Its all in your head

I was going to sign and distribute a save ABC fuding petition today - but I'm a bit cheesed with Auntie.

Our wonderful smooth talking paneling, newcastle storying wonder boy Rohan - who just took over monday overdrive as a dedicated volunteer at 2SER - has been prevented by his boss at the ABC from continuing to self train and community volunteer on 2SER. (Becaus he also produced a show on ABC Radio) So, auntie, go fuck yourself! and stop the pratty pseudo corporate bully boy tactics. vapid single track yes men - don't make interesting or creative radio staff. People who are prepared do do volunteer work for a community station - are probably -passionate enough about radio to provide SUBSTANTIAL LONG TERM BENEFIT TO THE AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC. So stick that in your mission statement analysis!

ahem.

today Luazoid and I continued our segment and brielfy discussed the archiblad.

quick thinking and fleet footed Felipe (filling in for Roahn) went out and did some background research while Lucazoid played Gertude Steins soudnd portrait of Pablo Picasso.

ehre's the AGNES WALES sight for more details.

acutally I mainly went to check out the Wynne and Sulman, see the usual supects and have a few drinks at the opening. I stayed for WAITING FOR GUINESS.

I forgot to talk about the Wynne or the sulman because I'm a blond but my favourite sulman piece was Wang Xu's mock socialist realist painting of Ian Howard and Michale Esson riding a copuple of tnaks across the artworld. It was like Mao meets Juan Davila and a delightful change from his more well known dripy painting sof grafffittied sydney walls.


My favourite wynne? er...... I was glad to see that Aida tomsecu has used comething other than bloody pthlalo blue/green (O sh'es probalby using cobalt - but i was a bit over the glaucish monchromes) - and the Beard meritted the no. 1. There were some scary things that I don't want to talk about - like some werid stuck on pole things with bad acrlic 80's expressionsist spalhes onto a lansdcape - and I think it was meant to be the living emobidment of the 1980's Goanna song "Solid rock". I kept well away. Craig Waddy's piece - whatever it was, was ghastly - like one of those bad anecdotes about 1980's art students saying that Jackson Pollock dind't know how to draw and its not important - well its not -unless you like, err, wanna make pictures - like 2d hand eye things

Tom Carment in a badly framed and badly positioned little portrait - I thinkk had the nicest paiting in the heads prize - though Marcus deserved to win. Woww. birng back 16th Cc weird ecole du nord shit - craps all over Odd Nerdrum. (sorry for obscure reference - do a goodl search)

anyway - I also saw the paraylysis shoow at KUDOS but its over - and had a gereat time at Glenn Murray and Catherine Hearse 3D fest at Legge. Its on until this weekend. Highly recocomended - Murray's big basketty things ancutally need to be seen in situ and walked aournd - Bridget riley in 3D!

Lucas spoke breifly aobut some show that ruark Lewis is curating at Cross arts Project (33 Roslyn street kings Cross).. I'd like to get some writtne PR - before I chat more. cross arts is easy to get too and the opening is saturdya night.

Friday is all go - there are some of my paintings up again at Mori - cos there a big weld fundraiser on Friday night (31st March). and amanda Robins is hapving and openign at tin Sheds - on the same night.

I thingk i'll be in bathurst tho - cos the Warpstanza glalery is closing down.

Catch yas


mayhem

Good and Bad Political Art

today I tried to talk critically about political art - after seeing 3 shows:
the twenty bucks a pop fundriser for the anti detention camps flicks for freedom filmnight @ mori
the money makes the world go round anti VSU, lets save COFA Student Association show @ KUDOS
the tunnel vision: greed and stupidity, cartoonists and planners review concrete politics in sydney @ cross arts

All shows finished on the weekend.

I also announced that the archibald opens this week. Artlife jumped the gun and have alreayd reviews the ifnalists - but I thoguht I'd do a run around of the MCA portrait show, the AGNES Wales trad portraiture show and the Salon Des Refusees show up on Observatory Hill. Hopefully I can come up with some coherent survey critique of portraiture as a genre in 2006.

