Dec 11, 2012 | Art, Artworks
Argyle Lane 1 (fireworks) Argyle Lane 2 (Air Conditioning Unit) Argyle Lane 3 Void Noise Concerned with empty spaces and sites of disuse within the urban environment, I have been researching and exploring the conceptual, physical and psychological elements that are found within what I call “Nothing Space”1. My exploration has taken me through car spaces, construction sites, vacant lots and alley ways. Through my analysis and interaction with these spaces I have unearthed their cultural, personal and social significance as familiar sites imbued with the uncanny. I have entered and invaded these spaces that are otherwise avoided or ignored by the general populous, and in the process realised a project concerned with the unearthing and capturing of the ephemeral details of the Nothing Space. Void Noise is a work focussed on a particular urban site I discovered in early July 2012 located in the Rocks, Sydney. Embedded with a tumultuous cultural history, the Rocks is an area where a clashing of lifestyles comes together in discordance; wealthy, poor, young, old, indigenous, non-indigenous. The terraces (old and new) are built side by side with little room for gardens or breathing space. In this urban environment it appears that you are sharing your neighbour’s space regardless of the walls that separate you. The site explored (Argyle Lane) feels like a sewer to the backsides of the homes that crown it. One side of the alley is shear cement and sandstone wall, at around 4-5 meters tall, and the other is lined with the back ends of several closely packed town houses. In my practice this year I have gathered together...
Sep 4, 2012 | Art, Exhibitions
This year Bryce McErlain, Susan Newman and Alicia Nagle have taken up the Laos Water Cycle challenge. They are raising $24 000 for ChildFund Australia to provide remote communities in northern Laos with improved access to clean water and better sanitation. In November 2012, they will be cycling over 464km through Laos and Cambodia to visit some of the communities these funds will assist. On Friday 7th of September, Bryce McErlain and my friends at Galleryeight will host the ChildFund Australia Art Auction. Bidding starts at 7 pm and finishes at 9pm. Myself and 16 other artists have donated works for this fantastic cause. The artworks donated will be displayed as a group exhibition from Tuesday 4th September at Galleryeight. To view the artworks and more information about the cause, please visit: http://teamlaos2012.tumblr.com/ The auction will feature work by: Savanhdary Vongpoothorn Monika Behrens Giles Ryder Thomas C. Chung Kath Fries Marcus Callum Ken Done Joshua Parry Julia Davis Celine Roberts Eleanor McDonald Rosemary Jackson Fiona McFadyen Jessica Tse Vanessa Ashcroft & Jana Hunt Bryce McErlain Alicia Nagle Come along, mingle with the artists, have a few drinks and support this noble...
Aug 25, 2012 | Art, Exhibitions
Last Wednesday night (23/8/12) I swung past Global Gallery in Paddington for the Sidewayz Art Exhibition, a show featuring works on used and recycled skateboards and snow boards. The set up of the space is amazing (parts of the gallery has skate ramps built into it) and the works are vibrantly diverse. You can also bid online for your favorite board, all of the proceeds go to Voice.org. Sidewayz closes on the 1st of September, so don’t miss it! For more details visit their website...
Jun 24, 2012 | Art, Artworks
What is left within a space after our bodies inhabit it? Often we focus on the presence of a body in a space but the absence of that body and the residue that it leaves behind is something entirely different. With my installation Custos Cavae “Guardian of the Hollow”, I look at the car park as a space that signifies the absence of the body. The car park is a space devoid of any human or animal presence. We use the space as storage – car storage – a place to mind our belongings while we are away. To me this creates a sense of emptiness, loneliness and dread; Nothing is the occupant of the car space. What if our presence in this Nothing Space left a residue, the residue of hundreds of people simply passing through, leaving their possessions to be minded by Nothing? Custos Cavae is a work that embodies the human residue within the car space. This work personifies the accumulation of the people who have passed through, briefly inhabiting the space, even if for only a moment. This creature is, in essence, the sole inhabitant of the Nothing Space of the car park. Installed on the basement level of a Kings Cross car park, the work manifests as a hair covered pillar dotted with glass animal eyes of different colours and sizes. From the ceiling to the floor, this hairy monstrosity is a totem of our absence (yet presence) within the space. Custos Cavae is the id of our collective coexistence. It is the becoming of pure energy, of base instincts. It is an instinctual...
