(Image obtained from Bec Tudor's Interview with Johnson published on http://www.stock-site.org.au/node/90, photo courtesy of Jenni Carter, MCA)Two of Anthony Johnson's works were exhibited in Spring 2007 in Primavera at the MCA; Downgrade (05-07) and Upgrade (05). Johnson uses a variety of everday items in the work pictured (Downgrade); from a discarded beanbag to mulched Ikea furniture. As part of an essay I was working on through years 11 and 12, I was lucky enough to contact Johnson for an interview during which he explained the significance of the materials in his works as follows;
"...my real concerns at the time were about 'how to make work that isn't reliant on a studio-based process', but more questioning some of these ongoing areas of interest in my work (such as the way we relate to objects and space from a sociological point of view) as 'actions' that may or may not have an object-based resolution such as something sculptural for example."
Downgrade particularly interested me due to Johnson's execution of the work - over the span of the exhibition, he relinquished all control of Downgrade to the gallery staff in order to progressively destroy the furniture, mulching it to then be shovelled into the beanbag, ultimately filling the once empty beanbag upon the completion of the exhibition.
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