I dunno whether to crash the archi or not. The last time I attended unchaperoned, I ended up rolling on the floor at Ray Hughes's wrestling with Vivienne Littlejohn (RIP) over a bottle of - err Red? white? bubbly? (i think it was a glass bottle). this was after ranting incoheently at John Mcdonald (not a bad thing probably). the next day I woke up alone in bed, with a full condom beside me and a weird apologic note from my friend's flatmate. Hmm, well. Vivienne Littlejohn stopped drinking and did her masters in Egyptology and I became a Lesbian. But as of last week I'm single, sad and desperate enough not to let genitalia stand in the way of one those weird sobbing sodden scenarios .... err, hell after the average archies pissup - there ain't a lot of genital standing anyway - I've even had DILDOs go floppy.

Speaking of which, I missed the slit show. Oh well.

Apart from doing the circuit of heads and eyes - and if I'm depserately bored - chekcing aout that seminal classic on faciality by D&G (not dolce & gabbana) in a thousand plateaus and writing weird shit.........

......I might TRY REAL hard to get down to legge for the Catherine Hearse sculpture show. She's the queen of soft textiles shaped bits - so I'm a bit of a fan. I allso wanna pay off and pick up a piece by my friend Steve Kirby. Apprently its now an investment piece coz his value has ogne up by 30%. Great. I just want more pink blobs on my walls, coz its my birhtdya on sunday and I'm feeling desperately miserable. Maybe I'll make it down it the gunnery for a pie and some of the installations - by Ryan Moore, Izabella Pluta and Todd Robinson. then again maybe not.

Heres for the review:

I went down to the mori show to check out the insane graffitti thing. Its bloody amazing. I'm so daggy I only know graf artists by what their mother call them - so I can't quote what one of them said - well I can - "Hey we traashed the place" - I know him as a very talneted oil painter and classically trained drawer - so it was good to see this find its continuum in the old spray enamel and stencilling. and the gallery is completely dewhiteboxed, and looks amazing - especiallly the scarey cave bit.

The Refugee Action coalition managed to stick a screen over a tiny bit of some huge work - and project some films onto it - but the vibe was kinda weird - coz I felt trapped and immobilisied and lots of the films were video art and the rest film clips - whihc you are eant to breeze past wiht a drink or ten - so err... yeah. Near the drinks the walls and pinths were studdend wiht smalll stuff for sale. The graf show remenats on the floor were 50 times stronger than the salon style hanging of various a4 sied contributions. Sunzanne Norries bargain basement gozilla bieng an exception - plus anton pulverentis series of 5 cartoons on foamcore. I'm criticising myself in this too - coz the whole thing idn't work as well as the plaquard prject ( a simliar gathering of a3 sized pieces against the Gulf War/war on terror) did last year and I was curious why....... i guess it was a lot smalller - and there wasn't any strong formal element to bring eveyrhting together visually. The plaquard project was hung all toghether in a continuous line right roudnt he gallery - nicely borken up by Zanny beggs scultpures, whereas this was WAYYYYY hodge podge. Still $20 is pretty cheap, so I bought something.

On the wekeend I toddled down to KUDOS - to chec out the money goes round show. I LOVE KUDOS! its a great space - a single old church hall - that almost always makes whatever in it look good. It'snnot as big as NEWSPACE and so most artists manage to use it well. (I was astonished at the distance between my greg shaplpeys 3 screen installation and the cavernous empty rooms strethcing up to the great wood panelled bar - Newpsace needs group shows - or total overproductive maniacs)

ahem - back to KUDOS. This show was great. the curators got a mixture of Chinese Yuan notes , plus various amllagams of hell money - and gave em to whoever: students, staff alumni - whoever wanted to do something with em! and - really the whole show was a great snapshot of the cofa talent. Jewellers made money jewels, and scultpros made variosu paper money based constructions - wiht the a few insterting the nots into other witty objets - like slide projectors, toasters - ande on a kind of formbidden city style merry go round. the textiles mob did great textiles, and the drawers did great 'wrokd on paper money'. I bought 3 bits. Seriously for less than the price ofa good haircut. this explains my crap haircut whihc I did alone at home on wednesday while crying and wiping my computer of any trace of my recently exing life love. Art is great retail therapy. the only criticism I'd level a tthe COFa show - were that some of the colalges and 'painted collegas' were liek really bad Art Express. Note to public: Drawing is officially back, so unless you've been doing 3 horus a week of figure drawing for the past 3 years minimum - then DON't draw figures - unless you wanna look like somehting ghastly form the 1980's. If you wanna figure in your work - use the tracer funciton over a photo on photoshop or illlustrator and an effects distortion on the print out.Also wnat let some of these works down - was the emphasis on money as a semiotic element - so they looked like bad brett whitelys.
highlights of this show - were Michael Esson's kentridge style drawing/burning video and lamp's(?) stencil art images - and that great tie/collar thing, plus the sparkle piece (whihc I bought) and the ANON stone exquisite assemblage - whic I would have bought but I don't have that much horizontal space anywhere in my life..........
lowlights (but I enjoyed cringeing) were the photos of money and semen (eeeuw!) and the nangoldin girlwannabe photos - (self with cash). you gotta love undergraduate art.

