ANALOGUE ART IN A DIGITAL WORLD - Magda Cebokli

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ANALOGUE ART IN A DIGITAL WORLD - Magda Cebokli
ANALOGUE
ART
IN A
DIGITAL
WORLD

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ANALOGUE ART IN A DIGITAL WORLD - Magda Cebokli
MONIKA BEHRENS    SAM LEACH

    NATASHA BIENIEK   TONY LLOYD

    CHRIS BOND        AMANDA MARBURG

    ANDREW BROWNE     VIV MILLER

    MAGDA CEBOKLI     JAN NELSON

    SIMON FINN        BECC ORSZÁG

    JUAN FORD         DAVID RALPH

    STEPHEN HALEY     DATSUN TRAN

    MICHELLE HAMER    DARREN WARDLE

    KATE JUST         ALICE WORMALD

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ANALOGUE ART IN A DIGITAL WORLD - Magda Cebokli
FOREWORD

             The accomplished artists in this exhibition celebrate       artists involved in this exhibition including high profile alumni
    all that is good about our sometimes problematic even jarring        from RMIT School of Art. RMIT Gallery is proud to celebrate
    digitised lives.                                                     their professional achievements.
             Analogue Art in a Digital World illustrates how                      We also warmly thank RMIT alumni Sam Leach and
    contemporary artists are using traditional techniques including      Tony Lloyd for working with us over several years to bring this
    painting, tapestry and knitting alongside technology to create       project to fruition. We are appreciative of their dedication to
    art works that engage or are influenced by digital visual culture.   contemporary art in Melbourne as both artists and curators.
             When asked, the artists in this exhibition readily admit    I would like to acknowledge the staff at RMIT Gallery whose
    to using digital tools in their defiantly analogue works of art.     ability to make our shows appear effortless are very much
    These include iPhones, iPads, tablets, projectors or a software      appreciated: Nick Devlin and his team of installers; Evelyn
    program. For example, artist and co-curator, Tony Lloyd              Tsitas, Senior Communications and Outreach; Jon Buckingham,
    recently stated that Photoshop could be the most important           Collections Coordinator; Maria Stolnik, Gallery Operations
    tool of the contemporary painter and that all his preliminary        Coordinator; Meg Taylor, Exhibitions Assistant; Gallery
    sketches are done on computer. As a viewer of art, and one           Assistants: Sophie Ellis, Vidhi Vidhi and Thao Nguyen; and
    perhaps wary of the ways digital is impacting on culture, I find     our core of volunteers: Celeste Astorino, Nicole Ganker and
    this revelation fascinating.                                         Veronica Pang.
             Painting was my gateway into art. Regular visits to                  Finally we thank: Professor Calum Drummond, DVC
    major galleries were a part of my childhood. The reward was a        Research and Innovation and Vice-President; Professor Paul
    postcard of an important painting to take home and decorate          Gough, PVC and Vice President, College of Design and Social
    my bedroom. There is something deep about our connection             Context; Jane Holt, Executive Director, Research Office,
    to painting. My postcard selections still resonate in my mind.       Research and Innovation whose combined on-going support
    This exhibition celebrates the reinvigoration of art making and      has enabled our program to flourish in 2018.
    the new boundaries of representational genres.                       Helen Rayment
             RMIT Gallery maintains an active interest in artists who    Acting Director
    can provide new insights into the present and we thank all the

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ANALOGUE ART IN A DIGITAL WORLD - Magda Cebokli
DIGITAL ACCENT

