trouble 147
Summation of Force
Trent Parke & Narelle Autio in Association with Closer Productions and the Adelaide Film Festival Directors Trent Parke & Narelle Autio in association with Matthew Bate | Editor Raynor Pettge | Composer Jason Sweeney | Sound Design Leigh Kenyon | Animation Convergen | Line Producers - Trina Lucas, Bec Summerton | Production Company - Closer Productions | Featuring Jem and Dash Autio Parke See the Trailer on Vimeo: SUMMATION OF FORCE - TRAILER Presented by the Samstag Museum of Art for the SALA Festival from 30 June - 30 September 2017 - unisa.edu.au
CONTENTS SUMMATION OF FORCE
Trent Parke & Narelle Autio .....................................................................
COMICS FACE
Ive Sorocuk .............................................................................................
TWO SINGLES TO GIFU Creative Cowboy ...................................................................................
BARRY DICKENS Social Work: A Masterclass ...................................................................
CREATURES GREAT & SMALL Inga Walton ...........................................................................................
JULY SALON
Just Sailing .............................................................................................
FINDING THE ART IN PHUKET: MONSOON MADNESS
Anthony S. Cameron .............................................................................
02 11 12 14 22 38
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COVER: Trent Parke & Narelle Autio, Summation of Force, 2016/17, in Association with Closer Productions and the Adelaide Film Festival. Directors Trent Parke & Narelle Autio in association with Matthew Bate | Editor Raynor Pettge | Composer Jason Sweeney | Sound Design Leigh Kenyon | Animation Convergen | Line Producers - Trina Lucas, Bec Summerton | Production Company - Closer Productions | Featuring Jem and Dash Autio Parke See the Trailer on Vimeo: SUMMATION OF FORCE - TRAILER Presented by the Samstag Museum of Art for the SALA Festival from 30 June - 30 September 2017 - unisa.edu.au Issue 147 JULY 2017 trouble is an independent monthly mag for promotion of arts and culture Published by Trouble Magazine Pty Ltd. ISSN 1449-3926 EDITOR Steve Proposch CONTRIBUTORS Ive Sorocuk, Peter & Andrea Hylands, Mark Halloran, Inga Walton, Anthony S. Cameron, love. GET from AppStore FOLLOW on issuu & twitter SUBSCRIBE at troublemag.com READER ADVICE: Trouble magazine contains artistic content that may include nudity, adult concepts, coarse language, and the names, images or artworks of deceased Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people. Treat Trouble intelligently, as you expect to be treated by others. Collect or dispose of thoughtfully. DIS IS DE DISCLAIMER! The views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publisher. To the best of our knowledge all details in this magazine were correct at the time of publication. The publisher does not accept responsibility for errors or omissions. All content in this publication is copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without prior permission of the publisher. Trouble is distributed online from the first of every month of publication but accepts no responsibility for any inconvenience or financial loss in the event of delays. Phew!
This comic first appeared in Trouble May 2012
Creative cowboy films, a global new media broadcaster in film and publishing with viewers around the globe, make documentaries and publish blogs, e-books and e-magazines about art and culture and nature. They work in some of the most remote places on earth and with some of the world’s most significant artists.
JAPAN ART & CULTURE
Two Singles to Gifu The flight into Tokyo’s Narita Airport arrives as the sun is setting, we fly in low over the Japanese coast, small islands off to our left, each with an attendant fluffy cloud above. The darkening light is deep blue and red. The green coastline is now below with its lines of wind turbines scattered through the small farms and paddy fields. visit Creative Cowboy Films
SOCIAL WORK : A Masterclass
Dr Mark Halloran
Barry Dickens was born in 1949 into a working class family in Reservoir, Melbourne. After leaving school at the age of 16 he worked in factories in North Melbourne for five years before he started his apprenticeship as a set painter at Channel 7. He soon began frequenting Melbourne’s La Mamma Theatre, and began writing his first short plays. He is now a prolific playwright and author, having written more than 50 plays, as well as various short stories, biographies, poems and journalistic articles. His stage play Remembering Ronald Ryan won the Victorian Premier’s Awards in 1995 as well as the Amnesty Prize for Peace Through Art. In his creative non-fiction novel Last Words Dickens once again revisits the life of Ronald Ryan, who was hung on the 3rd of February 1967, becoming the last person to be legally executed in Australia. Dickens prose masterfully recreates the infamous escape of Ronald Ryan and Peter Walker from Pentridge prison, which led to the accidental shooting of prison guard George Hodson, as well as the series of events that are now associated with one of the most shameful travesties of justice in recent Australian history. Dickens portrait of Ryan is empathetic, potentially due to their shared working class backgrounds, with Ryan shown to be a charming, wayward, non violent young man, a loving brother and a sometimes devoted husband and father. Ryan seems at times to be a victim of his own personality and life circumstance. Through Dickens we are left with the impression that he was, to some extent, as much condemned by the weight of his class and family history, as by the Bolte government who conspired to end his life for its own political expediency.
