Welcome to the December newsletter and the first days of 2010! Just imagine what people in 1910 were in for and this might give us an idea of what the next century might be capable of. Speaking of flights of futurist fancies and unscientific fiction, in December, Antipodes was magically transformed, at least according to the words of our esteemed, dynamic action man Minister for Environment, Heritage and errr the Arts at the launch of the MCA Summer Season. The Honourable former lead singer of Midnight Oil was introduced as a “great supporter of the arts” by the venerable Directrice of MCA, Ms Macgregor, (we guess Ms Director missed Mr Garrett’s conspicuous silence during the Bill Henson incident). Be that as it may, we also learnt how to appreciate which side our bread is buttered on, when from The Right Honourable told us that Sydney art world and the MCA is uniquely privileged to have support of sponsors and philanthropist, without whom art it seems would not exist. Far be it for us to suggest heretically that an advocate for the arts should argue that in fact the sponsors should feel lucky and privileged to support the arts and that philanthropy in Australia is nowhere near the levels in other countries (neither is the government support for the arts for that matter!) To end the trip back to the future, we were advised that Australia is now darn near the centre of the art universe and that all urban – rural inequities have been erased and in one fell paradigm shift the Minister proceeded to advise a roomful of art professionals that our art is “eye-popping” and “DNA quivering” – good to know. and he clearly enjoyed his “yarn” on the subject and would have probably thrown another shrimp on the barbie to prove it. Alas we were all eating sushi that night. And we laughed and we cried and wondered that may be 2009 has been more a year for bureaucrats and demagogues than artists but here we are still standing, so without further ado…
Showtime December reviews and annual gongs?…more below
In Focus spotlight on Cy Twombly …more below…more below
Collector’s Footnotes Foreign rights or on being human… more below
Hunters & Collectors choice morsels and feasts… more below
Marketplace
International
If anything 2009 as a year in the art market was proof that anticipating the worst is the best way of avoiding it. Common sense? Yes and it worked. Other common sense things that worked this year was return to value for money strategy in selection of works for auction and at a fairs and “buyer beware” as well as avoiding that wonderful pitfall called “fools rush in”. Some of the less palatable trends we saw emerging as a result of the GFC was the rise of the theme and celebrity driven auctions and we hope that the need for such blatant promotional vehicles will subside in due course.
All in all the year ended on a more than promising note with healthy numbers for the November auctions on which we reported last month and topped off by major sales bounce back at Art Basel Miami with almost three quarters of exhibiting galleries reporting revenue growth of at least 15 percent on that in 2008 and a third reporting growth of more than 30 percent, according to the Miami Herald survey.
Domestic
On the domestic front apart from the significant mergers and acquisitions courtesy of Goodman and Sotheby’s the year proved one of very much down but not out, with an overall total in the year to date shows of over $88 million, which is just under the 2004 total but considering that 2003-2006 totals hovered between $90mil and $100mil, it is more a case of recognizing the 2007 total of $175mil as exceptional. In almost every other sense it was business as usual (according to figures in AASD) – the vast majority of art sold at auction was domestic in origin-- $81.3million and the all the lots in the top ten being made up of the usual 6 predominantly dead suspects, Fred Williams at the top at $1.38mil, Brett Whiteley, Jeffrey Smart, Charles Blackman, Russell Drysdale and the historical anomaly Edward Close. We probably could have slept through this year.
Showtime
Out & About
On three continents in Africa, Europe and Australia…
Sydney
Public Affairs: MCA – As much as we valued the Ministerial endorsement, we dared to make up our own mind as to the summer offerings starting with the star attraction, Olafur Eliasson’s Take Your Time. “Attraction” is very much the right word, in a world that is all about entertainment and transient moments of fun – Eliasson is the man. This show is definitely good for children or for the inner infant – step inside the yellow room and now you are black and white, step outside and now you are not – very cool; walk through the multi-coloured caleidoscopic glass tunnel, cute, look at Circular Quay through spherical distortions – yes, optical illusions are fun. Unfortunately when art requires that there be a point to doing something – shifting a perspective through trick of the eye or a visual device is not enough. And Eliasson has achieved it in the past with his projects like Waterfalls and the Sun/Weather Project in the Tate Modern, but apart from the water-based work, the MCA show is what 2D is to 3D in art. Here intelligence and insight and emotional power of James Thurell and Dan Flavin and ability to transport both spiritually and intellectually are substituted in for crowd appeal. May be this is enough to keep the cultural cringe brigade happy, but for our entry fee dollar, art can and does need to be more.
Private Practice
Gallery shows in December were a jumble of X-mas stocking fillers – all of them a fun way of ending the year without performance anxiety and a good way of clearing the stockroom and so it was for Gallery 9, MOP, James Dorahy Projects and Rex-Livingston. Equally a mixed bag for those opted for solo shows as their end of year instalments. GBK continues its forays into international waters, which we fully appreciate in principle and occasionally in practice. December show of India’s collaborative artists Thurkral & Tagra is interesting as a little window into another world, a world in which it is almost certain, their work is loaded, witty and insightful even if as non-Indian audience we can only perceive that intellectually. At Flinders Street, Luis Martinezwas another exponent of that worthy high school art tradition, which we advise everyone to grow out of as rapidly as is humanly possible of transcribing photographs black and white or colour, people or landscape in meticulous detail. For our money the only interesting work was the anomalous inclusion a geometric and abstract relief work that looked like it was actually conceived by the artist in a way that might matter.
