Telling stories

The art of story telling is not lost it seems, as it is stories which appear to be the inadvertent connection between the artworks and exhibitions I discovered these past couple weeks. I think many artists begin with a story to tell, be it theirs or someone else's, and then find a way to gel the narrative with their practice - overlaying it with medium, technique, theory, history, even 'style'.

Oliver Watts The Sea Hare (still from HD video) 2013
cinematography John A Douglas, costumes incollaboration with Yuliy Gershinsky
Co-written by John Connell

Oliver Watts' The Sea Horse is a re-telling of a particularly strange fairy tale by Brothers Grimm. Watts is a founding member artist/ director of Chalk Horse Gallery in Surry Hills, where the exhibition is on till 16 March.  Watts strips bare the typical fable rather than takes it as gospel: the archetypal beautiful maiden in the formidable tower, who seeks the strong handsome husband, and who sets up a multitude of obstacles for any poor sod who wants to win her undying love and eternal devotion, is turned into a study of assumed power and how it is easily trampled, outfoxed even. I don't think it was the absurd romance which attracted Watts to the story. 
As an artist, Watts' ongoing interest is the intertwining of art and the law, as justice and power in its social hierarchical manifestations. Satire is his language (he was a founding member of The Chaser) and writing, paper cut-outs, video and painting are his tools. 

Oliver Watts The fox, 2013
paper cutout, 100 x 150cm
image courtesy the artist and Chalk Horse Gallery

Oliver Watts The raven, 2013
paper cutout, 100 x 150cm
image courtesy the artist and Chalk Horse Gallery

The exhibition incorporates video and paper cut-outs. The story is sparsely told and silently played out by actors in striking painted paper costumes and with paper props. The video is bewitching; the framed wholly separate paper cut-outs, sensational.These cut-outs illustrate the key players in this mad story - the raven, the sea hare and very wily fox - but with the artist's face. The beautiful maiden is allowed her own portrait. Watts puts impose himself within the story - his face becomes that of the raven, the fox and the sea hare. He is also in the video. Again, an artist who weaves and reflects on his own performance in his multi-discplinary approach.

Oliver Watts I am free 2010
paper cutouts from I am Tristan Tzara
image courtesy the artist and Chalk Horse Gallery

Large scale, geometric, cut-out colourful paper shapes are pieced together to create oversized images of the fable's characters (portrait of the artist as the fox, for instance) and one large landscape. There is great depth and richness in the flatness and irregularity of the many coloured shapes. They feel like oversized quality posters, like his earlier cut-outs, steeped in the poster traditions of early 20th century, with a tilt at Dada. I am Tristan Tzara was an exhibition in 2010 of paper cut-out posters, based on Tzara's writings and cut a  particularly dashing, debonnaire air, with a touch of the absurd and a nod towards anarchy. Make sure to venture into the adjacent studios, to catch a glimpse of an artist at work, or a work just completed, or just the organised jumble of artists' bits and pieces. 

The Commercial is the now not-so-new gallery, set up by Amanda Rowell. The Commercial introduces a wholly different range of artists whose practices don't follow a regular fashion or aesthetic; artists who are idiosyncratic, challenging and shaking up and down preconceived notions.
Lillian O'Neil creates many stories about love by way of large, cut-out collaged photographs, arranged and layered in complicated symmetrical compositions. Total Romance, which has just closed at The Commercial was a bit saucy and felt a bit like a '70s free love fest. It is after all a '70s tradition is it not, to cut out favourite magazine images and plaster them all over the wall. Honing in on the detail is worth it. Catch a sense of the works on line.
Agatha Gothe-Snape shows with Rowell too. I think she is definitely someone to watch and her work, which is fascinating and always surprising, something to follow. 

Agatha Gothe-Snape Every Artist Remembered (ACCA), 2011
Power to the People Contemporary Conceptualism and the Object in Art,
curated by Hannah Mathews, ACCA, Melbourne 

She draws her work from performance, from conversation and participation with an audience, from the gesture, and from text and colour theory. Already, a rich yolky yellow is her signature colour. She is interested in the making of art and experiments with media to deliver her aesthetic and message. From handwritten names of artists written across large sheets of paper Every artist remembered, to 'electronic drawings', to power point presentations. Her approach is refreshing in its fearlessness. She is setting the path, not following.