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How do your values differ from those of your family? Barry Dickens: My own values as opposed to those of my family have always been a commitment to spontaneous conversation where it perhaps annoys them as I never cease my stories that are unpublished until they are sort of edited or polished by virtue of ear bashing the loved ones at the tea table; the traditional aspects of family life can be abandoned if the father is both an egomaniac as well as a bankrupt; the terrible curse of being a writer is that you cannot be lived with nor should you be. When a male author is of use he makes the mortgage fortnightly payments easily because his books make pots of money; but when no money arrives in any way shape or form and he is still writing a nobel or memoir well after midnight nit is time for his speedy removal for the greater good of his family’s outlook and hopefully sunnier future. Do you have a favourite family story? BD: My best story from my old family life is when my father gave all afternoon to terribly cautiously removing a very stubborn thorn that had somehow got snagged in our dog Joey’s nostrils and one half of the long stem of thorns came out of his left swollen eye and the other as I say caught in his eye; my father ever so patiently attended to him in the concrete wash trough in the old wash house and even though the creature’s legs were trembling and shaking dye to the pain he stood perfectly still in order for our father to fix him up; this involved dad giving him half a cold stubby and after maybe two hours the filthy thorn was out of him and the grotty wash trough spattered with red blood and although a miniature story of family life I have seen it replayed many times in my mind’s cinema. Do you think things happen for a reason? BD: I think beautiful things happen for a specific reason in the randomness of the moment where for example one falls in love with another tax paying human citizen who works in Sales or something equally unendurable; but awful and ugly things happen because one is in a very bad mood and in its way one deserves it since one could have easily brightened up and looked forward to seeing one’s friends as opposed to sinking into a sulk and saying ‘Don’t ask me how I am going because I shall only have to tell you how awful a day it is for me and as a result not a single happy thing can happen to me’/ Ugly and horrid things only happen if the recipient of them has the shits. It is a common condition in The Western World to be in a crapulous mood but nothing but a drag for others who need to be merry at all costs otherwise the entire day is a write off. If you feel exceptionally happy inside you win The Midweek Tattslotto.
Barry Dickens / Social Work: A Masterclass
What do you think is your main purpose in life? BD: The purpose of life is to thank Christ you are alive because in death you will never read Jane Austen or sip incredibly nice and delicious minestrone soup somewhere friendly; the entire meaning of life is to be grateful that your heart still works and that you can spend the whole entire year running around being incredibly kind to complete strangers and never think of yourself as being good since you half or wholly expect people to be thoughtful and even merciful to you don’t you now? If you are lucky enough to put your stuff on in the morning and go to work then you’ve kicked a goal.
“The purpose of life is to thank Christ you are alive because in death you will never read Jane Austen or sip incredibly nice and delicious minestrone soup ...” What do you hope for? BD: What I hope for is to get out of my awful flat and live at a nice suite in South Yarra in Melbourne called Saint Margaret’s that I have been in love with since I was about Twenty and just couldn’t imagine a lovelier residence right on The Fawkner Gardens and the whole atmosphere of the place is tender like the night in winter; I can imagine having contented visitors coming to see me if that home came true and I could light little fires and write fascinating novels until I won The Nobel Prize and died there in perfect peace I must say to you. Do you think its ok to lie? BD: It is okay to lie if you don’t mind breaking your heart doing it because lying is the most graceless way to commit suicide and is the only cancer between families; lying can be fun and fascinating and because you get away with it and become a thug as well as conceited you make this mental note to lie more often; particularly to yourself and then you are really corrupted and ready for the funny farm but will they have you? Sometimes a beautiful lie is instantly believed and you have just succeeded in bursting someone’s aorta valve by cruelty and you should be imprisoned.
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What does freedom mean to you? BD: Freedom is the exact opposite of The ALP Caucus and ennobles the spirit and soul of all who long for a free meal that is scrumptious as well as truly imaginative and it almost goes without saying that the planet is running out of style as well as panache and that most of the inhabitants of Earth no longer expect a single second of mirth or hilarity on the house as most of them have no house anyway in which to celebrate not feeling introspective or even depressed and anxious in the extreme. There is no need for a receipt for a meant kiss. What do you think are the most important social issues today? BD: The most important social issues are comedy and company for without either of those we tend to sink in a hole rather rapidly; comedy comes unbidden similar to tragedy although comedy is more interesting than devoting an entire afternoon to weeping into your own hands for something to do; the thing about laughter is its relative cheapness and the fact that it always comes in below budget rather like hiring Rent A Car where you know you are being duped but it is the only way to get to the office now your old car has been hammered into a cement speed bump that destroyed its front end and eben your front end in the bargain.
“... comedy comes unbidden similar to tragedy although comedy is more interesting than devoting an entire afternoon to weeping into your own hands ...” What beliefs do you have that you think will never change? BD: The benefits I have that I should hope never change are a big nose that receives plenty of complimentary oxygen and the spirited company of my son who is great company and my friends who think they are; although come of them really are. The greatest benefit is being alive and having a smile which works and isn’t on automatic because nothing frightens me more than an automatic grin so that ordinary citizens resemble gangsters or Welsh tennis coaches. I shouldn’t like to see things alter too much because I am dreadfully conservative as well as wayward and always hope for the best in a world that feels bereft of best.
Barry Dickens / Social Work: A Masterclass
Do you believe in the supernatural? BD: The Supernatural in life is just getting quietly dressed and finding your teeth; the rest is in the world of the prosaic like a perfectly boring bookstore where the staff sip coffees in front of you even when you are doing a book signing. The Supernatural is someone you never met liking you spontaneously although hating your new book. After being divorced anything nice is Supernatural such as a not bad curry puff that was four of them for six bucks which was right on your budget as it turns out. A chemist who actually listens to you is Supernatural of course because none of them do and all of them never weary of talking down to you and selling you the wrong sore throat lozenges probably deliberately. Is any religious text important to you? BD: The most important religion to me is luck and not The Anglican Church which has absolutely nothing whatever to do with luck as it turns out and more to do with surface appearances and what sort of BMW you drive at the moment; real religion seems to me a simple cheerfulness but then again that is the current mindset of Terrorists. Religion feels like relaxing and taking it easy but even contemporary prayer and mindless meditation is no different really from eavesdropping on a fridge. The only religious text of greater or holy meaning for me at least Is The Genesis contained in The King James Version of The Bible Because the language is poetry and not dogma and as a child or a man I paused to contemplate it the result was perfect peace. The style of the writing is so divine it has never been equaled and cannot even be imitated; when I read it now it is still perfect and I guess I feel the sin of envy as I gorge it up and secretly wish I had sat down in my flat one morning quite early and knocked it out for publication in the sure knowledge it will go into several editions. What do you like the best about your body? BD: The best thing about my body is my nose which is pretty big for a nose but I just don’t give a hoot, it is fine and breathes wholeheartedly for me in my nightly repose although it snuffles from time to time and itches but that is merely to attract attention to itself; my own dear nose has experienced lots of men’s fists hitting it very hard and even often but today it is never hit as I don’t go into bars much. I like its reliability and texture and it seems to have more say than other organs of mine in my daily affairs and what have you; I could go nowhere without it and am only ever truly happy when a pretty woman is kissing it and then I feel justified in having a big one but one that rules the remainder of me day and night to say the least.