At GRANTPIRRIE, Michael Zavros, continues a theme that has proven a fertile field for him – palatial interiors with “surprising” contemporary incursions, painted in minituristic and meticulous detail. Very well made product, now bigger and more expensive, which seems to be the main progress visible here.
At Sarah Cottier, Julie Fragar’s new suit of paintings looked like it was reaching for cohesion around the subject of the personal, quotidian and domestic – which is adequate if not particularly exciting, notwithstanding the puzzling “complementary” installation of black geometric objects. No we did not read the essay to understand its significance, nor did we feel the need to.
At BREENSPACE, Joyce Hinterdingproduced a wired for sound suite of drawings – as in these are rather elegant patterns shaped on paper and connected to electricity and which make a sound/noise when touched as intended. This might have worked on a certain level if the playful nature of the exercise was not unscored heavy handedly by “sophisticated” a priori rationalisations, set out in the essays, which trying to convince us that the works in fact“compress time and space within distorted soundscapes” and have an aura which “…challenges our thoughts about representation, functionality and energy scavenging”.
Melbourne
Public Affairs: The 2009 Clemenger Contemporary Art Award, is the final instalment in this triennial invitational exhibition. While the concept of the prize is interesting and worthy judging by the selections in this exhibition it fails to either set standards or show direction, which would be the hallmarks of an influential prize. Nonetheless the works in this years prize, despite lack of cohesion of any kind are largely attractive and Ah Xian deserving as the winner of the prize in the field of Guan Wei, Janet Laurence, Louise Hearman, Peter Atkins, Stephen Bush, Dennis Nona, Destiny Deacon, Julie Rrap et al.
Private Practice: Our brief incursion into the Melbourne galleries was less than adequate and less than satisfactory at that. Playing at Sutton was the very cleverly titled show ofNick Selenitsch latest – psychic incomea series of Frisbee mandalas decorated in what appear to be traditional designs but on closer inspection a revealed to be made up of currency symbols as in $, €, £ etc banality riding on politically correct smugness.In Albert Street, travesties of a different kind. At John Buckley a mortification by John Firth-Smith. The elder statesman of Australian corporate lobby art latest outing was shocking both in quality and the pricing. The man who in the 1970’s had vision and vibrancy has truly descended into the quagmire of self-exploitation and taken the insult to self to a new low with the excruciating gift pottery insertions – we give you “charmingly” titled Funnel of Love – a yellow flower perched on an upside-down you guessed it, funnel. And the prices? Averaging $50,000. Rashly, we think JFS is a good painter and still has some power in him, but we put it to any artist – self-respect is a crazy good thing to have at any stage of your career.
Next door at Karen Woodbury Kate Rohde was in her usual taxidermic flight of fancy, which are poised on metaphor and poignancy but never manage to get there – pretty colours are much easier to handle, dead dangerous animals in barbie-world setting – it could kick it but lacks just that requisite level of insight and actuality to do so. Again we see that dominant theme in contemporary art in Australia of “clever” as a substitute for “inspired”, artists looking to be different and entertaining rather than digging deep to work on themselves and persevering with the courage of their convictions.
January Hop to It::
Historically we have used the Hop To It over the summer holiday to give a summation on the year just past, our favourite artists and our favourite spaces. This year has not been one for the books however. So instead we are going to recount the few brief moments of inspiration that made our lives as art critics vocationally fulfilled or rather gave us the courage to go on wading through that 90% which has been and will be chewed up by history. In no particular order we would like to thank the following artists for helping us keep the faith:
Dan Flavin for his show at the Berardo Collection in Lisbon, Portugal, for the genius of creating and emotional and spiritual symphony, sophisticated to the point of almost impossible simplicity of reflected pink lights and shadows in a room that one only sees through the doorway. Something that can be only be experienced in person and in situ and is entirely irreducible to words – as all truly great art ought be.
Henriëtte van 't Hoog for her part in a group show atParisCONCRET, Paris, France, for creating work that simply made us smile and shines a light of joy and playfulness and bounced of the walls of a gallery and made us travel to Holland to see more.
Vermeer for his three little works at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands, for reminding us that beyond technical mastery there is simply genius, which makes every technician no matter how expert a mere craftsman by comparison. The three tiny works we saw, in a room filled by the best Dutch masters (Rembrandt excluded), radiated not only light and life but entirely absorbed us into their world and made every thing around them seem dull and uninspired.