            The invention of photography 180 years ago did not mark             Their works are all carefully planned in advance. The
    the beginning of the end for figurative painting and drawing,       artists have an analytical approach to their source imagery which
    and none of the subsequent advances in mechanical and digital       is reflected in their nuanced compositions and application
    reproduction have dissuaded artists from picking up a pencil        of media. Hand-eye coordination is a key aspect of the work;
    or a brush.                                                         the images are constructed from intentional and articulate
            Despite the invention of easier and more accurate means     marks. The art is simultaneously seductive and cerebral, cool
    of picture making, figurative painting and drawing persist as       yet emotionally engaging. The physical surfaces are generally
    compelling forms of visual communication. The analogue artist       smooth or regular and physically alluring. There is a critical
    in the age of digital reproduction has new tools and resources      concern with the optical effect of the art; the works are mostly
    to draw on; high definition photography, image editing software,    high contrast and have an optical intensity which is engaging
    and the myriad of images provisioned by the internet are            from a range of distances. The works all reproduce well attesting
    necessary studio utilities. These digital assets are a boon for     to the artist’s awareness that the work of art in the age of digital
    painting and drawing but prolonged exposure to screens has          reproduction is made to be digitally reproduced. These artists
    changed the way we think about images and over the past             have an innate understanding that all art is fundamentally
    twenty years, analogue art has acquired a digital accent.           rhetorical, i.e. every image is in dialogue with every other image
            Analogue artists are consciously and unconsciously          from Lascaux to Instagram.
    incorporating digital aesthetics into their artworks; screen-like           It is important to note that many of these artists also
    smoothness, pixilation, high resolution clarity, the depiction      make digital art in parallel to their analogue practice. They are
    of artefacts and glitches are all emergent properties of            not apologists for traditional media, nor are they uncritical of
    contemporary representational art. Post-digital age artworks        the new digital order. These artists construct sophisticated and
    reveal to us in their construction many of the subtle influences    intelligent images and they utilise technology astutely in the
    that digital technology is having on our perception and             service of making their art.
    interpretation of the world.                                        Tony Lloyd
            The artists in this exhibition work in a diverse range of
    styles and practices however they have key aspects in common.

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ANALOGUE ART IN A DIGITAL WORLD - Magda Cebokli
ATTENTION ECONOMICS                                                     practitioner, these components of a work can provoke, engage
                                                                            and antagonise a viewer.
           There is no digital divide, and this is a show about it.                  Whitney Davis observed that certain paintings could be
             Digital is a broad term, used interchangeably with the         done on a computer, and that whether or not a computer was
    internet, or to mean information encoded in binary form, made           used in the production of the work is a “circumstantial fact”2. In
    with a computer or made with an electronic recording device.            principle, with a sufficiently complex robot or printing system,
    We live in a time suffused by the digital in all of its meanings.       there need be no shade of nuance in the physical object that
    Whether something is made with a computer or not, the maker             makes it definitively analogue. Being able to accurately render
    lives in a digital world and their output contains traces of the        something isn’t nearly enough to make an artwork compelling.
    digital. Humans evolved using tools and our consciousness is            Nobody needs to paint a picture or use their hands to make
    shaped by them1 and working with digital tools is shaping our           any sort of image. Not in the way that we need to breathe or
    consciousness. All paintings made now are part of the digital           drink. Skill is a valuable commodity and there is a delight in the
    world.                                                                  appreciation of a skillfully made work, but skill alone is boring.
             The artists in this show are aware of the historical context   The salient point is that paintings made now, and the artworks in
    in which they work, both in terms of shifts in culture towards the      this show, could not have been made without the digital.
    digital, and their location in art history. When a painter picks up a            One of the significant cultural developments of the
    brush they lift a millennium of western art even though it weighs       digital age is the emergence of attention economics. When a
    as little as a stick with some hairs attached.                          product is given free, attention becomes the commodity. In a
             Fetishizing the surface of a painting is a limited way to      museum, the time the artist has spent making the work is given
    understand the significance of analogue work. The surfaces              like a gift to the viewer. It has long been observed that visitors
    of the paintings in this show are generally smooth, traces of           to museums do not linger in front of a work. Painters are well
    brushwork, stitching or mark making are present but are subtle          attuned to the transient relationship between viewer and image.
    rather than deployed as exaggerated flourish. But analogue works        This may be why the artists in this show feel at home making and
    have many layers that function simultaneously and in relation to        presenting work in the digital age.
    each other. The brush work interacts with the composition and           Sam Leach
    the image. Colour choices are subtle and inflected by scale and
                                                                            1 Lewis, J. (2006), Cortical Networks Related to Human Use of Tools,
    context.                                                                  The Neuroscientist, Vol 12, Issue 3, pp. 211 – 231.
             An analogue image is always perfectly sharp, to a              2 Davis, W. (2006), How to Make Analogies in a Digital Age, October,
    molecular level, even when it is blurry. In the hands of a skilled        no. 117, (Massachusetts: MIT Press, Summer 2006).