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What do you think would be the best thing about being the opposite gender? BD: The highlight of being the other gender is the lovely oppositeness of it and the rarity of being rather incomparable when comfortably seated next to a ballerina from another time and another country I should say; it is delirious and mysterious to be a man and totally relaxed in the amusing company of a girl or a woman; either are preferable to living alone and talking to your shoe and having to dine with nobody else around; sometimes in my dreams I am making lighthearted conversation with a female from heaven who likes me to read to her from the life of Chopin in such a way only a man like me could do that and only then am I sure I like my gender enough to keep it. Who is the best teacher you have ever had? BD: My best leader or teacher was my mother who died two years ago whom I miss daily and sometimes talk to as a matter of fact since there is no one remotely as funny as she used to be and no one who taught me how to listen better than she did; she was a very great mimic and could easily impersonate just about anyone she was with socially or talk like god when she cried her head off due to clinical depression and anxiety she suffered from all her life and in all the time we did together no one was so subtle or wise or so willing to play the fool because of the profound security the true fool feels when he or she is kidding with life to make sure it doesn’t hurt all that much when you are down for the count.
“... my own dear nose has experienced lots of men’s fists hitting it very hard and even often but today it is never hit as I don’t go into bars much.” Have you ever been lost? BD: I was lost once in a snowy peak long ago whilst bush walking alongside my father and because he was insanely fit and ever so athletic he just marched on ignoring me and in the end I fell down a hole in this freezing stuff called ice and snow and I was stuck there for hours actually calling out his name of daddy over and over until he heard me and got me out of there; i was about twelve years old and it took me a fortnight really to forgive him.
Barry Dickens / Social Work: A Masterclass
What was your favourite book as a child? BD: My favourite book as a child was The Wind In The Willows that my mother read to me aloud in the company of my slightly older brother called John in the freezing cold bungalow at the rear of our our old home; the way they read it was as though we who listened to it had really written it and even executed the lovely drawings that illustrated it;’ both parents were excellent readers and brilliant nonchalant actors and they made each special scene or sentence come alive with the acuteness of those mystifying;y real characters. If I asked a good friend of yours what you were good at, what would they say? BD: A good friend hopefully say i was good at love because I have hated losing a single friend all through my life of sixty eight years almost and it kills me when I lose even an acquaintance as opposed to someone I have known intimately all my life or at least a decent portion of my life; I try to see my best friends whenever that suits them in order to know them better of course and to see how their children are going; it would devastate me if i was thought to be a half hearted friend and someone selfish and unreliable in fact a cad! What stays the same in your life, no matter how much other things change? BD: What stays the same despite everything is kindness which is probably all we shall be remembered for once we are gone from here; if you are being kind you are too busy to think about your standing in a society that has become mean and hard without ever trying to have a rapport with the wind or a voice of a song that might distract the sun for a fraction of a second and that is all you can ask if you should like to be contented and probably happy.
Last Words: The hanging of Ronald Ryan by Barry Dickins Last Words is the story of Ronald Ryan, the last man hanged in Australia. Fifty years after his death, questions remain unanswered. Ryan had been found guilty of murdering prison officer George Hodson during an escape from Pentridge Prison with fellow inmate Peter Walker. But did he really fire the bullet that killed Hodson? A Hardie Grant Books book.
Inga Walton
As part of the annual the ‘House of Ideas’ series at The Johnston Collection, Animal Kingdom (until 19 September, 2017), positions the work of seven contemporary artists alongside those pieces of a similar theme drawn from the current holdings. “The series makes us think about the Collection’s current relevancy and how we can provide context and meaning with the intervention of new works. We desire that the exhibition will take us to new places based on old worlds, while challenging assumptions about what exhibition-houses can do”, says Director Louis Le Vaillant. Fittingly, Animal Kingdom was inspired by a new acquisition, purchased with funds donated by the late Nina Stanton, former Director of The Johnston Collection (2000-08). A set of Derby porcelain Figures (Four Quarters of the Globe) (c.1780), depict children as idealised personifications of Africa, America, Asia and Europe, accompanied by their respective mascots: a lion, an alligator, a camel, and a bull. Discovering new ways of interpreting the over 1,400 objects that currently comprise the collection, and uncovering new modes of engagement, is one of the curatorial challenges Le Vaillant most enjoys. “How could we, through historical objects, traditional and contemporary works by artists, seek out, bring together and talk about representations of and relationships we have with animals which have continued to inspire and inform us over time. Then we went about discovering a whole animal kingdom within the four walls of The Johnston Collection”, he explains. The exhibition, co-curated by Dorothy Morgan (who selected the embroiderers), brings together the work of Kate Rohde, Troy Emery, Julia deVille, Vipoo Srivilasa, Alison Cole, Lesley Uren, OAM, and Yvonne Walton, (no relation). William Robert Johnston (1911-86) was an antique dealer, art collector and aesthete who ran his principal business, Kent Antiques, in High Street, Armadale from 1971 until his death. He acquired the double-fronted, two storey East Melbourne property Cadzow (1860), designed by John M. McIntosh, in 1952. Johnston remodelled it to create the appearance of a late eighteenth century Georgian-style townhouse, renamed it Fairhall, and rented it out. In 1972, Johnston undertook further renovations prior to occupying the property, including the transportation of various features from his Carlton house < France, Unknown (in the manner of Emile Gallé, 1846-1904), Model of a Pug Dog (c.1900), Faïence (glazed), applied transfer flower decoration, 31.5 x 23 x 12.5 cm. The Johnston Collection (Gift of an Anonymous Donor, 2017). NEXT SPREAD: Derby Porcelain Factory (est. c.1748-1848) (after models by Johann Gottlieb Ehder (1716-50) & Johann Friedrich Eberlein (1695-1749), after the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory), Figures (Four Quarters of the Globe) (c.1780), porcelain, Africa: 16 x 7 x 7 cm, America: 16 x 7 x 7 cm, Asia: 16 x 7 x 8.5 cm, Europe: 16 x 7 x 7 cm. The Johnston Collection (Purchased with Funds from the Nina Stanton 18th Century Porcelain Bequest).
