulation of the materials.
The final transparency, which is a patchwork made
from several original images, is then placed in the
enlarger and used to make a print. This is an
unusual process resulting in a segmented image
reminiscent of a leaded stained-glass window.
"My conceptual approach is similar to the way in
which I physically create these works. A number of
ideas and influences are assembled in each image.
There are obvious references to the richness of
Renaissance painting and to the revelatory nature
of anatomical illustration. I am also interested in
the psychology of clothing and the way life is
experienced emotionally." Garrett Hughes
Garrett Hughes is an artist based in Melbourne.
Rod
McRae
Paper
Men 2005
decoupage on life-size
papier-mâché figures
This group of six male figures find their origins
in an earlier body of work in which the artist
overlaid in the camera images of the male body and
small male character dolls. The resulting images
contrasted the exaggerated stylisation of the
doll's features with the faces and bodies of real
men. In this new work life-size
papier-mâché mannequins have been
decoupaged with image fragments. The fragments
include pieces of the earlier doll/man images
(look, for example, for the outsized painted eye or
plastic chest). To these are added other images and
documents from contemporary life: adverts,
snapshots, work prints, timetables, bills and so
on. The figures form a tight group but make little
or no contact one with another. Forced into
proximity to the level of constraint, yet remaining
isolated.
"Emerging from the shadows stand six freakish
curiosities, neither doll nor man; six bodies of
plastic and flesh, smooth and fresh, blotchy and
rotting; six mummified figures, pieced from an
autopsy of life; sentimental fragments, funereal
absurdities, sideshow freaks … six paper men -
a body of anxiety."
Rod McRae
Rod McRae is a photographer, illustrator and design
educator based in Sydney.
Peter
Maloney
Various
works 2002-2005
Found objects, pencil and watercolour
Peter Maloney began these works whilst on an
Australia Council residency in New York. He found
the old photographs and documents in junk shops
around the city and began to assemble panels of
images which suggested new, if imaginary, personal
histories and circumstances. The works carry an
undertow of menace with references to loss and
danger, but the over-riding sense is of the
mismatch of the individual within the aspirations
of consumer society. The works were assembled and
arranged through an intuitive process, each 'mini
narrative' emerging from the act of handling and
rearranging the pictures on the board.
"Put two or more images together and you have an
instant plurality of possible meaning. I usually
begin working on these montages in a purely visual
way and I am happy to let the narrative
possibilities unfold through the act of reading the
finished work." Peter Maloney
Peter Maloney is an artist based in Canberra.
He teaches painting at Canberra School of Art, the
Australian National University.
Peter Maloney is represented by Utopia Art,
Sydney
Lynne
Sanderson
Krankin'
2005
interactive hard-and-software
sound by Peter Sansom
In Lynne Sanderson's Krankin' viewers can
interact with a projected image using any or all of
three hand-held winder units. Turning the handle of
each unit modifies the image in a different way,
the faster one winds the more pronounced the
result. Viewers can experiment with each unit alone
or play collectively to create hybrid effects. This
new work, made especially for the exhibition,
continues the artist's investigation into more
intuitive ways for people to interact with
technology based art and reflects her interest
in the
subconscious and the less-revealed aspects of the
individual psyche.
"I'm interested in the way we hide our character
with a socially-acceptable façade. The act
of playing with the winders involves people, and
the more we are involved the more we reveal …
so the figures shift and peel suggesting the
layered nature of personality … Compared to
bland societal norms, what is inside us is often a
bit freaky." Lynne Sanderson
Lynne Sanderson is a new-media artist based in
Adelaide. She began showing her work in clubs in
1991 and has since exhibited at the International
Symposium on Electronic Art in Montreal, the
Biennial of Electronic Art in Perth, Adelaide
Biennale, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and
on MTV.
http://sustenance.va.com.au
Image Credits:
• Garrett Hughes Verdant Velum
2002
• Katalin Bayer and Ferenc Varga I
love Bondi 2004
• Therese Ritchie and Chips Mackinolty
Mandatory 1998
• Garth Knight The Beetle Effect
2005
• Irene TorresVarious Woirks
2004
• Tina Gonsalves Trust 2002
• Peter Callas Fish Market Manaus
1999
• Peter Lyssiotis The Gardener at
Midnight 2004
• Garrett HughesFabris Anatomicus
2003
• Rod McRaePaper Men 2005
• Peter MaloneyVarious Woirks
2002-2005
• Lynne Sanderson Krankin'
2005
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