Stephen Hart : Agency : Rare Offerings from the Museum of Spent Time

Stephen Hart Agency Rare Offerings from The Museum of Spent Time 5 – 29 September 201

Photography: Mick Richards

Stephen Hart Agency. Rare Oerings from the Museum of Spent Time

A press photograph of the then Prime Minister in Tokyo last year shaking hands with a robot piqued my imagina=on.

Which brought to mind an early drawing of the German ar=st Paul Klee sardonically =tled; Two Gentlemen Bowing to One Another Each Supposing the Other To Be In a Higher Posi=on.

I was rumina=ng on both images when curiosity encouraged me to deconstruct my old computer, a device that provides unparalleled access to informa=on and others. Removing its protec=ve cases reveals a cosmos of internal wiring as mysterious to me (at least) as looking at the night sky in central Australia; yet this device has radically transformed the nature of contemporary existence.

Those three phenomena merged when I painted that Tokyo moment in =me on one of the cases. Sa=re or mockery was not my inten=on.

Rather it has given rise to this idiosyncra=c body of work, exploring the limits of this maker's AGENCY while specula=ng about the evolving human brain/mind and wondering;

Is the so called SMART technology modern life is increasingly con=ngent upon empowering human AGENCY (ability to act autonomously) as we are encouraged to believe or superseding that agency?

STEPHEN HART August 2018

MOMENT (2018) (detail)

MOMENT (2018) Oil on computer case on velvet 63 x 45 cm (framed) $5,600

AGENCY (2018) (detail)

AGENCY (2018) Carved timber, automotive paint mounted on polished cast bronze plate 75 x 19 x 25 cm $25,200

AS TIME GOES BY (2018) (detail)

AS TIME GOES BY (2018) Mounted print, carved timber figures, automotive paint 133 x 96.5 cm (framed) $8,400

CRAZY MIXED UP KIDS (Detail)

CRAZY MIXED UP KIDS (2018) Mounted collage on aluminum sheet 124 x 89 cm (framed) $8,400

BUT WE GO ON (2018) (detail)

BUT WE GO ON (2018) Collage, encaustic panel, carved timber figures 111 x 48 cm (framed) $7,000

THE EXISTENTIAL READER (2018) (detail)

THE EXISTENTIAL READER (2018) Carved Hardwood, gold-leafed base and mixed media assemblage 80 x 12 cm $9,800

TOGETHER 1 (2018) (detail)

TOGETHER 1 (2018) Carved timber, automotive paint, mixed media with acrylic tubular case 105 x 15 cm $10,500

TOGETHER 2 (2018) (detail)

TOGETHER 2 (2018) Carved timber, automotive paint, mixed media with acrylic, tubular case 90 x 15 cm $8,400

ME2 (2018) (detail)

ME2 (2018) Carved recycled hardwood, automotive paint finishes, gold leaf 35 x 5.5 cm $2,100

A RAFT TO SOMEWHERE (2018) (detail)

A RAFT TO SOMEWHERE (2018) Carved recycled hardwood, automotive paint and mixed media 182 x 40 cm $17,500

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