Come on the Scene

BANDS BORN AT MORWELL

Somewhere Under the Rainbow from Trevor Flinn on Vimeo.

Carly Preston on Connex

Look out for Carly Preston next time you catch a train. As part of the Moving Galleries’ 2009 Transformation exhibition Preston’s work Paper Wall 2008 will be appearing on Connex trains for the next 6 months. Launched on Wednesday 17 July, at Flinders Street Station, the exhibition showcases art projects that have transformed everyday spaces in and around Melbourne.

Artists and poets attended the opening event and were able to view their work on the walls of the carriages. Rob Hudson, Parliamentary Secretary for the Arts officially opened the exhibition which can be viewed online: http://movinggalleries.org

“More than 350,000 people everyday have the opportunity to enjoy these works. The average journey time is around half an hour so there should be ample opportunity to peruse some poetry, reflect on some art, and consider its meaning” said Bruce Hughes, Connex Deputy Chairman.

 

Jessie Doring, Moving Galleries Project Manager said, “The exhibition is a celebration of the collaborative process between Victoria’s artists, the arts organisations and festivals, such as Next Wave, who work to platform artists and, of course, the photographers who have worked to document the projects.”

 

 

 

 

Image details from top:

Carly Preston with her work at the Transformation launch

Image courtesy NEXT WAVE

Paper Wall 2008

Photography by the artist and Jeremy Dilion

Location Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

 

Trevor Flinn's postcard from Swan Hill

 

BANDS BORN AT SWAN HILL

Vanilla Slice + Murray Cod = Rainbow Torture from Trevor Flinn on Vimeo.

POSTCARD FROM FIONA MAXWELL

 

IMAGE:
Come on the Scene installation view, Warrnambool Art Gallery
Photographer: Jeremy Dillon

 

My journey to Shepparton began with a train ride. There’s something about the way that the seats on trains face inwards towards each other that results in a chatty social environment, rather than that polite silence you get on planes. By the end of the 2 ½ hour trip to Shep, I was completely across the comings and goings of the local hospital, the love life of a forlorn school teacher and fashions to be expected at that night’s debutante ball.

I was collected by Shepparton Art Gallery’s Curator, Jo Ely, and was updated on Shep’s many claims to fame – drag car racing down the main street, a huge new migrant population (working in fruit growing and cannery) and hundreds of decorated painted cows. You might have seen the ‘Cow Parade’ in international cities in the late 90’s, or early this century. Well, it seems they’ve all retired to Shepparton – large, fibreglass cows in parks, on the main street, even the gallery foyer.

 

 

IMAGE:
Carly PRESTON
Paper Wall
2008
linocut, flocking
Installation view, Shepparton Art Gallery
Photographer: Fiona Maxwell

 

Seeing Come on the Scene installed in the gallery was like meeting old friends. The exhibition looks fantastic with a lovely dialogue between the works developing, as they all face in on each other. There is also a great relationship with the permanent collection of the Shepparton Art Gallery – you move through the portraits of famous local pastoralists, looking stern and officious, to be greeted by Trevor Flinn’s Puma, looking scarily life-like. What would the great statesmen say? The current locals loved it. The opening was attended by the members of the gallery, and they enjoyed my anecdotes of Carly working with the CWA in Ararat and many were also interested in Trevor’s work at the train station in Dunkeld.

 

 

IMAGE:
Ellen COYLE
Foma #2: The All Encompassing Comfort of Religion
2008
polycotton, broadcloth, polyester wadding, crochet cotton
Installation view, Shepparton Art Gallery
Photographer: Fiona Maxwell

 

It was great to see Ellen Coyle at the opening with family and friends. I think Ellen really enjoyed sharing the exhibition with them, and the opportunity to discuss her work with the curator was great too. Pip Stafford’s work is looking strong in its new incarnation. The soundtrack certainly gets your attention and the clear instructions about “Don’t Do It Here” and where to post to iwishicouldshowyou.com are helpful. Hopefully everyone is picking up the nifty little business cards and posting to the website.

 

 

IMAGE:
Pip STAFFORD
I Wish I Could Show You
2008
interactive multimedia installation
Installation view, Shepparton Art Gallery
Photographer: Fiona Maxwell

 

Roderick’s work looks lovely – you could spend hours engaging with the video component. The relationship to the other works in the show is strong as well, given everything is nice and close and in the same room. Most impressive perhaps are Carly Preston’s prints – you step into the gallery space and they inhabit the entire end wall. I felt a real sense of arrival and there is great relationship between that wall work and all the exhibition design. Anyway, a lot to see and spend time with, and the train journey isn’t too long from Melbourne to Shepparton, really. I’d just recommend you avoid the ham and egg muffin on the train – the “cheese sauce” was not a highlight!

Come on the Scene is on display at Shepparton Art Gallery until 31 May.