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Casa d’Espana that was being demolished. Johnston left the property and its contents to the people of Victoria as “a place of historical and educational interest”, as he put it. An independent charitable Trust was established in 1986 to preserve and develop this unique collection, expressive of one man’s personal taste, his knowledge and appreciation of fine objects, and commitment to the concept of gracious living. The Johnston Collection formally opened to the public on 19 November, 1990, and has cemented its place as one of Australia’s house museum treasures. The exhibition year is divided into three distinct periods and themes. The annual ‘Christmas at The Johnston Collection’ (November-February) engages creatives from around Victoria who work to produce pieces based on Johnston’s life and collection. ‘William Johnston and his Collection’ (March-June) invites a guest arranger who works only with the permanent collection. ‘The House of Ideas’ (July-October) asks a guest curator(s) to work within Fairhall who may bring in other items, or introduce new ways of working with, or viewing, the permanent collection. More recently, The Johnston Collection has been acknowledged for the quality of its exhibitions: winner of the Museums Australia (Victoria) Awards for Small Museums (2014) in recognition of the house tour David McAllister Rearranges Mr. Johnston’s Collection, and winner of the ‘Temporary or Travelling Exhibition Level 1’ category (2016) at the Museum and Galleries National Awards (MAGNA) for Feathering The Nest: Richard Nylon Meets William Johnston (2015). In the downstairs Green Drawing Room, Kate Rohde’s Rave Cave Dining Table (2015) is covered with fifteen of her signature multi-hued resin bowls, vases and urns (2013-15). Originally designed for the invitational Rigg Design Prize (formerly the Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award) at the National Gallery of Victoria (2015-16), the dining suite comes with two matching chairs. These are positioned in front of a riotous ‘feature wall’ of Animal Drop (2016) digitally printed wallpaper, surrounding an Icing Mirror (2015), which acts as a visual counterpoint to the ornate gilded mirrors opposite. The mirror produces a slightly warped reflection, made all the more disconcerting by the central placement of the lurid Mutant Kitten Vase (2015), thus completing the retinasearing spectacle. “I’d call my practice hyperactive, like an acid trip without the drugs. I’m compelled and repulsed in equal measure by the fantastical environments I make”, agrees Rohde. “My work is so excessive, with all the bling and mirrors; it’s shiny, loud, colourful and unashamedly decorative”. Animal Kingdom marks a return to The Johnston Collection for Rohde who was a guest artist for Romance Was Born (fashion designers Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett) when they interpreted the collection with The Bride, the Ship and the Wardrobe (2012). “That was the first time I’d ever been to Fairhall and it was great having a behind-thescenes look at it. I actually took numerous pictures of items in the collection that had zoomorphic and anthropomorphic qualities, which formed part of the inspiration for many of the vessels now on show... so things have come full circle really. I’ve visited almost every show since then [and] I’m always amazed at how transformed the house is Creatures Great & Small: Animal Kingdom / Inga Walton
with each interpretation... It makes people realise they can incorporate contemporary works alongside historical or more conservative collections”, she observes. Rohde enjoys the dynamic interplay of ideas collaborations with existing collections such as this can bring to her practice. “I have worked within the house museum context on several occasions before; the first time in 2010, I integrated numerous small works into an existing wunderkammer that was part of the University of Tokyo. I find it really exciting to work in this context as you can respond really directly, and bounce off the existing architecture and objects. Having created many immersive, whole room style installations in the past, it takes a lot of the pressure off creating a non ‘white cube’ style presentation of artworks, which I try to avoid as much as possible really in my work”, she stresses. “The main challenge is often the house museum is a National Trust [property] or protected space, so things have to sit lightly and not damage the structure. The good part of The Johnston Collection is its rationale that you are allowed to interact with the space more so than in many other cases, it’s meant to be a dynamic and changing house museum”. The truly delirious and vibrant display contrasts forcibly with the pale carpet, muted marble plinths, statuary, and ornamental urns of the interior, dominated by an imposing Mahogany Breakfront Bookcase (c.1765). “Louis had a very clear vision of what he was looking for in my work, [as it] spoke to the existing baroque and rococo decorative arts and furniture items in the collection. In terms of pieces from the existing collection I did have a right of refusal if I didn’t like anything they chose”, Rohde comments. “But really I was more interested in seeing the response of Louis and the volunteers who rustled up all the works to go into the room, as it was always intended as a conversation between works old and new, and I felt I put my pieces in there to start the discussion and they answered with theirs – or vice versa perhaps!” A obvious example of this concerns the English glass chandelier (c.1820) above her table, which Rohde has dressed in a resin and acrylic Hair Chandelier (2017), reminiscent of a wig. “My hairy addition to the chandelier was actually a random act of fate, I’d never intended to do anything with it, but the ring of acrylic hair was stored in the same case as the Icing Mirror, so it had inadvertently been transported to Fairhall”, she recounts. “Since it was there and it fit perfectly over the existing chandelier, and within the context of the show it seemed crazy not to use it. So really a happy accident that I think worked out great!” Le Vaillant is equally pleased by the outcome, “I wanted to see these works of Kate’s within the context of The Johnston Collection, so that visitors could think about how makers continually look back on and ‘reflect’ the past”. William Johnston had an abiding fondness for animals: when he lived in Brighton he had a small dog called ‘Chou-Chou’. Prior to his occupancy of Fairhall, Johnston had acquired the 800-acre property and stud Chandpara at Tylden in the Macedon Ranges, country Victoria. There, Johnston and his colleague and companion Ahmed Moussa Abo el Maaty, discovered a stray cat surviving on whatever she could catch. Despite some NEXT SPREAD: The Green Drawing Room, installation by Kate Rohde, English glass chandelier (c.1820), (The Johnston Collection). Hair Chandelier (2017) detail, resin, acrylic hair, site specific, dimensions variable. Rave Cave Dining Table (2015) detail, resin, mixed media, (excluding vases) 90 x 250 x 130 cm. Rave Cave Dining Chair (2015) detail, resin, mixed media, 140 x 50 x 50 cm. (Photo: Inga Walton).
