VW

Perspective Perspective Perspective!


Have been taking mini hiatus' from blogging to figure out some stuffs and tend to other things...it will pick up again in 2010 when things have settled a little.

In forseeable future news, i'm off to Hong Kong (aka the Motherland) for a short while. Does anyone know much about contemporary Hong Kong art? My research thus far has turned up very little. Will do my best to report on what I do find.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 2009, you've been too kind.

- Agnes

pop-up

Exciting news! Our fellow painter Kate Bedford (as well as masters student Stella and printmaker Natalia) is showing RIGHT NOW at the Pop-Up Gallery. It's a temporary seven day space in Newmarket, two doors down from a bridal boutique. Interesting choice of location in the newly developed apartment block/train station area which kind of look like prison cells and make me wonder whether at some point someone could have hired a better architect...

Newmarket, I've always envisioned as a somewhat monocultural hub of desperate housewives and consumers, and in the past has housed many Pop-Up fashion stores of similar concept (short-lived, in a bid to sell stuffs). The difference here is that although the artworks are on sale, they aren't on sale (buy two get one free deals etc) which is not only strange but would make the Pop-Up Gallery a desperate christmas shopping destination given it's context. Mind you, I wouldn't mind one of Kate's paintings for christmas...but I digress here. I guess what I'm trying to say is that all the work in the show is very good, don't get me wrong, but perhaps it is let down a little by the package. It is simple, straight up art on wall and lots of it. But what makes it go beyond that? I ask this not only of this particular gallery/idea but of, I guess, the idea of a gallery in general.

However, I'm glad Kate is showing her little bendy painting. It's too special to describe so go along and see for yourself. The Pop-Up gallery resides at 36 Remuera Road. It's open from the 18th to the 24th, 9am-6pm. Come with cash, I wonder if they giftwrap...

- Agnes

Cakes Pt.2

Via Design*Sponge

Painting + Baking = Mondrian Cake

- Agnes

Grad-Eve

Hanging up ze gown in preparation for tomorrow. Wearing it is like piggybacking a small child. Excellence.

- Agnes

Fake I.D

This time last year I was prepping to go to the States. Alas those times are over and all I have left is this nugget of goodness that came up on where else but my facebook news feed. Lindsay Merrill was one of Claudia and Ahi's flatmates and was extraordinarily good at rendering. This was one of her Carnegie projects in which she made a hand made fake american passport for Claudia, where each page was painstakingly drawn with coloured pencil. It was pretty awesome in the flesh and it is somewhat bittersweet to see it again...I don't know whether it's graduate slump or the horrid humidity but think I left my heart in the USA!

Read an interview about this work and Lindsay here.

- Agnes

p.s. Elam show up soon but no Whitecliffe unfortunately as I stupidly misread the opening date, thus resulting in missing it like two ships passing in the night. Ultimate fail. Did anyone go? How was it??

AUT Grad Exhibition (oh yeah FINALLY)

Claudia Jowitt and Myself

Clare Keegan

Lainy Fleming

Josh Harvey

Sarah Whiteside

Natasha Pearl

Emma Mcfarlane

Maila Urale

Laxmi Jhunjhnuwala

Clinton Cardozo

Nick Berry

Alan Joy

Emma Fraser

Simon Stuart

Thomas Finn Stewart

Ahilapalapa Rands

Stella Castle

Phillip Good

Ena Kosovac

Carolyn Lawrence

Linda T.

Amber Claire Pearson

Elliot Collis

Anthony Cribb

I realised it's been two weeks since this exhibition and I haven't blogged about it for various reasons:

a) I've been lazy.
b) I've taken up a nasty Glee habit which means that watching episodes many times on the internet and trying to emulate the accompanying soundtrack has suddenly become my number one priority.
c) The pictures I took were crapola so I've been embarassed to post them.

Nevertheless, would be a shame not to show those who could not make it to the ol' WM Block the work that most of us have been spending the last 3+ years developing.

Opening night was huge, with a guestimate of close to a thousand people showing up as this year, it was a combination of not only third year graduates but the post-grad people as well. To top that off, the Fashion department were having some hoopla opening of their own which meant the whole building was filled to the brim. Note to self, Fashion sure know how to feed a crowd as their hors d'oeuvres trumped ours to boot.

But back to the art, my favourites this year were:

- Victoria Sheldon's photographs. Vinnie and I have been friends since first year and we've probably always had that painter versus photographer edge to our relationship. With that being said, her final works ended up being a huge surprise, five large prints of moody landscape photography were a far step forward from her pilot work. I liked how she thought about the way in which they were hung, one group of two and a group of three. Sometimes it's nice when photographs are given a little punctuation. Unfortunately i do not have any documentation as her works were hard to photograph and I just ended up with a black frame with my own reflection. Sorry Vinnie!

- Ahilapalapa Rands' installation of booty shaking Beyonce moves. It made me want to learn how to krump and wear leotards and ball dresses all day every day. She also had a quirky accompanying catalogue with a small piece written by her mum (awwwww) and some risque still shots. Extra sexy points for that.

- Clinton Cardozo's mask series coz no one does large format like Clint.

- Claudia Jowitt's painting. Finally finished and on display. So large that small bugs would get confused, fly into it and then eventually die. So large that you wouldn't believe that half of it was painted in the tiniest throughway that was about a metre in width. So epic that I don't think I could have asked for a better person to share my exhibiting space with.

