…we’re loving this little number from David Bowler…
No let-up, eh. Bloody marvellous.
You know what we’re talking about. But just on the off-chance you really have lost your bearings, go here.
FORUM
Banish po-facery…
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
We are aware/have been informed that there are some peeps out there who find the Poo beyond the pale.
For clarification purposes we wish to point out that here at glasscentralcanberra the Poo is viewed as a bona fide artwork of (often) performative/provocative intent and, notwithstanding his lost wax cast crystal pedigree, we celebrate the inherently abject (and loaded) allure he inevitably brings to his ever shifting, site specific ‘placements’.
There are any number of accepted/respected precedents in this ‘genre’ (Gilbert and George, Piero Manzoni, to name the most obvious) and the Poo is certainly not lacking in material, or indeed conceptual, gravitas.
An early manifestation: Megan Bottari, Terra Nullius, not (2007) lost wax cast crystal, shadow.
The Poo, in fact, actually made his debut in 2004 (when he made an appearance as a lurker in Megsie’s grad work.) There are moves afoot to give him his own website…
Get edgie or get over it…
Jan has just sent through Bob Georgeson’s poster for this year’s Sculpture on the Edge at Bermagui.
Sensational, wethinks. What a fabulous perspective of Randall Sinnamon’s piece from last year’s event!! Br-illiant.
But no. Apparently not. Jan’s committee collectively wet their knickers in horror, pronouncing it too offensive. Omigod – can you believe such a thing? In this day and age? And purporting, some of them, to be contemporary artists!!
SHAME ON YOU. Get with the program, peeps. The embarrassment is all yours.
They opted instead for the safe harbour of convention…
Now, this second is a fine poster, featuring a fine artist. No argument there.
But one can’t help but feel that it lacks the frisson, the élan, of the original.
If the local arts community seriously wants to play in the big pool then it needs to start cultivating some bone fide vizzarts maturity. As a concept, Vagina dentata has probably been around since the beginning of the art historic time-line – and is perfectly acceptable. In any guise.
Nervous Nellyism be damned.
[Poor Jan – we feel for you big time. Hang in there sister. n(Ed)]
The Craft Australia debacle: stand up and be counted…
| Dear friends and supporters of Craft Australia,
Since we were notified on 12 October that the organisation will not receive any more program funding from the Visual Arts board of the Australia Council beyond the end of December 2011, we have had overwhelming response in support for Craft Australia. We thank you for this amazing show of strength for craft and design practice. Responses have come from our readers and supporters from all over the world. We are sending you this update to keep you informed of the developments in our campaign to save Craft Australia and how you can continue to help us.
WHAT YOU CAN DO Make your voice heard in support for craft and design.
With your help we can show that craft and design matters. Again, thank you for your ongoing support; we will keep you informed of our progress. Catrina Vignando General Manager |
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| For more information please contact: Catrina Vignando, General Manager -catrina.vignando [at] craftaustralia.org.au.au – (02) 6273 0088 |
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| Craft Australia National Press Club, Level 1, Suite 7, 16 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600 Phone: (02) 6273 0088 Fax: (02) 6273 6088 |
For all of you who feel the righteous indignation, take the time to make your mark – sign the petition here.
Ooops is right…
Originally from artdaily.org, this was forwarded to us with the tag ‘education officers should not handle’…
All we can say is “yep, that’s what we’re talking about.”
Warning: glass hazard ahead…
The following comment was sent to our ABOUT page and of course most of our readers probably just stick to the main drag and never poke about in the outer labyrinth of the blog – so we’ve decided to drop it in, for your general delectation…
[Please note that the following comment has been edited by gcc, having been deemed defamatory. While we defend Sergio Redegalli’s right to an opinion, we can’t in conscience publish his unsubstantiated allegations (of which we have no knowledge whatsoever). BTW, the xxx‘s do not represent profanities(!) n(Ed)]
Now that the xxx of xxx is finally complete the xxx about xxx even being allowed to be part of the xxx needs to be discussed. Apart from the issue that the xxx would be better suited to an expo of the 70′s using plastics.
The use of the glass is far from exciting being the most basic that could be produced and Toughened because of xxx’s xxx architectural glass development and that the only company that would bend and toughen the glass had very strict limitation on textural patterns. One of the main Sydney glass benders would xxx xxx xxx xxx due to passed (sic) xxx xxx to them by xxx and xxx xxx of the repeatedly xxx xxx glass.
