ART & Abstraction

Currently showing at ANNA SCHWARTZ Gallery:

Robert Klippel Bronze Sculptures 

It is definitely worth the trip to Carriage Works - especially if you have not been there yet! (the Performance Space is housed in the same building)

(Aura) Sitting Swaying : Stelarc

when i first saw stelarcs suspention works i didnt really know what to feel part of me thought it was just amazing and the other part thought aboutthe pain he must have been going threw. I find it to be a very spiritual piece and although it seems destructive to string ones self up by hooks i find it very peaceful to view.  

Artspace

While it's all still fresh in my memory...

I thought Artspace was pretty cool. Two works that particularly struck me were those of Gail Priest (the interactive sound installation with the interpretative sheets... I couldn't find the name of the work) and Tim Silver's photographic exploration of Japan's gay subculture and horror films. The common element I noticed between these two works (which I suspect as the very quality that drew me to them) were their forced viewer involvement, whether physically or mentally.

Priest's work involved the hysical pressing of a button to initiate video projection and sound, further invoking action by prompting the viewer to interpret the images with the provided legends; much like tarot cards. What I was acutely aware of when viewing the work was my reluctance to pick up the sheet and touch the button. The mental block of refraining to touch works was challenged upfront by the straightforward nature of the Priest's instructions.

Silver's photographs however, I felt engaged the viewer in more of a psychological sense; challenging the viewer to identify from which movies the film still reproductions were created. Both works, I felt had a playful kind of feel to them, a bit pop-culture-esque.

Aura- Yinka Shonibare- how to blow up to heads at once

I had the great pleasure of seeing this exhibition last year at the MCA, not having had the time in recent years to visit galeries or keep up to date with current artists it was an experience of aura that hit me immediately and profoundly as i walked into the gallery and saw this life sized work of the two ladies in those beautifully crafted dresses, an image of delicate, refined beauty and yet at the same time an overwhelming sense of vivacious passion, dominance and strengh.... i dont think i can adequatly describe the sensation that i felt seeing this work that would do it any justice ...truely awe inspiring.

aura - a 'Wheatfield'

Agnes Denes - Wheatfield - a confrontation 1982

Agnes Denes's art works pertain to her ideas on environmental issues, human concerns and the exploration of the essences of 'things' as forms of communication.

In May 1982, Lower Manhattan, she began to sow the seeds of her latest public artwork. Herself and a small team went about digging 285 furrows, removing rocks, debris and planting the seeds of the wheat crop they were planning to grow in the dirty Battery Park Landfill. This was a laborious process all of which was done by hand, with each furrow taking up to two to three hours to complete. The field was maintained for four months. An irrigation system was set up and the crops were continuously fertilized, weeded and cleared of 'wheat smut'. On August 16th Agnes and her team harvested the crop, collecting almost 1000 pounds of healthy amber wheat.

I think what i resonates to me about this work is the simplicity of its beauty, the stark retinal contrast presented to the viewer by location and the subtly of its suggestion. The suggestion of vulnerability, power, deteriorating social values and the contrast of economic statuses. The work took up 2 acres (worth approximately 4.5 billion dollars) of busy, decadent Downtown Manhattan - an metropolis of achievement, culture and money. 

Agnes Denes describes the work herself as a 'symbol, a universal concept' ... 'a confrontation of High Civilization' and yet a 'Shangri-la, a small paradise, one's childhood....forgotten values, simple pleasure'.

Rene Magritte
[The lovers] 1928
oil on canvas
54.0 (h) x 73.0 (w) cm

When i was about 9 or 10 years old my family and i went to the National Gallery of Australia, in Canberra. I first witnessed this painting there. As soon as i stumbled upon it, my senses were heightened with intrgue. How could such a ghostly and sinister image be so beautiful at the same time. At this age i had no idea of the Surrealism movement or who in the hell "Rene Magritte" was! So really i was apreciating the art for what it was. And with such an innocent child-like perspective, it must have been the aura that struck me. I could never properly put into words how i felt that day, but i guess the "aura" must be there because i have never forgotten walking up to this painting and being completely dumbfounded.

This image ended up being the catalyst for how i would begin making my art years down the track, so really i owe this work alot!

Aura - Justin Maller

Apologies for the late post.

I couldn't locate either of the two images I was searching for online of works I'd seen in person I felt impacted by, so I've chosen an online image I found in 2008 that still impacted me nonetheless.

Unity featured by Justin Maller (Australian Freelance Illustrator and Art Director) on deviantart.com is a collaborative work by Maller and others (un-named). I think for me, the aura this work holds is derived from the level of skill and and primary concern for aesthetics evident within the image. Beauty is the predominant feature of the work; a quality which I feel that in today's art community sometimes seems overlooked; sidelined by works geared towards the production of anti-art; the anti-aesthetic or largely conceptual works. It is this quality which has provoked me to re-visit the image upon occasion (I had it as my desktop background for quite a while), if only to appreciate the comforting sharpness of the work.

Fullview is so much better; http://ekud.deviantart.com/art/UNITY-62854825

Aura - Oldenburg’s Apple Core

I saw Oldenburg’s Apple Core at the Tate Modern when I was in London at the beginning of this year. I know it’s strange and hard to believe, but this gigantic apple core seemed to have an aura. I think it was more to do with actually seeing an Oldenburg sculpture. The photo I took doesn’t really justify, how cool the apple core really is, but there’s no photography allowed in the Tate Modern, so I just took the photo and ran.

Aura

This is a watercolour portrait of my grandmother by Jenny Hock. The picture has a unique atmosphere where I feel as if I’m there with her. She is in her garden sitting, looking out to the familiar view of castle hill. Breathing in the pungent smell of bats and rotten star fruit. This painting is very moving for me. It stirs up pain and happiness and generates many memories I have with my grandmother.

Aura - Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel

This may seem like a bit of a cliché but one artwork that definitely has an aura, well for me anyway, is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I visited the Sistine Chapel when I was in Italy early this year and walked over a half hour through the halls of the Vatican just to see it. Even though it was packed full of people being enveloped by this work of art was an experience.