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initial hostility, of which Johnston bore the brunt, the cat became part of the household. Moussa, whom Johnston met in Egypt, called the grey and white cat ‘Mona’ after a cat he had in Cairo. Although ‘Mona’ didn’t make it to Fairhall, a pair of William Kent Pottery Figures (Seated Cat On Cushion) (c.1890), originally at Chandpara, act as a mnemonic for her. These can be seen in The Kitchen as part of an extensive display of figurines and objects dubbed ‘Staffordshire Stories’, in reference to the famous pottery manufacturers based at Stoke-on-Trent. Fine porcelain and ceramic works can be found throughout Fairhall, reflecting Johnston’s passion for the medium. When he was around eight yearsold, Johnston’s maternal grandmother, Mary Theresa Friedrichs, presented him with a Minton Teacup (c.1812-15) that remains in the collection today, and is regarded as one of its most treasured pieces. One of the most highly regarded and accomplished ceramicists working in Australia today, Vipoo Srivilasa was an appropriate choice to bring a touch of the exotic and escapist to the project. “Vipoo was also a good fit for The Blue Room as he conceptually followed the previous installation of ‘blue and white’ porcelain that had been in the immediate past exhibition [Being Modern: William Johnston – His Residence & Collection], as well as the personal political aspect he brings to his object making”, Le Vaillant remarks. The maritime theme expressed by the prominent painting A Naval Battle Depicting Ships Carrying the Dutch and English Flags (c.1670), is echoed by Srivilasa’s Collective Sea Life (2016). This installation of over forty intricate and embellished sculptural works is displayed on a low Walnut marquetry table, “I liked the contrast of low value discarded objects sitting next to a high value antique!”, Srivilasa quips. Over by the window on a demi lune table (c.1730-50) sits Happy Ride III: Deity of Journey & Leadership (2016), riding a giant fish. Surveying Srivilasa’s frolicking painted Deity, is Figure (Neptune) (c.1800), another porcelain offering from Derby, depicting the Roman god standing atop a rococo base encrusted with coral, shells and seaweed, accompanied by a dolphin. (The figure may have been inspired by the figure group Neptune et Amphitrite from the Buffet d’Eau fountain at Grand Trianon, Château de Versailles). Srivilasa’s other two works, Jobs and Zuckerberg: Deity of Creativity and Friendship and Hare: Deity of Abundance (both 2016), complement the fine Dehua porcelain (blanc-de-Chine) figures of an Egret, a sage, and the Goddess Guanyin in the cabinet opposite. Still on the ground floor, two ‘fake taxidermy’ sculptural works by Troy Emery, Golden Dragon (2016) and Bird Catcher (2017), sit inscrutably on marble tabletops in The White Room. Emery’s works investigate the aesthetics of craft associated with natural history by using high-density taxidermy foam bodies to create ambiguous creatures in a kaleidoscopic zoo. “A fake pelt is stretched over an animal mould and glass eyes are inserted. The result is a fake animal, an artwork masquerading as a lesson in natural history. I see myself as following a process that mimics taxidermy, therefore I see the result as a kind of mimicry”, he reflects. “My work is anti-craft. Not in the sense of being against craft, but ‘anti-’ as in ‘anti-hero’. It uses craft materials and has a craft aesthetic but I’m avoiding any tradition of technique other than that of making 3D sculptural objects. Creatures Great & Small: Animal Kingdom / Inga Walton
I’m interested in the use of animals in spiritual practices, and animals as decorative objects. The idea of the animal as the bearer of human concerns acts as an allegory as interchangeable with the classically transcendent properties of art”. Emery’s fantasy animals and strange critters, with their pompom skins and fringed fur, prowl the corridors of the absurd within the wider menagerie of his imagination. “Toys and fantasy are a huge influence on me. I was the kid with fifteen stuffed toys on his bed. I’m also a fan of the Nintendo franchise Pokémon. It’s all about ridiculous animals. Japan has a great way of combining cute and sinister in its visual culture. It’s why I’m a big fan of the artist Takashi Murakami. Imagining other worlds full of strange creatures is something we do naturally when we are children. I sometimes think I’m just making myself the toys I never had as a kid”, he muses. “I use materials associated with children’s craft, fashion, and Christmas ornaments. They are ‘awkwardly decorative’ but when applied to the animal forms the animal shifts from one species to another. With a new pelt, they transform into something new. These animals perhaps do exist somewhere, that they are taxidermy from some kind of parallel universe or fantasy landscape”. Taxidermy, even within the museum context, is contentious today with its rather loaded historical associations. Perceived as an affectation of white colonialism and Empire, the devastating impact of ‘trophy’ hunting has rendered various species now either extinct or endangered, abetted by the resurgence of cashed-up ‘sporting’ shooters. The visual cliché of the mounted face-on-the-wall, or skinned and lying impotently on the floor, in grand homes is in contrast to the fondness we profess for other domestic animals. “Taxidermy animals are like artworks. They are sculptures, crafted objects, with