Project Synopsis - ArtLanguage: Every Publishable Place

ArtLanguage: Every Publishable Place
Curated by Ruark Lewis - 1 to 29 April

CROSS CONVERSATION

Pam Aitken, Sophie Coombs, Franz Ehmann, Lisa Kelly, Lucas Ihlein, Patrick Jones, Ruark Lewis, Jacqueline Rose, Alex Selenitsch, SquatSpace, Ania Walwicz

Curator Ruark Lewis places work by eminent language artists Alex Selenitsch, Franz Ehmann and Ania Walwicz alongside that of an emerging generation. The exhibition unites aesthetic sensibility and avant-garde traditions with a critical approach to the dissemination and display of art. The artists embed social concerns within larger ethical and aesthetic fields, building forms of local practice that are not overtly oppositional but which access and involve global public opinion. In this way their art functions as an alternative form of publication.

Why is this type of practice so relevant today? Because the working model it proposes, wherein ideas, experience and opinion are modeled in an art gallery or other public context, runs counter to the neo-liberal status quo of technocrats and closed doors, manipulated concerns and sedated villagers.

Most artists in the exhibition see language as a traditional avant-garde or experimental tool and relish its capacity for subversion. Sophie Coombs' work 'Piece' and Lisa Kelly's sculpture 'Powerless Circuit' use epigrammatic humour. Other artists, more sombrely, refer to classic modernist writers in a type of homage, paid, for example, by Pam Aitken to Samuel Beckett and Jacqueline Rose to Franz Kafka.

Others use performance modes as social commentary. Patrick Jones' roaming graffiti wall, 'A Temporary Autonomous Zone', slyly critiques the absurd zero tolerance laws forbidding graffiti during the Commonwealth Games. The artist group SquatSpace urges us to get a feel for the complex issues of state re-development in the Redfern and Waterloo area by getting on-board a 'Tour of Beauty' and talking to locals. Other artists show ongoing series of works externally, like Franz Ehmann's hand-painted roadside signage and Ruark Lewis's 'Banalities', protest banners which place obfuscating letters and jargon within their disputed public context.

After ten years in power, Australian Prime Minister Howard announced his victory in the Culture Wars over post-modern pluralism. In contrast, these artists are asking vital questions and looking for answers in discussions outside powerful institutions and hegemonies, in all forms of publishable places.

Credits: Project co-ordination Jaime Wheatley

SquatSpace: Redfern Waterloo Tour of Beauty
Sunday 9 April 2006 at 2pm. Meet at Lawson St, Redfern under the (ex)TNT Towers. Tour lasts 4 hours Read more about this special event (PDF)

Ruark Lewis: Banalities for William Street (after Kenneth Slessor). Saturday 22 April, 2pm, Meet in Kings Cross near Coca Cola sign.

LINKS

Interviews with artists:

Haiku Review: www.haikureview.net

Ruark Lewis: www.ruarklewis.com

SquatSpace Tour of Beauty: www.squatspace.com

Patrick Jones Commonwealth Games stencil action:http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/stencil-art-on-the-run-thwarts-graffiti-crackdown/2006/03/15/1142098529653.html

http://www.stencilrevolution.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=274594#274594

REDWatch website www.redwatch.org.au
REDWatch mail@redwatch.org.au

Sophie Coombs, Piece, 2001. Banner, acrylic on cotton. Courtesy Yuill/Crowley Gallery.

Sophie Coombs, Piece, 2001. Banner, acrylic on cotton.
Courtesy Yuill/Crowley Gallery.

Franz Ehmann, Fourteen, 2004. Comprises 14 parts, gouache, black board paint on paper bags, 48 cm x 273 cm.

Franz Ehmann, Fourteen, 2004.
Comprises 14 parts, gouache, black board paint on paper bags, 48 cm x 273 cm.

Patrick Jones, A Temporary Autonomous Zone, February–March 2006. Roaming graffiti wall for duration of Comonwealth Games. Comprises stencils and graffiti found in Canada Lane, Carlton.

Patrick Jones, A Temporary Autonomous Zone, February–March 2006.
Roaming graffiti wall for duration of Comonwealth Games.
Comprises stencils and graffiti found in Canada Lane, Carlton.

Ruark Lewis, Banalities for a Proposed Museum, 2005. Banners, acrylic on cotton. Installed College of Fine Arts, Sydney, 2005,

Ruark Lewis, Banalities for a Proposed Museum, 2005.
Banners, acrylic on cotton. Installed College of Fine Arts, Sydney, 2005,

Ruark Lewis, Banalities for a Proposed Museum, 2005. Banners, acrylic on cotton. Installed College of Fine Arts, Sydney, 2005, Detail

Ruark Lewis, Banalities for a Proposed Museum, 2005.
Banners, acrylic on cotton. Installed College of Fine Arts, Sydney, 2005, (Detail)

Lucas Ihlein, Shelve, 2002. Hand-sawn found wood.

Lucas Ihlein, Shelve, 2002.
Hand-sawn found wood.

Pam Aitken, "texts for nothing 7", 2000. Wall work: paint, nail polish, lipstick, clear flute, cotter pins, cardboard, and canvas, 2.1 x 2.1m.

Pam Aitken, "texts for nothing 7", 2000.
Wall work: paint, nail polish, lipstick, clear flute, cotter pins,
cardboard, and canvas, 2.1 x 2.1m.

SquatSpace, Redfern Waterloo Tour of Beauty, 2006.

Ricardo Felipe - Save Barons poster 2006 (right)

Help save the BARON'S BUILDING and the character of Roslyn Street, Kings Cross. Please download a choice of a colour and b+w flyer (PDF) to print out for your fridge door / office noticeboard / lunch room / car window / favourite cafe / store / laundromat / apartment foyer / or for to others