Agatha Gothe-Snape, We all walk out in the end, 2012, acrylic paint, Site-specific work commissioned for entrance hall of the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (photo credit: M. Sherwood)
Courtesy the artist and The Commercial, Sydney

You can subscribe to a series of power point presentations/ displays by Gothe-Snape (for a small amount) which are delivered to your inbox  - I'm not sure how regularly - to absolute delight. Even though you've missed quite a few by now, the subscription includes all previous (and future) posts. Her power point presentations are bold exclamations of text, sound, colour in rhythmic moving patterns. They are a bit reminiscent of animated snippets of '80s music videos: bold but a very clever use of what I guess is really a fairly limited technology. It is a very sophisticated way for her to toy with ideas and engage a large audience. Wait for her next exhibition or subscribe and experience her work today.

Gunter Christmann, So pleased to meet you, 2012,
acrylic on canvas, 100.00 x 119.50 cm (photo credit: Jessica Maurer)
private collection, Sydney

Next exhibition (opens Fri 23 Feb) at The Commercial is well established artist Gunter Christmann, who continues to work "energetically and experimentally" creating both abstract and figurative paintings. He hasn't had a Sydney dealer for a while, but did present a very elegant show of small works Eyes and Mind last year at the East Sydney Doctors surgery. Such a great use of a waiting room (which was only recently King Street Gallery on Burton) - so much more engaging than a lousy, out of date magazine.

I found a very poignant story at The University Art Gallery (Uni of Syd)in its current exhibition Atelier Paris. This small, measured exhibition is the final in a series, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Power Bequest to the University of Sydney, a gesture of great benefaction by J W Power.

In 1967 The Power Institute acquired the Power Studio, one of the apartments in the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, an international complex for artists and writers. Many Australian artists and writers have had the great opportunity to live and work in Paris since then, staying in the Power Studio. The inside cover of this exhibition catalogue lists all of these writers and artists: it is a great who's who of major contributors to contemporary cultural life in Australia.

The exhibition features 5 divergent artists who have all enjoyed the hospitality of The Power Institute and shows the work that was generated by this visit: ADS Donaldson, Tony Schwenson, Michele Nikou, Alex Gawronski and Barbara Campbell. All very different work, but all with depth and integrity. Donaldson's abstract piece as a homage to JW Power is a knockout; Nikou's bronzed poached eggs are lovely; Gawronski's photographs add another layer to the understanding of those by Atget, but it is Campbell's story which I found compelling.

ADS Donaldson Untitled (for JW Power) 2002-12
oil on linen, 134 x 198cm
courtesy the artist and The Power Institute

Michelle Nikou, aeiou, 2012
bronze, 5 pieces ed of 3
courtesy the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney

Barbara Campbell prompt 43, 1001 nights cast (preface series) 2005
watercolour on Sennelier paper 10.5 x 24.5 cm © the artist

The works hung in the gallery do not start or finish there; rather are an introduction. What we see initially is 100 small watercolours, gorgeous gems in their own right, of painted texts - odd, seemingly disconnected phrases. The watercolours are details of a much larger project which is not fully articulated until the website is found, for me, offsite. Campbell's website  archives the entire project 1001 nights cast, in all its complexity and poignancy.
Start with the premis or the framework for the story project: 
In a faraway land a gentle man dies. His bride is bereft. She travels across continents looking for a reason to keep living. Every night at sunset she is greeted by a stranger who gives her a story to heal her heart and continue with her journey. She does so for 1001 nights.

There is a personal connection and a direct connection with the other 1001 nights,of ancient lore and known in English as The Arabian nights. This an assemblage of Arabic stories with which, so the story goes, Sheherazade amused the King over 1001 nights, to keep him distracted from beheading her in the morning. Her fate was sealed in her story telling and it worked. 
Campbell's 1001 nights cast is a similar act of survival and love, but told via the marvels of 21st century technology. Each day, in her Power Institute studio in Paris, Barbara read the daily newspaper reports from the 2nd Gulf War. The phrase which leapt out at her - something which spoke of the rawness of writing about war - she would paint, in watercolour. The watercolour was then webcast, sent out as a 'prompt' for someone to return within the day a story of no more than 1001 words, which somehow incorporated the phrase. At sunset, in which ever timezone she was in, Barbara would tell the story, put it out there online to whoever was listening. 1001 stories were told over 1001 nights.

Barbara Campbel lprompt 11, 1001 nights cast (preface series) 2005
watercolour on Sennelier paper 10.5 x 24.5 cm © the artist

Barbara Campbell prompt 1, 1001 nights cast (preface series) 2005
watercolour on Sennelier paper 10.5 x 24.5 cm © the artist

Each painted prompt is numbered. Each are documented on the website: pick one, any one, and up comes the prompt and the story. At random, I started at the beginning - no 1: The challenge of healing. Up came a story co-written with Barbara by Anne Brennan which moved me deeply. No 11 is the Carefully crafted image written with Domenico de Clario. And so it goes.