abstracted meanings, framed and exhibited. The pathos comes from acknowledging that these decorative objects, whether decorating a hunting lodge or a museum diorama, were once living things”, Emery contends. “In Why Look At Animals? [2009] John Berger writes about the curious position that pets occupy in our lives. He suggests that pets decorate domestic spaces the same way as pot plants do. In painting, animals have often been deployed to fill in space. Think of the dog in [Diego Rodríguez de Silva y] Velázquez’s great portrait of the Spanish royal family [Las Meninas, 1656]. Pets, while family members, also become prestige commodities. They entertain a precarious relationship with décor”. Domestic animals who wreak havoc on expensive carpets and furniture, shred curtains, tangle blinds, flood bathrooms, chew and steal clothing, and leave breakages in their wake are the subject of innumerable anecdotes. Nonetheless, we find them immortalised in paintings and photographs, and represented by countless pottery figurines, such as The Johnston Collection’s recent acquisition Model of a Pug Dog (c.1900). Bereft owners seeking to preserve their treasured pet have often commissioned funerary monuments, or resorted to taxidermy in order to cushion the emotional blow. Artworks featuring animals have a kind of benign and universal appeal, and yet, some viewers are repulsed when that work becomes somehow transgressive. “People always think there is a real animal inside my work. As soon as I mention the word taxidermy to some people they screw their nose up in disgust. They think I have killed some poor fox, had it stuffed, NEXT SPREAD: The White Room. installation by Troy Emery, (on table) Bird Catcher (2017), polyurethane mannequin, rayon fringing, glue, pins, 39 x 54 x 56 cm. Torchère (in the form of a winged Sphinx) (c.1910-20), wood, paint, gilded, 121 x 39 x 33 cm. (on wall) Unknown (circle of Henri Gascar, 1635-1701), Untitled (Portrait of a Girl and Dove) (19th Century), oil on canvas, 58 x 45.5 cm. (The Johnston Collection). Photo: Adam Luttick.
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then covered it in pompoms!”, Emery admits. This is an assumption Julia deVille has become quite familiar with in the process of exhibiting her startling and provocative animal sculptures. Upstairs in The Yellow Room fourteen of her renowned taxidermy works are presented in glass cases on the central dining table. A vegan, animal rights advocate, and trained taxidermist who only works with ethically sourced subjects (stillborn, donated or found dead), deVille endows these otherwise ‘disposable’ creatures with a glittering and privileged afterlife. Embellished with precious stones and the focus of a narrative that was never theirs, she envisages for them a new life where they are venerated and ‘treasured’, not discarded, abused, or eaten. DeVille’s emotive work both disturbs and attracts because it addresses the often contradictory impulses we have towards animals. How do we classify their worth or sentience, and how do we rationalise our inconsistent attitudes towards one species versus another? Widespread public disgust over Australia’s ongoing live export trade and abuses committed in destination-country abattoirs; endangered species being killed for ‘traditional’ Asian medicines; the trade in exotic wildlife; orang-utans under threat in Sumatra due to Palm Oil plantations; international revulsion at the Yulin dog meat festival in China; international whaling; cosmetic and pharmaceutical testing on live animal subjects; and national debates about duck hunting season, greyhound and jumps racing are just some of the issues regularly featured in the media. DeVille asks us to ponder where we, as individuals and as a society, draw the line between animal ‘cruelty’ and what is, for want of a better analogy, merely ‘lunch’. Throughout the Yellow Room can be found examples of fine furniture incorporating materials that would now be rather frowned upon: an Occasional table (c.1850) inlaid with ivory, a Bookstand (c.1850) made with porcupine quills, a Polar bear skin rug, and six taxidermied tropical birds within an array of foliage (c.1880). A small selection of anthropomorphic silver items from deVille’s extensive fine jewellery practice are included in a vitrine, also containing four watercolour on ivory portrait miniatures from The Johnston Collection. These are turned to the reverse to display an arrangement of human ‘hairwork’, typical of commemorative and mourning jewellery, and which transformed the jewel into something akin to a miniature reliquary. The commissioning of such personal and specific artworks was limited to the wealthy, and incorporating the hair of the sitter denotes the object’s status as a precious or heirloom item. The socially prescribed use of ‘human parts’ within this highly ritualised and sentimental format is contrasted with the widespread use of animals for food, clothing, decorative items, and furniture components. Co-curator Dorothy Morgan has been involved with The Johnston Collection for nearly fifteen years, having previously curated temporary exhibitions, lectured, and written for The Johnston Collection publications. “The Collection has worked with members of The Embroiderers Guild (Victoria) since at least 2003, and we wanted to see key makers who are integral to their community included in our exhibitions in another > The Yellow Room, installation by Julia deVille. Photo: Inga Walton.