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ANALOGUE ART IN A DIGITAL WORLD - Magda Cebokli
Monika Behrens
Pronk 1, 2017
oil on canvas
168 x 198 cm

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ANALOGUE ART IN A DIGITAL WORLD - Magda Cebokli
Natasha Bieniek
Biophilia, 2015
oil on dibond
9 x 9 cm

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ANALOGUE ART IN A DIGITAL WORLD - Magda Cebokli
Chris Bond
704.949133, 2016
oil on canvas, fabric, paper, card
25 x 21 x 4 cm

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ANALOGUE ART IN A DIGITAL WORLD - Magda Cebokli
Andrew Browne
Untitled #4 (In between days), 2016
oil on linen
191 x 127 cm

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ANALOGUE ART IN A DIGITAL WORLD - Magda Cebokli
Magda Cebokli
Probability Monochrome #4, 2010
acrylic on canvas
91.5 x 85.5 cm

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Simon Finn
Steady State Disruption, 2015
charcoal on paper
70 x 120 cm

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Juan Ford
Rocket Surgery, 2010
oil on linen
76 x 61 cm

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Stephen Haley
Worry World Town, 2017
oil on linen
120 x 120 cm

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Michelle Hamer
Work what you got, 2011
mixed yarn on perforated plastic
51 x 68 cm

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Kate Just
Feminist Fan #37 (Zanele Muholi, Somnyama Ngonyama Series:
Zinathi I, Johannesburg. 2015), 2017
hand knitted wool and acrylic yarns
50 x 36 cm

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Sam Leach
Glove with Sectioned Finger, 2018
oil on linen
101 x 76 cm

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Tony Lloyd
Mass Movement, 2018
oil on linen
61 x 121 cm

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Amanda Marburg
Darcy, 2018
oil on board
38.5 x 49.5 cm

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Viv Miller
Cave and moon, 2015
oil, enamel and pencil on canvas
140 x 130 cm

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Jan Nelson
Black River Running #10, 2018
oil on linen
75 x 61 cm

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Becc Ország
The Source of All Things (Birth of the Rivers), 2016
graphite pencil and 24kt gold leaf on 600gsm Fabriano watercolour paper
105 x 76 cm

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David Ralph
Open Heart, 2018
oil on canvas
170 x 150 cm

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Datsun Tran
Heroes on the Frontier, 2018
oil on board
75 x 300 cm

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Darren Wardle
Monument, 2017
oil and acrylic on linen
220 x 170 cm

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Alice Wormald
Hanging Moon, 2017
oil and acrylic on linen
104 x 83 cm