so from here I wandered over to Cross Arts, taking note of the shitty traffic, weird arsed road bocks, impossible crossings and extreme angst of pedestrians, dogs and cars negotiating some ridiculous traffic islands with shops behind bars. this was suitable prep for the show - which was just a simple stroll down roslyn street. (I think its getting to william street that puts me off) I think the theme of the show is WHY? WHAT THE FUCK???? and full makrs go to michale gormleys obsessive colation of photos of traffic planning disatsters with ocmments. Jo holders docos worked best out of doors - so you can see the streetlife snarl to a halt in the background .

My favourite bits - were the Marious Jastokowiaks counter street signs. these were big bright things made for the ill fated wetern font show last year - but curiously enough ade perfect sense in trying to map the new paths through and around the hell hole horror.

Also Fiona Mcdonald - had some great paper bags - screen printed wiht images of parts of central sydney form 1943 and 2003 - and letters - PUB, PRIV - artily placed over them in a kind of russian new art touch...... and this type of tmeproal mapping reminded me of the squatspace map in dockerty about the time they were starting up the Redfern Waterlooo tour of Beauty........

most of the works - explored the surrounding road closures, the lack of democracy and the lack of accountability for basaiily using a goertnemtn funded but pricately run construction in order to block, break up and destroy a couple of suburbs....

someone needs to do a derive exploring the impassibility of the cross - or even the tunnel. Where's shane haseman?

Mad as a March Hare

Lots of stuff happening
the moralof the story - is to Go to Student Run Galleries while they still exist!

this Wednesday Greg Shapley has a show opening at the SCA based NEwpsace Gallery, 680 Darling street Rozelle (near corner of Victoria Road)

A THING OF BEAUTY: AN ACT OF TERROR Explores the infinite possibilities of the finite, planes, statues, and jaywalkers are propelled in this installation by 'transition through repetition'.

Using unique visual generative processes I have assembled a new work that questions perception and perspective. I have taken small visual snippets of everyday life, and treated them as if they were music themes in a minimalist work by Steve Reich or Phillip Glass.

Philosophically I am looking at how a minute fragment, can become a catalyst for hysteria – how we can be manipulated into seeing things that aren't really there.

Using minimalist techniques, the treatment of these visuals (and their accompanying soundtracks) becomes hypnotic and mesmerising. There is a guilty pleasure in watching the footage and hearing the sound play out. There is a certain voyeurism that by now we are all familiar with. September 11 and ensuing TV wars have made sure of this.

I'm notsure what it means either.

KUDOS has the first official Anti VSU Art exhibiton. MONEY MAKEs THE WROLD GO ROUND opened last week and runs till this saturday (yep you can go on Saturday)

In response to the Federal Government's VSU legislation that passed in
the 11th hour of Parliamentary sitting for 2005, the UNSW College of
Fine Arts Students' Association have invited all COFA students, staff
and Alumni to create a piece of work utilising Chinese bank notes in
reference to counterfeit money, for a giant fundraiser opening at Kudos
Gallery next week. All work will be sold under $50 with proceeds going
to Kudos Gallery through the Students' Association in an effort to
establish a fund to help support the future of this student service.

In 2006 Kudos Gallery celebrates it's eight year of thriving under
Universal Student Unionism in a twenty-one year history of student run
initiatives supported and subsidised by the COFA Students' Association.
Kudos Gallery is an autonomous, independent, and professional
exhibition space, run by students for students in St Sophia Hall, a few
minutes away from the College of Fine Arts campus in Paddington.
Established in late 1998 by COFA Students’ Association, Kudos aims to
provide COFA students with an accessible gallery space off campus to
develop an exhibition profile whilst still at University. Kudos plays
host to approximately thirty diverse exhibitions and up to 10,000
visitors to the gallery each year. COFA SA encouraging all students
from first year to PhD level to submit proposals for solo, group or
curated exhibitions.