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context. Dorothy was integral in selecting embroiderers, who are leading exemplars of their skill, to be included in Animal Kingdom”, Le Vaillant relates. “In order to present as wide an overview of the animal kingdom as possible, and to create a conversation with objects in the collection, I wanted to include insects, birds and mythological beasts, all of which are represented on objects in the collection, and some of which are shown in the relevant rooms in Fairhall along with the contemporary pieces from our artists”, Morgan notes. “Once that decision was made these three textile artists – Alison Cole, Lesley Uren, and Yvonne Walton – were chosen because their work includes exploration of the inspiration they have taken from these creatures. Our aim is to create stories and a dialogue between Collection objects and our visitors to think anew about issues they might otherwise take for granted”. In The Study Yvonne Walton’s nine insect brooches and a Samurai Beetle (2007) necklace join her silk paper plate Picnic (2004), which bears a strong resemblance to several Chelsea porcelain decorated plates painted in the Hans Sloane botanical style in the Collection. “Walton’s work in particular relates to that of deVille in that creatures are ‘captured’ under glass. All of the works in the exhibition ‘capture’ animals, real or imagined, for the purposes of man”, says Morgan. “Thus they all make a contribution to the human/ animal conversation this exhibition aims to explore. The fact that we have chosen some smaller, more ‘discreet’ work than that of say Kate Rohde, is quite deliberate as one of the experiences we want our visitors to have is that of examining objects in detail – seeing the small picture as well as the big one”. The Sitting Room contains the fine gold and silver metal thread work of Lesley Uren, a founding member of The Embroiderers Guild (Victoria), and something of a national treasure in her field. Her winged creatures including birds, butterflies and phoenix, are often inspired by ancient civilisations and mythology. “As part of the mantra of The Johnston Collection that old is new, new is old, we are keen to explore not just making techniques undreamt of in the 18th and 19th centuries (such as Kate Rohde’s cast resin) but also contemporary interpretations of old techniques – in this case stumpwork and metal thread embroidery which are centuries old”, Morgan asserts. In The Bedroom we find the work of author and embroidery authority Alison Cole who has twice participated in the annual ‘Christmas at The Johnston Collection’, and whose work was later acquired for the permanent collection. When The Embroiderers Guild decorated Fairhall (2003) a six-figure Adoration of the Magi group (now in The Johnston Collection) had new costumes made for it. Lesley Uren dressed the ‘Gold Magi’, and Cole the ‘Green Magi’, “I took inspiration from the Green Chandelier in The Yellow Room upstairs for the jacket and the foliate designs on the plates downstairs for the caftan”. She has lectured on stumpwork embroidery at The Johnston Collection (2010), and created a three-dimensional bouquet of flowers for the exhibition Taking Tea With English Bodies: A Social History of Tea and the Development of English Ceramics (2005). “It is wonderful to work within the house museum environment, there is so much to be
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Creatures Great & Small: Animal Kingdom / Inga Walton
inspired by and it is lovely to be able to tie the items into their program. It doesn’t take long to find something gorgeous to be inspired by and work in with it”, Cole enthuses. Four panels depicting mythological creatures, a unicorn, Welsh red dragon, gryphon and a cockatrice (2009-10) are joined by a delicate three-dimensional goldwork sculpture Dragon-Fly (2009). “I don’t specify how any of the things that I embroider should be installed, I leave that completely up to whomever is doing the arranging of the rooms. I like that my work complements the existing pieces in the house without dominating”, Cole states. “Embroidery is very much at home in a non-gallery environment like Fairhall. By it’s very nature, embroidery is domestic and historically has been in people’s homes either as decorative art or as embellishment for clothing. From the working class to royalty, it is something that most people can identify with”. Such is the depth of William Johnston’s collection, and so populated with animal references, that Animal Kingdom runs the gamut in taste and style from kitsch porcelain figure groups, to winged Sphinx Torchères, rampant dragons, ‘Canova’ lions, and feathered flocks of all descriptions. “The artists (and their work) all speak to each other, from room to room and floor to floor. A narrative evolved that allowed this to happen that was liberating, fun and complex all at the same time. They shared their created objects and stories, and we could create some good connections and conversations between them all. They are all magnificent in what they do, and propose, in their work”, Le Vaillant surmises. “There are some wondrous connections between people and animals, our shared empathy and ethics, our fear and love of beasts, mythical and symbolic (and real) creatures. By proposing and opposing them there seems that there is no end of zoomorphism and anthropomorphism that can create pretext for excursions in style and meaning in all the contributor’s works – as well as the platform that the Collection’s items have to offer their ideas and skills”. Our relationship to the animal world is as fundamental as it is constantly evolving, dysfunctional, co-dependent and unequal. As we humans continue to assert our dominant position at the pinnacle of the food chain, the way we treat animals is characterised by ambivalence, fear, conflict, obsession, curiosity, affection, unease, abuse, and fascination. Animals can provoke emotions as diverse and varied as they are. That considered, there is much to contemplate and to linger over and as you chase your tail around Fairhall. The Johnston Collection can be visited only by appointment: www.johnstoncollection.org | Troy Emery’s new exhibition Withdrawn (13-29 July, 2017) is at MARS Gallery, 7 James Street, Windsor, Victoria, 3181: marsgallery. com.au He is represented by: Martin Browne Contemporary (NSW): www.martinbrownecontemporary.com Artist site: troyemery.net | Julia de Ville is represented by: Sophie Gannon Gallery (Vic): sophiegannongallery. com.au Jan Murphy Gallery (QLD): www.janmurphygallery.com.au Artist site: juliadeville.com | Kate Rohde is represented by: This Is No Fantasy + Dianne Tanzer (Vic): thisisnofantasy.com Pieces Of Eight Gallery (Vic): www.piecesofeight.com.au Artist site: www.katerohde.com | Vipoo Srivilasa is represented by: Scott Livesey Galleries (Vic): www.scottliveseygalleries.com Edwina Corlette Gallery (QLD): edwinacorlette.com Adrian Sassoon (UK): www.adriansassoon.com Subhashok The Arts Centre (Thailand): https://m.facebook. com/sacbangkok Srivilasa also exhibits with: Ferrin Contemporary (USA): ferrincontemporary.com Artist site: vipoo.com | Alison Cole: www.alisoncoleembroidery.com.au
