Snot A Lot

Couldn't give a rave on radio this week

I've lost my voice

I have beeen away from the computer for a few days.

I aslo missed the opening of disobedience (bugger) and Banalities for the perfect house (bugger).

Disobedience has a big bus tour thing on the 24th (organised by suqatspace)
the artlife did a promo: http://artlife.blogspot.com/

beofre collapsing I did see a couple of things that made me feel really happy.

One was Zanny Beggs "uniform " installation at mori. she's stretched a whole heap of tiny little canvases with bits of pretty cloth and arranged them up on the wall. the form a pixelaated image of a face -whihc only gets resolved when you Step right back.
Regina walter's big spectacl;e chain stalactite was nice wiht the other drawings. I didn't 'get the video" and everything looks forlorn in the hangar.
Luke Parkers "twin hanging" was a scarey sombre little piece in the back room. Its about the twin hanging of 2 boys in Iran for un husbandlike behaviour. He has some lightboxes with poignant text.

Before collapsing I also went to the MCA Primavera artists floortalks. Primavera made me rool happy this year coz it has a lotta painted stuff.

I was happy to see Monica Behrens crazy pop stuff stuck in a room - and bemused by her 'stupid as a painter' primitivist act. "Yeah, like I'm sooo hungover ...and yeah .... like this is how I kinda do stuff". Keeping it real, and playing dumb against the MCa edcuational staffs query about 'still life being traditional' - so that curator Felicity Fenner - could provide the authentic interpretation of Monica's work.
sorry that last sentence made NO sense.
the paitnings are big bright smooth oil paitnings of big kitsch objects. Like steaks, sausages, McMansions, prawns, a tin of Mr Sheen. Behrens' has arragned them into scenarious she calls still lifes and them painted them. they are cool. I wish she'd acknoweldged Gordon Bennets use of Mr. sheen to stand in for John Howard.

Tom Muller has to fight against my own fearful prejuedice agsaindst that old buzz word "mapping". His work was also minimalist, and geometric. Runways, weather. Dry. He spoke about the passport project tho.

Fiona Lowrys works are spooky and intense but scarily reminicent of Howard Arkley (its the spray can thing), and Madeleine Kelly's floaty weird images are...floaty weird images.

Yukultji Napangati has a whole heap of wormy scenes on the gorund floor whihc segued into another room of indegenouss abstracts by Pedro Wonaeamirri. The latter had lots of rarrking. I don't know much more aobut them than the colours and forms (yet).

Danie Mellors big shield room is absolutely fabbo. He's cast a whole heap of shields (that reminded me of Ned Kelly's armour) and painted them with iconographic hints of lost languages. THIS is mapping. There's a nother whole wall - of ceramic boomerangs too. This is a great opener for the show - and really accessible and engaing on fomral, emotic intellectula and aesthetic levels... But I wondered later about the tastefulness of the MCA - whihc hosted a DINNER in the gallery rom. Seeing a whole heap of plates and cutlery reflecting the formal arrouangements of Boomerancs and shields on the wall kind weirded me out.

Jemima Wyman - has convinced me that I need never pick up a paint brush for the rest of my days. She has done a MASSIVE DAYGLO ENAMEL PANORAMA of Cradle mountain in Tassie. And dried the enamel layers so bits of it shrunk and shrivelled. Its really really really yummy, and engaging and insane.

I was invited to be part of the panel for Michelle Usher's 'feedback' discussion on her installation. The discussion was kinda cool - but the objective/subjective split had me stumped a little (these are the disadvantages of having a degree in scientific epistemology - those terms dont mean much - and popper plus merleau ponty then means complete confusion...... fuck!)

Ignore the above. go see the work. She built a lean to structure with bits of string, canvas and ccurved cardboard in which she could shelter her work - and provide a context where viewers could enter the subject. she's paid such a nice amount of attention to the detial of setting and framing, and placement of potplants, chairs and the combo of works on the wall, the large scrolls and the small images is really really nice. I'm so glad we a re post post object, and post post dichtomising of media. This is a sensuous experiential and evocative work on so many levels.Makes me glad people are still making art.