A MATTER OF RESPONSE 3 February - 8 April 2018
BUNBURY REGIONAL ART GALLERY
A MATTER OF RESPONSE
New Interpretations of the City of Bunbury Art Collection As the curator for the City Of Bunbury Art Collection it is my role to promote and share the collection to the public in a variety of ways. Usually this is achieved through a yearly schedule of themed exhibitions showing a selection of artworks. However, in A Matter of Response, the collection is being presented from a different angle; it has become the subject matter. Three South West artists were invited to create a visual response using a variety of mediums. Their brief was to not only select an artwork or topic from the collection, but also to work on this project with another artist of their choice. “Working in collaboration leads to a rich dialogue yielding unexpected results.” Alexander Gorlizki. So here we have six artists, creating a response through collaboration. This in itself can be a challenge, as the art of creating is mostly a solitary experience. Collaboration is often the ultimate test of placing the ego aside in order to work toward a common idea. It can be a beautifully powerful experience, a playground for exchanging thought processes and an opportunity to get out of your comfort zone and become ‘contaminated’ with other artist’s ideas and visions. Sue Dennis and Yvonne Dorricott are long term friends and have participated in many group exhibitions, but working together on a project like this is a first. They are relating a recent stay at Broke Inlet to their chosen collection artwork Cornucopia, a sculpture by Mary Knott. The meaning of the torus is being compared to the abundance of the inlet, where the salt of the ocean mingles with the sweet, and a biosphere of plenty is created through the fluid outpouring of the water. Their work Telos meaning result or making the outcome the actual, or final cause, represents this fluidity by the geometric shape of the torus, which also references a fish trap being a symbol of nourishment. Using materials and techniques such as clay, wire, string and printmaking, the artists are exploring the notion of entrapment and bounty, as well as the nature of geometric flow. For them the collaboration has been a rewarding experience. It mirrors the concept of their work Telos; it is a coming together, a mingling, resulting in a creative outpouring.
TOP: Sue Dennis and Yvonne Dorricott, Telos, 2017, cotton twine and terracotta clay, 100 x 65 cm. BOTTOM: Sue Dennis and Yvonne Dorricott, Lead Flow, 2017, lead with linoprint 25 x 10 cm.
Inspired by Harry Hummerston’s artwork Agony Like Needles, video artist Myrto Angelouli and life partner Elliot Lee Welsford are using video, sound and sculpted objects to recreate and reinterpret the destabilising effect that Hummerston’s work has on the audience. The gallery is transformed into a dark space where the audio and visual will be an agonising, unsettling and rattling experience. Agony is also portrayed as a character, a dark and elusive human form. Filmed in a variety of locations and through unorthodox editing techniques and abstraction, the character becomes a dominant element in the space. Myrto and Elliot have collaborated on various projects and feel comfortable working together. “A new project always offers a blank canvas for creation on an artistic as well as on a personal level; for the latest, it’s also a delightful process of rediscovery.” Myrto.
LEFT AND BELOW: Myrto Angelouli, Elliot Lee Welsford, Agony Like Needles (Revisited), 2017, Single-channel, high definition digital video, looped, colour, sound
Christopher Young and Elisa Markes-Young have an interest in the human stories behind collections and objects. They are intrigued by the lives of two women represented in collection; Rosetta Kelly, who produced hundreds of watercolours of flowers as a way to deal with her grief over the loss of her son in the First World War, and Georgina Molloy, who lived an isolated pioneer life, filled with hardship and adversity. Relating these stories to their own personal life experiences, Christopher and Elisa explore the themes of childhood nostalgia, cultural displacement, identity and the remoteness of different environments using textile, folk art forms, photographic installation and image techniques. Christopher and Elisa have collaborated in the past on quite large projects so for them this wasn’t a foreign experience. However, it can often be challenging given their different approaches to ideas, materials and process. “It is almost always fruitful, challenging us individually and ultimately leading to creative developments in new directions.� Christopher and Elisa
Elisa Markes-Young, Broken Places #01, 2017, mixed media, dimensions variable.
Christopher Young, Eight #22, 2017, lightjet print, 64 x 80 cm
For me it has been a rewarding experience of choosing and liaising with the artists. I believe it is an exciting exhibition as it is a first that the City of Bunbury Art Collection has been the subject matter for local artists. The COB art collection was founded in 1948 when twenty two works were donated by the West Australian philanthropist Sir Claude Hotchin. He donated significant artworks to towns across Regional Western Australia, with the aim to bring art to the people of the South West Region and to encourage local artists. Since then the collection has continued to grow with further acquisitions and donations and now holds over 900 two- as well as three- dimensional works, with an estimated value in excess of two million dollars. Enjoy
Caroline Lunel
Curator, City of Bunbury Art Collection
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Bunbury Regional Art Gallery would like to acknowledge the Wardandi Noongar People as the traditional Custodians of the land we are situated on, and pay our respects to elders past and present. Bunbury Regional Art Gallery is owned and managed by the City of Bunbury and supported by the Government of Western Australia through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries A Matter of Response is curated by Caroline Lunel
BUNBURY REGIONAL ART GALLERIES STAFF Manager Arts and Culture – Julian Bowron Administration and Operations Coordinator – Anna Edmundson Exhibitions Curator – Alisa Blakeney City of Bunbury Collections Curator – Caroline Lunel Education and Communications Officer – Michele Grimston Exhibitions Officer – Simon Long Gallery Officer - Donna Fortescue Assistant Gallery Officer – Dean Buck Gallery Attendants – Stephanie Lloyd-Smith, Suellen Turner, Sam Beard and Dan Kus COVER IMAGE: Christopher Young, Eight #21, 2017, lightjet print, 64 x 80 cm