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1. Kevin Chin, Rain Hail Shine, 2017, oil on Italian linen, 163 x 238 cm. Kevin Chin: Refuge, This Is No Fantasy + Dianne Tanzer Gallery, 108-110 Gertrude Street Fitzroy (VIC), 1 – 22 July 2017 thisisnofantasy.com 2. Kenneth Jack (Australia 1924—2006), Beyond Oodla Wirra SA 2001, watercolour on paper on board, 112 x 112cm. Courtesy the estate of the artist. The Kenneth Jack View, Gippsland Art Gallery, 64-66 Foster Street, Sale (VIC) until 27 August 2017 gippslandgallery.com Coinciding with the Gippsland Art Gallery’s exhibition of The Kenneth Jack View, the Briagolong Art Gallery will present Gippsland and Beyond, which will showcase Jack’s works on paper, from Saturday 17 June to Sunday 23 July. 3. Anthony Bartok, Coke Machine 2017, acrylic on canvas, 50 x 60 cm. Terms and Conditions: Anthony Bartok, Stacks Projects 191 Victoria Rd, Potts Point (NSW), 13 – 30 July 2017 stacksprojects.com 4. Bernard Slattery, Parker Street 2017, photograph. Bronwyn Silver and Bernard Slattery: Street Moss, Falkner Gallery, 35 Templeton Street Castlemaine (VIC), 20 July – 3 September 2017 falknergallery.com.au 5. Betty Sargeant and Justin Dwyer with Floyd Mueller, The Playground, laser-cut acrylic and projection mapping, 3.5 x 2.1 x 1.9m. Ararat Regional Art Gallery, 101 Barkly Street, Ararat (VIC), 12-20 August 2017 - facebook.com/araratgallery 6. Daniela Edburg, Ham, Ham 2007. Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Possible Worlds: Photography and Fiction in Mexican Contemporary Art, Florida International University, 10975 S.W. 17th Street Miami, FL (USA), June – October 2017 - frost.fiu.edu 7. Matthew Fagan (10 String and 6 String Guitar) & Romana Geermans (Violinist from Prague), Gypsy Fire, 20th Anniversary Celebration Concert. Castlemaine Senior Citizens Centre, Mechanics Lane, Castlemaine (VIC), Friday 28th July, 7.30pm (Doors 7.00pm). Tix Adult Prebooked $20, On Door $25, Child U16 Free Book online: https://www.trybooking.com/QUFT This concert is also occuring in Ballarat, Flinders, Warragul & Brighton. Listen on soundcloud - Gypsy Fire 8. Cascione & Lusciov (Milan, Italy), Timeless World 2016. Photography: Manuel Coen - cascionelusciov.com
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FINDING THE ART IN
Phuket Monsoon Madness by Anthony S. Cameron
The last few weeks here in Phuket have been nothing short of intense, and even though the tourists may complain, I am loving it. Even though the tourists may not see the beauty scattered all around them on the beaches as they flounder in the turbulent ocean currents, it’s ok, because I do. Even though they may have trouble extracting a pleasant beach moment as the wind howls and the waves suck up any stragglers and deliver them swiftly into the waiting arms of the overworked paramedics, I have no trouble at all seeing the discarded waste of humanity for what it is: a treasure trove of artistic opportunity. A volatile wave of gratitude often washes over me as I arrive at one of my local beaches and survey the carnage dumped on the sand after the full moon high tide. Lately the amount of debris has been nothing less than overwhelming, both in size and quantity. One beach I went to with my wife and dog for a pleasant Sunday afternoon swim quickly turned into the kind of foraging and scrounging moment I can only dream of, and that often has me waking from a deep sleep covered in sweat and twitching, like a dog having a running dream. The beach was literally covered in all sorts of treats: everything from huge chunks of trees to incomprehensibly tangled messes of rope, the latter of which regularly sends a chill up my spine, given that I am regularly surfing these places and the thought of getting snared on one of these submerged coffins has me scanning the break furtively before paddling into a monsoonal wave full of fury. The logs don’t escape my fearful gaze either, having seen many bobbing around just beyond the break like corks, except these corks weigh many tonnes and have a way of convincing you to let them have whatever wave they choose. I often experience a small moment of pity for those poor holidaymakers, having emerged from their buffet breakfast at the five-star resort to see their little piece of paradise resemble a landfill, and their job, it seems, is to try to find a small section of sand that isn’t covered in rubbish, that isn’t vulnerable to the next ridiculously large and angry wave threatening to take away the whole beach. And then making sure none of that shit ends up in their selfies. That’s where I come in. I am more than happy to clear a section of beach as I scamper around with armfuls of timber and lighters or as I drag a large piece of rainforest to the safety of my trusty sidecar. I am more than happy for them to look at ME with an expression resembling pity, assuming I am employed by the
hotel to do this for them. What is particularly interesting to me is how many of us can easily go about our lives, even when the by-product of our existence is washed up all around us, and assume no responsibility for this huge fucking mess we have made of things. Never underestimate the power of denial. I am not taking any high moral ground here. There is no high moral ground to take. We are all in this together. I have merely decided to squeeze some beauty out of it, find the art in the madness, a reason to howl at the moon, a way to scream with joy at the abyss. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up to everyone to find a place on that litter strewn beach and try and make themselves comfortable. Look away as much as you like, blame others if you like, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter. Either way we all eventually end up on that beach. It is the ideas that wash up with the debris, however, that truly make me feel alive. Some of the objects that have sprung up out of the forge or emerged from a workshop filled with sawdust have me wondering if I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just woken from some strange dream. The art that finds me at these moments makes it all worthwhile: all the back breaking lugging of the broken and deformed; all the sublime moments when I find more evidence of the great ocean sculptor at work as I carry another worn, caressed piece of fishing boat over my aching shoulder; all the strange looks from the holidaymakers; all the long moments of thought as I ponder what will come out of this new pile of treasure that noone else can see. Sometimes a funky table makes its way up out of the pile, other times a wall hanging or a picture frame when inspiration wanes. Other times a sculpture emerges like sparks out of a dying fire, and I find myself shielding my eyes and blinking in disbelief all at once. Sometimes a mosaic will leap out of the fairy dust in my mind and embed itself in an unsuspecting wall or stairway, transforming an otherwise utilitarian space with the arresting shapes of the found object. Sometimes all I have to do is clean a lump of driftwood and suspend it in steel, and other times I cut and shape and sand and oil a tortured piece of wood and add it to the fifty other pieces that have suffered the same fate: forever trapped in a moment of divine madness, of my divine madness. The wailing of another ex-pat just trying to find his place. ANTHONY S. CAMERON is an Australian ex-pat living in Phuket, Thailand, and the author of two novels, Driftwood (2014) and Butterfly on Bangla (2015). His books are available on Amazon here. You can find his sculptural furniture on Facebook here.
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