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LIST OF                  Chris Bond                Andrew Browne            Simon Finn               Rocket Surgery, 2010     Put Yourself In A         Feminist Fan #18         Sam Leach
                         Welcome Stranger,         Fall #3, 2017            Rotation Clockwise,      oil on linen             Better Place, 2011        (Yoko Ono, Cut Piece,    Leonov Sliced, 2018
WORKS                    2016                                                                                                                                                    oil on linen
                                                   oil on linen             2016                     76 x 61 cm               mixed yarn on             1965), 2016
Monika Behrens           oil on canvas, paper      240 x 173 cm             charcoal on paper        The Seldon Robinson      perforated plastic        hand knitted wool        101 x 76 cm
Echo II, 2016            and card                                           85 x 150 cm              Collection, Melbourne    82 x 104.5 cm             and acrylic yarns        Glove with Sectioned
                                                   Untitled #4
oil on canvas            17 x 11 x 1 cm                                                                                       Work What You Got,        46 x 36 cm               Finger, 2018
                                                   (In between days),       Steady State             Stephen Haley
122 x 102 cm             704.949133, 2016          2016                     Disruption, 2015                                  2011                      Courtesy of the artist   oil on linen
                                                                                                     Worry World Town,
Echo III, 2017           oil on canvas, paper      oil on linen             charcoal on paper                                 hand stitching            Feminist Fan             101 x 76 cm
                                                                                                     2017
oil on canvas            and card                  191 x 127 cm             70 x 120 cm                                       and mixed yarn on         #36 (Robert              Courtesy of the artist
                                                                                                     oil on linen
122 x 102 cm             25 x 21 x 4 cm                                                                                       perforated plastic        Mapplethorpe’s           and Sullivan+Strumpf,
                                                   Ghostly, 2014            Steady State             120 x 120 cm
                         Gretel, 2016              oil on linen             Expiration, 2015                                  51 x 68 cm                photographic portrait    Sydney
Pronk I, 2017                                                                                        Products and
oil on canvas            oil on canvas and         210 x 140 cm             charcoal on paper                                 Courtesy of the artist    of Louise Bourgeois      Tony Lloyd
                                                                                                     Producers, 2018
168 x 198 cm             calico                    Courtesy of the artist   70 x 120 cm                                                                 1982, printed 1991),     K2 with jet and tracks,
                                                                                                     acrylic on linen         Kate Just
                         17 x 10 x 2 cm            and Tolarno Galleries,   Courtesy of the artist                                                      2017                     2017
Courtesy of the artist                                                                               81 x 81 cm               Feminist Fan #10
                         LE VITT-FROM              Melbourne                and MARS Gallery,                                                           hand knitted wool        oil on linen
and Martin Browne                                                                                    Windows and Walls,       (Cindy Sherman,
                         ASHES, 2016                                        Melbourne                                                                   and acrylic yarns        120 x 240 cm
Contemporary, Sydney                               Magda Cebokli                                                              Untitled Film Still #6,
                                                                                                     2018                                               46 x 36 cm
                         oil on canvas, fabric,    Probability              Juan Ford                                         1977), 2015                                        Mass Movement,
Natasha Bieniek                                                                                      acrylic on linen                                   Collection of
                         paper and card            Monochrome:              Degenerator, 2013                                 hand knitted wool                                  2018
Biopod 2, 2018                                                                                       81 x 81 cm                                         Jo Christopoulos,
                         31 x 27 x 3 cm            A State of Certainty,    oil on linen                                      and acrylic yarns                                  oil on linen
oil on dibond                                                                                        Courtesy of the artist                             Melbourne
                         The Restless Dead,        2013                     180 x 240 cm                                      46 x 36 cm                                         61 x 121 cm
14 x 9 cm                                                                                            and MARS Gallery,                                  Feminist Fan #37
                         2016                      acrylic on canvas        Purchased through the    Melbourne                Feminist Fan #13                                   Courtesy of the artist
Biophilia, 2015          oil on canvas and         101.5 x 122 cm                                                                                       (Zanele Muholi,
                                                                            RMIT Art Fund, 2014                               (Valie Export, Action                              and MARS Gallery,
oil on dibond            calico                                                                      Michelle Hamer                                     Somnyama                 Melbourne
                                                   Probability              RMIT University Art                               Pants, Genital Panic,
9 x 9 cm                 18 x 10 x 1 cm                                     Collection               Give Up Your Day Job,                              Ngonyama
                                                   Monochrome:                                                                1969), 2015               Series: Zinathi I,
Courtesy of the                                                             Accession no:            2009                     hand knitted wool
                         Courtesy of the artist,   Eclipse, 2012                                                                                        Johannesburg. 2015),
artist and THIS IS NO    THIS IS NO FANTASY,                                RMIT.2014.1              hand stitching           and acrylic yarns
FANTASY, Melbourne                                 acrylic on canvas                                 and mixed yarn on                                  2017
                         Melbourne and Darren      101.5 x 122 cm           Chlorophilia, 2010                                50 x 36 cm
and Jan Murphy           Knight Gallery, Sydney                                                      perforated plastic                                 hand knitted wool
Gallery, Brisbane                                                           oil on linen                                      Feminist Fan #15
                                                   Probability                                       55 x 136 cm                                        and acrylic yarns
                                                                            91 x 74 cm                                        (Claude Cahun, Self
Julien, 2014                                       Monochrome #4,                                                                                       46 x 36 cm
                                                                            Courtesy of the          Is This Your New         Portrait, 1927), 2015
oil on dibond                                      2010                                              Home, 2011                                         Private Collection,
                                                                            artist and THIS IS NO                             hand knitted wool
9 x 9 cm                                           acrylic on canvas                                 hand stitching                                     Melbourne
                                                                            FANTASY, Melbourne                                and acrylic yarns
The Seldon Robinson                                91.5 x 85.5 cm                                    and mixed yarn on        46 x 36 cm
Collection, Melbourne                              Courtesy of the artist                            perforated plastic
                                                                                                     82 x 104.5 cm