Fiona Maxwell
Executive Director, Next Wave

HAND CRAFTED LANDSCAPE

   

Tamara Marwood, co-curator of Come on the Scene, is currently working on a new solo exhibition, which will open at Ararat Regional Art Gallery next month.

Hand Crafted Landscape is a patchwork of rural romances stitched on horse hair, paper and found fabrics. In this exhibition, Marwood continues to explore an array of textile relationships and domestic traditions while revelling in the stitched imperfection as a metaphor for a life lived and imagined on the land. From a handmade quilt playfully draped over chairs inviting imaginary childlike explorations to haunting wall papers and sewn works that lightly caress the wall, Hand Crafted Landscape is sure to delight.

Hand Crafted Landscape: Tamara Marwood
21 May - 21 June 2009
Ararat Regional Art Gallery
Town Hall, Vincent Street
Ararat Victoria 3377

Opening: Saturday 23 May @ 3:00pm

IMAGE:
Tamara Marwood at work
Coutesy the artist

MEET THE CURATOR: TAMARA MARWOOD

 

FRIENDS MORNING COFFEE @ SHEPP
Date: Wednesday 6 May 2009
Time: 10:00am
Venue: Shepparton Art Gallery
Bookings: T: +61 3 5832 9861 / E: art.gallery@shepparton.vic.gov.au

Join co-curator of Come on the Scene, Tamara Marwood, for an intriguing tour of this Next Wave and NETS Victoria touring exhibition.

Hear the fascinating stories behind the artworks and find out how this new generation of regional artists foster a sense of community and connectedness through their practices.


IMAGE:
Carly PRESTON
Paper Wall
2008
linocut
Installation view, as part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival
Photographer: Jeremy Dillon
Courtesy of the artist and Next Wave

UNLEASH YOUR INNER ROCK STAR

 

NO TALENT NECESSARY!
Date: Saturday 25 April 2009
Time: 10:15am - 2:45pm
Venue: Shepparton Art Gallery
Age: 15+
Cost: $15 
Bookings: T: +61 3 5832 9861 / E: art.gallery@shepparton.vic.gov.au

Ever wanted to start a band but didn't know where to begin? Ever dreamed of being a rock star but lacked the musical talent? Well now you can, simply by creating your very own original band merchandise.

Join visual artist and rock pretender Trevor Flinn in a half day workshop designed to help you unleash your inner 'rock star'.

You'll be sure to impress your friends and amaze your family with:

• a great sounding band name
• an original, eye-catching band t-shirt
• an amazing debut album cover

This could be the first step towards starring in your very own reality TV program!

IMAGE:
Trevor FLINN
The Puma, the Stranger and the Mountain
2008
mixed media installation
Installation view at Platform, as part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival
Photographer: Jeremy Dillon
Courtesy of the artist and Next Wave

POSTCARD FROM RODERICK SPRIGG

Multi-disciplinary artist, Roderick Sprigg, touched base with Melissa Hart from NETS Victoria to chat about his artistic practice and what he's up to at the moment. Check it out...

Melissa Hart: Hi Roderick, last time we spoke you were overseas. Where are you now?

Roderick Sprigg: Currently I'm in Vancouver, Canada.

MH: What are you working on at the moment?

RS: I've been here for a couple of weeks now after touring around the USA since February. I'm here to look around, visit friends and do as much research and gallery searching as possible. Because I'm here in Vancouver for longer it gives me time to meet artists, curators and sit and read. I've visited Emily Carr (University of Art and Design) and found their art specific library so it's a great opportunity to strengthen some of my thoughts. Today I actually met with the Professor of Sculpture and he took me for a tour, which was great. Quite a practical school considering its location - beside downtown Vancouver on Granville Island.

MH: How would you describe your artistic practice from concept to making?

RS: Many thoughts run through my head, like many of us, questioning myself and situations around me - from behaviour to colour theory. Because there is so much to learn and apply to art I have an internal battle of how appropriate some ideas are to art in general and my own practice. Some questions I ask to help me stay focused are: 'Who is my audience?'; 'What do I want them to feel?'; 'How does this fit into the art discussion?'. I suppose it's a bit like working backward from a situation. That reversal of the journey becomes the artwork that provides, hopefully, the "form". I believe my art is made in the daily world in which we all live. Sure it has connections to philosophy, ritual and adornment, but I want it to be more real than that - a form that follows function.

MH: You focus on the politics of masculinity in your practice. Why is this important or inspiring for you?

RS: I have no issues with dealing with subjects like masculinity. I think if you're honest with yourself then audiences will be honest in return. The subject is what I've been interested in on a personal level. I am a 29 year old, caucasian male - what does that mean? I live in a regional area - historically high in male youth suicide and mental health issues. I'm trying to be as real as possible about it. Not glorify it but certainly not de-humanise it.