As I scroll through the prompts, it becomes obvious that this is a large scale and well-organised project that involved many people - no doubt friends, friends of friends, colleagues, enthusiastic bystanders - from all over the world, across many time zones but who came together each day, at a particular time, to offer a story to Barbara, in a gesture of healing.
Barbara's practice has long been based in performance and text, its meaning, structure and visual qualities.  Here emotion intersects with this quiet, patient, ongoing performance to construct a meaning, across time and distance, which is universal in its message and content. She is in conversation with Assoc Prof Mary Roberts on Wed 13 March 1pm, no doubt in the University Art Gallery. It would be well worth hearing her tell her story. 
As a real romantic, but not so pathetic as the princess in the tower, I hope for, and look forward to, the living happily ever after bit...... 

An inspired start to this year

One month in and it has been an inspired start to the year. 

Let's start with an installation by Chinese artist Song Dong Waste Not at Carriageworks and then a more detailed survey exhibition by Song Dong Dad Mum, Don't worry about us, we are all well at Gallery 4A.  Waste not is a poignant tribute to the artist's mother, representing her mourning after the death of his father. Consisting of the entire contents of her house, Waste Not reflects a journey of hardship and grief, resulting in a display of personal resilience and, ultimately, a celebration of life.In Gallery 4A the artist uses multi-media and images of his family from the past and present to reunite them. Both exhibitions are deeply moving, as a they honour his family and reflect his respect for family. On until 31 March at Gallery 4A till 17 March at Carriageworks.

Song Dong Waste not (detail)
image courtesy the artist

Song Dong Waste not (detail) 
image courtesy the artist

Also over the holidays, Anish Kapoor at the MCA. It is on for a while - until 1 April. A must. Take along with you anyone who is allergic to art in any form and they will be cured. The works are fascinating, intriguing, ambiguous and ambitious. Only thing is, be prepared to talk about the work - there is not much in the way of (free) support material to enlighten your companion. The hand-out room brochure is neither particularly clear, nor easy to follow. 
To kick start the 2013 contemporary art program at AGNSW We Used To Talk About Love - an exhibition curated by Natasha Bullock and supported by the Balnaves Foundation. Love is talked about from the initial swoon to the final tears by an impressive line up which includes Tim Silver, David Rosetzky, Polly Borland, Grant Stevens, Justene Williams and Angelica Mesiti whose is represented by her ecstatic video Rapture (Silent Anthem) which won the 2009 Blake Prize for Religious Art. The exhibition is enhanced by the curator's collaboration with Melbourne based architect Jan van Schaik who has reconfigured and (it should be said) reinvigorated the contemporary galleries for the exhibition. The familiar expectations of anticipating the exhibition hang have been removed, so a wander through is all a complete and delightful surprise. 

Angelica Mesiti Rapture (silent anthem), 2009 (still)
HD video, 10:03min
image courtesy the artist and AGNSW

Bullock's response to artworks, and to curating exhibitions, is emotional, personal and genuine, underpinned by a firm intellectual command. The result is a wonderful, invariably joyful and very satiating experience.  

Breenspace in Surry Hills - Alberta St, 3rd floor - has reopened for the year with an interesting small mixed exhibition of invited and stable artists: Caroline Rothwell, Mira Gojak and Emma White. Gojak is new to (most) Sydney audiences (including myself) but well-known in her Melbourne home town. Really interesting sculptures, which are well positioned in the space. There is a fluid dynamism to each of the three complicated, tangled works. The elements of each piece are held together with carefully considered and balanced placement, as they gently slide down the wall, fall from the ceiling or rise up from the floor. Well worth viewing.

Mira Gojak Prop for instabilities 3, 2012
mixed media, dim c 210x200x110cm
image courtesy the artist and Breenspace

Mira Gojak Prop for instabilities 2, 2012
mixed media, dim c 250x130x100cm
image courtesy the artist and Breenspace

Unfortunately, Peloton's inspired start to the year is to be their last. I gather this great artist-run space will close soon after this great new exhibition. How does this happen? Something about loss of funding from the State Government. The more important question though is why does happen? Peloton's core philosophy ".... is to connect the local Sydney artscene of both emerging and established artists with that of interstate and international art community concerns and critical contexts....[to provide] a conduit between the art schools and professional practice providing opportunities for recent graduates as well as established art practitioners, including academics, to stage experimental exhibitions and projects without commercial constraints." At a time when the Sydney art scene needs a boost in confidence and an injection of support, this will be a significant loss to the town. So do not delay, head over to Surry Hills to view the latest and final offering: an exhibition of recent work by Daniel Mudie Cunningham and Cherine Fahd. 