The implementation of Voluntary Student Unionism in July this year will
not only force many changes to the accessibility of student services,
it will result in a catalogue of lost opportunities for the arts in
this country; lack of exhibition spaces for emerging artists,
publications for emerging writers and journalists, and venues for
emerging performing artists, actors, directors, producers, and
technical crew; extracurricular activity that, after all, defines the
quality of on-campus life. Kudos, like many student galleries, provides
a space for emerging artists, designers and curators to learn and
develop their work and experience in a competitive and expensive
industry.

Under VSU, many student organisations will no longer have the funds to
support these arts and cultural services, facilities, activities and
events. Most of these services, including Kudos Gallery, are not for
profit, and thus are unsustainable under this legislation. A user-pays
system would mean that for many students, access to galleries,
theatres, publications and radio stations will be near impossible for
both artists and their prospective audiences. The result of this
inaccessibility would of course be the demise of these services,
facilities, activities and events. The introduction of VSU is not a
political triumph, it is an artistic catastrophe.

A sales desk will be set up within the gallery during the opening and
throughout the two weeks of exhibition to take deposits and for works
and donations for the gallery. Please forward this invite to your
friends and family and help support Kudos Gallery by buying a piece of
work next week! thank you

ON things political - Cross Arts had a great show opening last week - well it sounds great - but I haven't checked it out yet.

TUNNEL VISION, GREED & STUPIDITY: REVIEWING CONCRETE POLITICS IN SYDNEY

Opens: Thursday 9 March, 6 to 8pm
Talks by: Paul Ashton, historian, University of Technology Sydney and Lee Rhiannon, Greens MLC, lobbyist for the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Cross City Tunnel
Where: The Cross Art Projects
33 Roslyn Street Kings Cross Sydney (opposite St Lukes Hospital gates)
Exhibition continues to: Saturday 25 March 2006
Cross Conversation: Sunday 12 March at 3pm
For more information call 9357 2058 or 0406 537933

Sign the End the Tunnel Funnel Petition: http://www.drag.org.au/

TUNNEL VISION is an exhibition documenting how politicians, businessmen and public servants secretly carved up the inner-city road network in a calculated bid to force drivers into a private toll tunnel. The exhibition is about the venality of selling off public roads, willfully restricting public transport, folly and lies, and the howls of anger from gridlocked traffic. Laugh at funny pictures of people negotiating concrete bollards, watch footage of citizens trying to re-open roads at a Parliamentary Inquiry.
Its a fast ride through public-private partnerships Sydney style.
Curator Jo Holder

ARTISTS
Warren Brown, Jeff Carter, Christopher Dean, Shaun Gladwell, Michael Gormly, Chris Henning, Marius Jastkowiak, Deborah Kelly,
Fiona MacDonald, Alan Moir, Jo Holder and Therese Sweeney, Anne Zahalka

CROSS CONVERSATION: IDEAS FOR A NEW CITY PLAN
Sunday 12 March at 3pm
Where: The Cross Art Projects

SPEAKERS:
Stacey Miers, social planner
Martin Butterworth, movement economy
Chris Stapelton, integrated transport

The shift to a user-pay private toll network has profoundly changed Sydney. It has led to a new focus on public interest and planning. Who is consulted? Who gets heard? Do we want elite enclaves or connected communities?

And Finally THIS THURSDAY Mori Gallery ahs a fundraiser: flicks for freedom - a fundraiser in support of the Villawood Detention Centre Easter COnvergence (Yep - this'll be bigger than the easter bunny).

Thurs 16 March 6.30pm.
Mori Gallery 168 Day St City (left off Bathurst St at
Darling Harbour)

Door: $8/5 for the convergence at Villawood detention
centre over the easter weekend (April 14-17). -

Free finger food, plus cheap beer and wine
Film clips include:
Baxter (Andorra)
Run (COG)
Detention protest footage:
Lombok towed back refugee footage
Baxter_05 doco by Anna Belhalfaoui
'No Lager' (compilation of European detention
protests).
Woomera_02 (SkaTV)
A couple of short films are also being chased up,
including a Tropfest entrant who made a film about
Cronulla.

Cheers

Mayhem

Back in black

ON the way to the studio today I found a large one-eyed smurf.
It was a nice comfort for my black skivvy deprivation syndrome.
Today was also the first day in 3 months where I haven't worn a black skivvy.

I wanted to write along bit about my eperiences at KIASMA and ARS06 in Helsinki. but my jetlag is starting to hit.

so I'll just stuick in 2 quick diary notes for this week - that we forgot to menin on the show.