Misheck Musamvu, for his entry into the Berlin Wall competition at Gallery Delta, Harare Zimbabwe, which did not win on the grounds of refusing the literal adaption of walls in the painting but which screamed anger and pain of repression across the wall of cultural differences, continents and languages, louder than any painted wall.
Titian’s Self-Portrait and both versions of Danae, as part of the Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese exhibition at the Louvre, Paris, France, for breathtakingly courageous and overwhelming beauty of these supreme works that can never possibly date.
Curators of Deadlineexhibition, Mused d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, forshowing what good curation is all about – and what rich synergies a curator can weave as part of a contemplation and conversation he or she creates across works of artists of vastly different practices, backgrounds and generations. Kudos.
In Focus
Cy Twombly
Untitled1989
We usually use the December In Focus to yield to reckless self-indulgence and speak about our very very favourite artists. Cy Twombly is definitely in this category and undoubtedly one of if not the best painters alive today.
Twombly abandoned figuration very early in his career and his works have been described as romantic symbolism, often inspired by poetry his paintings are synergies of line, brushstroke, smudge, which create spectacles on canvas.
Twombly’s talent was recognized early on in his career with a solo show at the influential Kootz Gallery in New York at the age of 23, organized Twombly's first solo exhibition in 1951 and he’s been going from strength to strength pretty much ceaselessly becoming a prominent figure in the New York art scene of the 1950’s before moving to live in Italy.
Twombly’s talent was recognized early on in his career with a solo show at the influential Kootz Gallery in New York at the age of 23, organized Twombly's first solo exhibition in 1951 and he’s been going from strength to strength pretty much ceaselessly becoming a prominent figure in the New York art scene of the 1950’s before moving to live in Italy.
In 1964, Twombly was invited to exhibit his work at theVenice Biennale and in 1968, the Milwaukee Art Museummounted the first retrospective of his art. He has also been honoured by retrospectives in 1987 at Zurich’s Kunsthaus, followed by the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, in 1988, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1994.
While technically Twombly belongs to another generation he is also a living example of what a mighty thing a career in art is and a talent that evolves, matures and ripens into pure joy. Contrary to popular belief, visual art is not a young man’s game is an endurance race, where your second wind often is The Thing.
Needless to say, few of us can afford a Twombly without mortgaging our lives, but thanks to sporadic sparks of inspiration at institutional level we can all enjoy a Twombly or three.
One of the best investment decisions that AGNSW ever made was to invest in the Twombly’s three studies from Temeraire 1998-99 in 2004, the best $4.5 million AUD they ever spent. It is our substitute for therapy and anti-depressants. Try it – next time you need to let some joy in your life, go to the AGNSW, open your heart and still your mind and allow the light of these paintings to lift you up.
Oh and by the way – a reproduction will tell you absolutely and precisely nothing about what it means to spend time with a Twombly – you know it is the exactly paradigmatic example of why visual art is a live and a living and breathing experience. But we will tell you that in 2007 a woman in France was taken to court and sentenced to 100 hours of community service for kissing a Cy Twombly painting. So worth getting off your couches ladies and gentlemen.
Collector’s Footnotes
Just because it is expensive does not mean it is good…Coming back to Australia is always a tremendous boon for Collector’s Footnotes. Regular readers will know that we find our random encounters in the wilderness of the domestic art circuit, invariably inspirational. So it was at a recent x-mas show opening, when we walked in stage left on a discussion between fellow art world denizens, one of whom was gushing about a show of a currently fashionable artist “I could have bought his works when he was showing with gallery A, ten years ago for $600, but did I buy them, no! And now they are selling at gallery B for $23000!”. Sure the reverse of buyers regret is a common phenomenon in the art world. We personally rue the day we did not buy a Francis Bacon silk screen in 1992 for $2000, which can probably pay off an average mortgage these days. Sure it happens, but on this particular occasion we really had to interject to the contrary, with our usual bluntness: “Well ten years ago, he was half good and at $600 rather worth it, but the work he makes today is entirely over-rated and lacking in development, meaning even if it is indeed bigger in size. So you see in fact you did not miss out, neither then nor now!” Somehow our acquaintance was not reassured and insisted on drawing the connection between “but it has gone up in price” and “it is beautiful”.
This connection between price ticket and perception of merit, runs deep and is a form of self-perpetuation, which art dealers know very well. This is why they regularly go to art auctions and “support” the price of their artists i.e. buy their work (usually through proxies) to ensure that the price does not fall and that the artist’s reputation does not suffer as a result of the work not being sold. If someone does not scratch my back,
I will scratch it myself approach one might say.
Good and well but whereto quality. Well it is left to the critics, who in this country we are told don’t really criticise, they are art writers who write about the work they like or they are paid to like. Apparently it is dangerous to express opinions in this country. Now danger is a relative term in our world. Having just come back from a country where dangerous is expressing an opinion critical of the government and landing in jail, getting tortured possibly and possibly killed. So when we hear the word “dangerous” in Australia we have to laugh and make blunt interjections…So even if it is dangerous or unwise, we always stand-by our frank advice…
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By: George (Guest) on 29-07-2010 10:33