  
IMAGE:
Roderick SPRIGG
Occasional Tables
2008
installation, digital video and community art
Installation view at Craft Victoria, as part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival
Photographer: Jeremy Dillon
Courtesy the artist and Next Wave
   

MH: Could you please briefly explain Occasional Tables and what your intention was.

RS: Occasional Tables is a good example of my thought processes in that it demonstrates creating an environment (situation) to guide the participants. Before the project I was taking photos of fathers and sons - staged "Father and Son outings". That led me to want to make it a little more real - to create a Father/Son Project. Could that project be an artwork? How could I get my number one audience, farmers (traditionally not gallery goers), involved? Getting my audience to be actively involved in the project would make a larger impression than any painting or even film. The resulting objects worked as form that follows function. I felt it worked on multiple levels. The intention [was] to view realistic relationships between fathers and their sons or daughters. Although perhaps more important to participants than to any others, viewers could feed from it.

MH: Why was it important for you to facilitate this project in your hometown of Mukinbudin?

RS: Probably the biggest importance to begin with was that it made logistical sense. It is where I work on my family farm so it meant less time away from work. Being involved in the project at the same time as the farm meant more versatility in applying the project. As Occasional Tables went through its first stages of finding willing participants, it was a huge advantage having people that I knew and their returning trust. They could've said no but I suppose they knew I wasn't there to trick them into portraying themselves in a bad light. Hence the people management was made much easier and I could try and focus on the artistic delivery.

MH: Are there artists, writers or musicians who have inspired your own practice?

RS: I love the freedom of Joseph Beuys and the subject matter that some of Matthew Barney's earlier work touched on - the psychological and the physical relationships of the body to achieve something. The video art of Bill Viola looks amazing with that spiritual insight. I try to read a little on philosophy - particularly with everyday happenings as art in regards to Occasional Tables. I think the book I got most out of is Linda Weintraub's How to Make Contemporary Art (sometimes called In the Making). It breaks down a concept and gives some examples of other artists. When I get stuck I always go back to that. It's very easy to read and simple to apply.

MH: What do you hope visitors will take away with them after seeing your work in Come on the Scene?

RS: I want the visitors to think of, or remember, their own paternal relationship situation/s. Regretfully, romantically, I don't mind. Just honestly. The tables and DVDs are only a small part of the work. More important is how they were made. Some are more complete than others, which points to a push for time for the makers. In the end it was discussion - a social interaction that hopefully people can relate to or access.

 

  

Q+A: TAMARA MARWOOD

Co-curator, Tamara Marwood, recently spoke to NETS Victoria about the inspirations behind Come on the Scene and how this touring exhibition evolved.

NETS Victoria: So, how did you come up with the name Come on the Scene?

Tamara Marwood: Myself and Jeff Khan have always aspired to be rock'n'roll stars, just like the great Australian band, Magic Dirt. But then we realised that we really stunk as stars, but were OK as curators and that a lot of art is just like pop and rock culture - rough and ready, made in a garage, and mixing things up.

NV: What themes are explored in this touring exhibition?

TM: Trevor Flinn's larger than life Puma watching homemade music clips really sums this show up. It's about artists checking out and reinventing "how things are in regional communities". What I mean is the new, exciting and challenging isn't just in the cities. Come on the Scene is young regional artists blowing up Australia's regional mythologies.

The myth of the Grampians Puma becomes a rock'n'roll star; decorative bowls become paste-up wallpaper; a handmade quilt into an experiment on truth and lies; the internet becomes a world-wide confessional and coffee tables reveal the unspoken between farmers - fathers and sons.

NV: How were the artists chosen?

TM: The Come on the Scene artists were selected as they are extraordinary young regional artists turning regional communities into stages for really wonderful artistic experiments and activities. Like Ellen Coyle's Foma (little white lies), which is a brave social experiment that both covers up and also exposes the lies we all create to help us sail smoothly in day to day life.

  
IMAGE: The lovely Tamara Marwood, Co-curator of Come on the Scene

 

NV: What attracted you to their projects?

TM: My relationship is a bit like a mummy with these projects. I was involved seeing these projects as infant ideas on paper, initally for the Next Wave festival and then working for nearly two years, witnessing the works evolve and grow... Until they left home, and now they are touring all by themselves around Victoria.

NV: As you've mentioned, some of the works were presented in Melbourne at the 2008 Next Wave festival so why was it important to tour this exhibition?

TM: It made sense to take the works back out of the city and into the regions where the work was first created.

NV: What do you hope visitors will take away with them after seeing Come on the Scene?

TM: Working regionally as a young artist is a tough gig - you need lots of guts, determination and a fearless belief in yourself. I hope that people coming to check out Come on the Scene come away with a sense of this and play with their own regional culture.