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Amanda Marburg           Becc Ország              David Ralph              Alice Wormald            ANALOGUE ART                                      Acting Director & Senior Exhibition Coordinator:
Audrey, 2018             Fragmentation            Open Heart, 2018         Dry Garden, 2017                                                           Helen Rayment
oil on board             of mind (be still/       oil on canvas            oil on linen
                                                                                                    IN A DIGITAL WORLD
                                                                                                                                                      Senior Advisor Communications & Outreach:
38.5 x 49.5 cm           withdraw), 2017          170 x 150 cm             88 x 73 cm                                                                 Evelyn Tsitas
                         graphite pencil and                                                        Curated by Sam Leach and Tony Lloyd               Exhibition Installation Coordinator: Nick Devlin
Darcy, 2018                                       Eclipse, 2018            Hanging Moon, 2017
oil on board             24kt gold leaf on        oil on canvas            oil and acrylic on       RMIT Gallery                                      Installation Technicians : Fergus Binns,
38.5 x 49.5 cm           600gsm Fabriano          72 x 63 cm               linen                    December 7 2018 – January 19 2019                 Beau Emmett, Ford Larman, Simone Tops
                         watercolour paper                                 104 x 83 cm
The Seldon Robinson                               Courtesy of the artist                            Acknowledgements                                  Collections Coordinator: Jon Buckingham
                         75 x 52 cm
Collection, Melbourne                             and Gallery 9, Sydney    Courtesy of the artist   Special thanks to the curators Sam Leach and      Collections Assistant: Ellie Collins
                         Hope (align yourself                              and Daine Singer,        Tony Lloyd for their insight and commitment
Viv Miller                                                                                                                                            Gallery Operations Coordinator: Maria Stolnik
                         with me), 2017           Datsun Tran              Melbourne                to the exhibition. Warm thanks to the artists
Cave Entry, 2015         graphite pencil and      Heroes on the                                     and their representatives for their ongoing       Gallery Assistants: Sophie Ellis, Thao Nguyen,
oil on canvas            24kt gold leaf on        Frontier, 2018                                    support.                                          Meg Taylor, Vidhi Vidhi
120 x 100 cm             600gsm Fabriano          oil on board                                                                                        RMIT Gallery Interns & Volunteers: Celeste Astorino,
                                                                                                    Appreciative thanks also to RMIT University       Nicole Ganker, Veronica Pang (Communications)
Cave and Moon, 2015      watercolour paper        75 x 300 cm
                                                                                                    and colleagues, particularly: Professor Calum
oil, enamel and pencil   75 x 52 cm               Courtesy of the artist                                                                              RMIT Gallery / RMIT University
                                                                                                    Drummond, DVC R&I; Professor Paul Gough,
on canvas                The Source of All                                                          PVC DSC; Jane Holt, Executive Director            www.rmitgallery.com
140 x 130 cm                                      Darren Wardle                                                                                       344 Swanston Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000
                         Things (Birth of the                                                       R & I; Professor Julian Goddard, Dean School
                                                  Monument, 2017                                                                                      Tel: +61 3 9925 1717 Fax: +61 3 9925 1738
Courtesy of the          Rivers), 2016                                                              of Art.
artist and Neon Parc,
                                                  oil and acrylic on                                                                                  Email: rmit.gallery@rmit.edu.au
                         graphite pencil and
Melbourne                                         linen                                             Curators thanks: We’d like to thank Helen
                         24kt gold leaf on                                                                                                            Gallery hours: Monday–Friday 11–5, Thursday 11–7
                                                  220 x 170 cm                                      Rayment and Evelyn Tsitas for giving us
                         600gsm Fabriano                                                                                                              Saturday 12–5.
Jan Nelson                                                                                          the opportunity to develop this exhibition
                         watercolour paper        Secrets Travel, 2017                                                                                Closed Sundays & public holidays. Free admission.
Black River Running                                                                                 for RMIT Gallery and all the staff at RMIT
                         105 x 76 cm              oil and acrylic on                                                                                  Lift access available.
#10, 2018                                                                                           Gallery in particular, Nick Devlin, for his
                         Courtesy of the artist   linen                                                                                               Catalogue published by RMIT Gallery
oil on linen                                                                                        installation expertise. We would also like
                                                  137 x 244 cm                                                                                        October 2018, Edition 200
75 x 61 cm                                                                                          to thank the artists who contributed to the
                                                  Courtesy of the                                                                                     ISBN: 978 06484 226 0 0
Courtesy of the artist                                                                              concept of the show through conversation
                                                  artist and THIS IS NO                             and correspondence, not all of whom could         Graphic design: Dianna Wells Design
and Anna Schwartz                                 FANTASY, Melbourne
                                                                                                    be included in this exhibition. Lastly our        Catalogue editors: Helen Rayment / Evelyn Tsitas
Gallery, Melbourne
                                                                                                    profound gratitude to the exhibiting artists.     Catalogue photography: Images provided by the
                                                                                                                                                      artists, Amanda Marburg image courtesy of Sutton
                                                                                                    The idea of an exhibition that highlights
                                                                                                                                                      Gallery, Melbourne.
                                                                                                    the intelligence of painting and drawing is
                                                                                                                                                      Printed in Australia by Bambra Press
                                                                                                    something we have been discussing for over
                                                                                                    10 years and it is with great satisfaction that
                                                                                                    we are able to bring these artists together in
                                                                                                    this context.

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