If the powers that should have been supervising the tender process bothered to truely (sic) do some research into xxx’s past they would have found numerous times that xxx had gone into xxx xxx, xxx has many cover stories about his passed (sic) xxx, however anyone interested in knowing the truth can contact me and I will be very happy to either show you or direct you to the true history.
Apart from the fact that xxx was never and should never have been xxx to apply for this so called xxx work, the xxx reality is that the end product is no where near ground breaking in its final result. The xxx is xxx in keeping with Australian Standards, being only a single monolithic panel that has been tempered with no full edge support. I would not like to be around the day the xxx start xxx and xxx to the xxx.
To be very xxx about the issue of xxx’s past xxx xxx,xxx xxx xxx and xxx xxx xxx xxx the xxx xxx of the xxx xxx xxx were xxx fully aware of xxx’s past.
Regards,
Sergio Redegalli
[PS: If readers wish to public such material raw, they ought to run their own blog and cop the consequences. n(Ed)]
Feedback on Tour de Force…
Stop! in the name of love…
Craft Australia recently posted Megsie’s Tour de Force catalogue essay on their website, prompting the following email from Stephen Skillitzi…
Hi Megan and the ‘glass diaspora’,
I really appreciated your article, especially these 2 excerpts below, for this show “tour de force: in case of emergency break glass”. It reflects my reservations about the current narrowing of accepted or ‘politically correct’ Studio Glass into largely a vacuous chasing after Venetian-inspired maestros. Despite enlightened exceptions, the old 1960’s spontaneity that I keenly remember seems to many newcomers to be ‘outdated’ at best and despised at worst. Sadly in that ‘group think’ process innovative idiosyncrasies are unwittingly suppressed.
It is good to see Neil Roberts has not been forgotten…. what a great ‘go-it-alone’ talent!
regards,
S.S.
…from Tour de Force: in case of emergency break glass
Curator Megan Bottari’s catalogue essay from the exhibition Tour de Force: in case of emergency break glass featuring work by contemporary Australian artist’s Timothy Horn , Deb Jones, Nicholas Folland , Neil Roberts, Trish Roan, Ian Mowbray, Jacqueline Gropp and Tom Moore.
“… No matter how proficient the imitators of Dante Marioni or Lino Tagliapietro ultimately become, such patently derivative work will always lack the lustre of the genuine article. Not because any less skill is required, or the degree of difficulty is in question, but because the work doesn’t have any real creative integrity of its own.
It becomes a technical exercise with barely a hint of personal signature. To make a proper mark these days, studio glass needs an indelible stamp of unmistakable individuality – and the reinvention of this well-worn wheel is becoming an increasingly rare achievement. Part of the problem is the lack of risk. When artists opt for the safety of the shallow, commercial end of the pool there’s not likely to be much splash.
It’s time to redress the balance and re-introduce the development of strong conceptual practices that engage on a broader, humanist level – in a way that pushes the boundaries and intelligently interrogates the art-craft dichotomy. In other words, it’s time to encourage the upcoming generation of glass artists to spread their wings and start considering their work in terms of a serious contemporary art practice. They need to get out and get funky with it. Perhaps this is where things have gone awry. A culture of accelerated maturity has been allowed to develop – resulting in a whole generation of glass artistsstarting out as ponderous sophisticates. It’s all too artificial. Too stilted. You are what you make – and artists have an obligation to be faithful to their own true nature…..”
Thanks for the feedback Stephen, we’re definitely on the same page in this regard (and have been for some time, without doubt.) Glass peeps have to stop, re-examine their practices, and get back in touch with the genuine passion. Rediscover the love, people, that’s what we’re talkin’ about.
Great antidote to a crap day at work…
What a great way to blow away the crappie-day-blues. Thanks Nige and Zoe – I feel so much better now.
A sure cure for those modernist yearnings…
Check out this fabbo site Nige alerted us to – unhappy hipsters – we’ve now completely lost all yearning for d-d-d-designer cred.
Thanks Nige; still smiling.
The incomparable Ritch…
Schveeties, we’ve been very slack about alerting you to darling Ritchie’s blog, the red table.
It’s all about having a seriously good and charitable time…
Whack it in your favourites and jump on board.
POST SCRIPT:
just in from Ritch – there’s a typo in the date, it should read the 28th (so don’t turn up on the 29th!!)
glass central canberra 