Fahd is a photographer; Mudie Cunningham has a multi-disciplinary approach, working more in video and installation. Both find the narrative in their works by way of performance, but use a digital medium to describe it. The two artworks by these two artists in the shared space speak to each other well. Yes, the balloons and the breathing bit are the obvious threads, but not the sole connections. 

Cherine Fahd July, 2011, from series 365 attempts to meditate 2011

Fahd's work here - 365 attempts to meditate - is a photographic diary of the ritual of her own meditation in 2011. There are 12 large scale broadsheets pinned to the wall, with up to 31 small photographs on each. That is, each sheet is a different month with the snapshot of meditation from each day printed on it. Where she missed a day of meditation, there is a blank space with the number of the day on it.

Cherine Fahd November, 2011, from series 365 attempts to meditate 2011

Each photograph is of her, presumably at home, preparing to meditate by exhaling into a balloon; that initial breath to signal the beginning of a few moment's peace. The balloon becomes the constant throughout the work - a colourful splash which makes visual that all important breath as well as adds "a sculptural and performative component to the act" [Cherine Fahd, exhibition room sheet, 2012]. 
The suite can be read not just as a process but also as a self-portrait. Fahd is the subject though her face is invariably hidden by the inflated balloon; at home, in what is usually an intensely private moment, finding her way to inner peace. 

Cherine Fahd 78/ 365, 2011, detail from March, 2011, from series 365 attempts to meditate 2011

Balloons have figured before in earlier works by Fahd, and which, again, are a deliberate strategy to take the image beyond that of a simple portrait, as well as injecting a little humour and light relief. We haven't seen much of her or her work in recent years and I have really enjoyed reconnecting.

Cherine Fahd, Boob job, 2001
Ctype photograph, 51 x 61cm
image courtesy the artist

Cherine Fahd, Mary, 2001
Ctype photograph, 51 x 61cm
image courtesy the artist

Daniel Mudie Cunningham's work is as revealing and as intimate a portrait as Fahd's suite.

Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Take my breath away, 2012
HD video
Performers: Dani Marti and Daniel Mudie Cunningham
Camera & Editor: Tina Havelock Stevens

Take my breath away is a video of two men, one the artist, the other a friend (fellow artist Dani Marti), facing one another, naked from the waist up (all we see) and very close. A white balloon is exchanged between them: one exhales into the balloon, then hands the balloon to the other, who places the balloon to his lips, and breathes in that which was breathed out; then breathes out, and passes the balloon back. And so it goes. It doesn't appear that they breath independently in between the balloon exchanges: they are relying on each other's breath to sustain themselves. Though a schmaltzy rendition of "Take my breath away" plays in the background, you can still hear the breathing and so not removed from their moment.
Each breath is different; some deeper, some shallower, telling of their state of mind as they engage and exchange. Each exchange is careful and measured, smooth and even.  
The video alludes to the erotic - the breath, the warmth, the intimate exchange and the balloon itself - and I found it very intimate - confrontingly so. I wonder how they feel about tasting each other's breath and spittle, feeling the warmth of each other's breath in their mouths. There is no obvious expression about distaste or discomfort, save a few shorter inhales and exhales every now and then. I don't know about their relationship with each other but I wonder how their relationship has shifted since this performance.

Marina Abramovic and Ulay, Breathing In/ Breathing Out 1977

Gelatin-silver print ,110 x 150 cm, ed 2/2 A.P.

image courtesy the Pomeranz Collection, Vienna

There is a continuity of history here: Mudie Cunningham's work harks back to the iconic performance of Marina Abramovic and Ulay of 1977. Abramovic is the self-described as the "grandmother of performance art" and was a pioneer of the earliest experiments and forays into performance as art form. In her collaborative performance with Ulay Breathing in breathing out, (Belgrade, April 1977), she and Ulay are connected by their mouths only and share their breaths for almost 20 mins. There is no sneaking of fresh air; just shared breaths, until they both collapse. Strange but true. Abramovic and Ulay push the boundaries of their own and the other's bodies, the connection with another and with one's own self.
Just as an aside, Abramovic is coming to Australia to participate in Kaldor Art Projects next big venture, 13 Rooms, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Klaus Biesenbach, in April 2013. Described by Obrist as "[An] exhibition...like a sculpture gallery where all the sculptures go home at night." No doubt, more of that later - it looks ambitious and fantastic. Abramovic has been here before with Ulay, to participate in the 1979 Biennale of Sydney (curated by the late and great Nick Waterlow). 
So there you go - the thread of art history runs deep and strong and is nurtured in venues like Peloton. This type of approach encourages stronger connections and a richer appreciation of contemporary art practices. It should not be forced to close. Should we take to the streets? Anyone?