TOMORROW NIGHT, TUESDAY 7TH MARCH
Is a show not to be missed at KUDOS - the COFa studnet glalery in Paddington.
(I wish I'd checked my email beore going on air - but there go, failed again)


In response to the Federal Government's VSU legislation that passed in
the 11th hour of Parliamentary sitting for 2005, the UNSW College of
Fine Arts Students' Association have invited all COFA students, staff
and Alumni to create a piece of work utilising Chinese bank notes in
reference to counterfeit money, for a giant fundraiser opening at Kudos
Gallery next week. All work will be sold under $50 with proceeds going
to Kudos Gallery through the Students' Association in an effort to
establish a fund to help support the future of this student service.

In 2006 Kudos Gallery celebrates it's eight year of thriving under
Universal Student Unionism in a twenty-one year history of student run
initiatives supported and subsidised by the COFA Students' Association.
Kudos Gallery is an autonomous, independent, and professional
exhibition space, run by students for students in St Sophia Hall, a few
minutes away from the College of Fine Arts campus in Paddington.
Established in late 1998 by COFA Students’ Association, Kudos aims to
provide COFA students with an accessible gallery space off campus to
develop an exhibition profile whilst still at University. Kudos plays
host to approximately thirty diverse exhibitions and up to 10,000
visitors to the gallery each year. COFA SA encouraging all students
from first year to PhD level to submit proposals for solo, group or
curated exhibitions.

The implementation of Voluntary Student Unionism in July this year will
not only force many changes to the accessibility of student services,
it will result in a catalogue of lost opportunities for the arts in
this country; lack of exhibition spaces for emerging artists,
publications for emerging writers and journalists, and venues for
emerging performing artists, actors, directors, producers, and
technical crew; extracurricular activity that, after all, defines the
quality of on-campus life. Kudos, like many student galleries, provides
a space for emerging artists, designers and curators to learn and
develop their work and experience in a competitive and expensive
industry.

Under VSU, many student organisations will no longer have the funds to
support these arts and cultural services, facilities, activities and
events. Most of these services, including Kudos Gallery, are not for
profit, and thus are unsustainable under this legislation. A user-pays
system would mean that for many students, access to galleries,
theatres, publications and radio stations will be near impossible for
both artists and their prospective audiences. The result of this
inaccessibility would of course be the demise of these services,
facilities, activities and events. The introduction of VSU is not a
political triumph, it is an artistic catastrophe.

A sales desk will be set up within the gallery during the opening and
throughout the two weeks of exhibition to take deposits and for works
and donations for the gallery. Please forward this invite to your
friends and family and help support Kudos Gallery by buying a piece of
work next week! thank you


MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO 'ROUND opens 6-8pm Tuesday 7 March
Kudos Gallery
6 Napier St. Paddington NSW 2021
exhibition continues to 18 March 2006
open Wednesday to Friday 11am - 6pm, Saturday 11am - 4pm

Kudos Gallery is a UNSW College of Fine Arts Students' Association
service threatened by the Fed. Govt.'s VSU legislation
http://www.cofasa.unsw.edu.au



since Student Run Initiatives are a rapidly dying species, I've made a new years resolution to review one Student Gallery show each week before the hammer comes down.


Here are a few more details for the Kylie Wilkinsons thing at Performance Space on Wednesday.

'Nationalism: What are you talking about?'  is the title of Wilkinson's work which she'll be discussing at the Performance Space opening of the Asia-Pacific Documentary Film Festival on Wednesday 8th March at 6pm.  

WHERE: 
Performance Space 199 Cleveland St, Redfern 2020 
Phone: 02 9699 1503 
WHEN: 6 p.m, Wednesday 8th March 

Drawn from an international survey of  video & film from the Asia-Pacific region by curator, Binghui Huangfu , five artists give insight into the specific context, politics and pleasures of their video vision. 
This collection taps into ancient places, for example Tiananmen Square and the old capital of Thailand, Chiang Mai as they surface in the modern world. These places are revealed as sites of incredible change as culture flows through them and the new  values of societies become apparent. 
From the human effects of mobile labour to global tourism, meditations on nationalism and the playful moral redress of corruption in big cities, each artist presents a highly individual response to the economic and  social changes taking place in our world.
This selection stands out for its acute energy and wide historical and cultural references and is presented in collaboration with Performance Space.

I hope to be at both of the above. Depending on body clock.