It's always funny watching people behave in these exhibitions, which act as one part zoo cage, two parts family/friend reunion with a dash of 'I dont get it' or 'can I touch/take/consume that' in the mix. These were some things which I thought were obvious but obviously were not and shall act as a guide for the next grad show:

- Sometimes, we want you to step on the art work and sometimes we don't. However, all of the time, we do not wish for a trolley to be rolled over an artwork. Case being with Thomas' install, where he spent a long time laying a corridor of plaster on the floor only for someone to do obscene things with it. Trolleys = no, don't do it.

- Do not take catalogues which say 'Display Only', especially when there was a pile next to it which you were more than free to take from...

- If you trip over a prominent cord and in turn, knocked it out of it's power extension, it's not too hard to put it back, or at least inform someone of it. This is also extended to sculptures that have been accidentally kicked. Ta.

Aside from the above chuckles, I spent most of the night showing people around and receiving a hard to obtain 'I think I get it!' from my parentals. Yussssssss. Talking to friends though, I felt that most were only disappointed by the lack of accompanying material. The consensus seems to be that horrid business cards don't cut it and that some thought into a piece of writing or even a nicely presented catalogue would have been appreciated by the viewer. Things to think about for those exhibiting next year...

But our turn is over so we're outta here and onto the next grad show to check out the competition. Ahoy Elam!


- Agnes

p.s. Check out the grad website for better documentation of work

For Claud

Just been perusing this blog, mayhaps you like to do so as well?

End of Year gauntlet/graduate show posts up soon. Don't you just love this time of year?


- Agnes

notoveryet

Catalogue-ing at my crib. With two days left until opening night, Claudia and I have gone into publishing mode, handmaking 50 limited edition catalogues for the show. Each one has about six different types of paper and four or so types of printing. Needless to say, they take a long time to make and even more patience with computer interfaces and temperamental printers. Lesson learnt: yelling at machines doesn't make them do what you want.


- Agnes

Done and Dusted

I have to admit that there was something rather poignant about watching the sun rise on the last day of our degree, still frantically working to pull the threads of things together before the time it was all due. It felt like a fitting testament to the last three years we spent at this one space together and the years that we will spend on our seperate ways.

But after the all-nighter and a flurry of drama in the morning (unexpected wonky hangs, equipment not working, accidentally throwing out the dvd you were going to project...etc etc), things finally came to a close. Those of us who finished setting up left the building in a manner of dazed and confusedness. In the complete consumption that was graduating project, we forgot that it was exactly that, the end of our undergraduate degree.

So before we don our graduation gowns, we'll be showing aforementioned projects in an exhibition that opens next Thursday night. All info on poster. Celebrations ahoy. In the meantime however, hibernation-mode.

- Agnes

4.44am

Bloggin from studio where in approximately four and a half hours we will be handing in all our graduating work. Obviously since both Claudia and I are still here, we are not ready. Fuelled by 'Pocket Rocket', hob nobs and Beyonce, we are becoming rather desperate. To Be Continued...

- Agnes

Found

Snapped from a drycleaners somewhere out in the eastern burbs. Thought it was fitting as of the coming wednesday we will be entering install week, and most of us will be furiously cleaning the terrible mess of both floor and wall space that we've been given.

Recent life happenings have not been very exciting as a result of spending every waking moment preparing for this week. This normally involves a lot of time consuming caffienated beverages and spending a lot of money on materials/developing/framing/living/aforementioned caffienated beverages. I think at this point, most of us have the fear of God in us. Nope? Just me then?

Hap-hap happenings will occur in the meantime through the first and second year exhibition this tuesday from 12-8pm at our WM studios on St Paul Street. They have all finished, goddamn you.

- Agnes

Happenings

D.A.N.C.E is back on for 2009! Join us tonight at Cassette 9 for some art and dancing, both of which go well together.

Amber is also doing a performance at RM Gallery at 5.30pm. Woweeee!

- Ag

Breakables

A small respite from the slowcooking pressures of studio led Elliot and me to his parental unit's exhibition opening at Essence Gallery in Parnell.

Peter and Julie Collis are ceramic and glass artists, Peter mostly known for his familiar shaped ceramic vases. But I think it's funny to see the aesthetic similarities between parent and child. Elliot is also fond of organic shapes and strong pigmented colour (mostly with his paint works from last year...)

As for the haps with graduating exhibition preparations, everyone seems to be bunkering down for the upcoming stress-storm, hence the noticeable increase in tumbleweeds on this blog and the tepid writing. For that I apologise, but I do promise that a little bit of silence is necessary in the meantime. From picking up tidbits on the studio floor about what people have got planned for end of year, it sounds like the show is going to be huge. Five Weeks...

Keep Calm and Carry On time.

- Agnes

art of the free variety

Have been busying myself with non-art stuffs for the last week or so. In between watching all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls back to back, I've also been collecting free art things around Auckland. A newsprint off the stacks at Simon Glaister's latest show at St Paul Street and a piece from Elliot Collins and Linden Simmons' show at Rm, which is on right now. However, I lost my copy of Matters 3 from the new artists show at Artspace somewhere...bother.

Graduation count down = Six and a Half Weeks. For now, back to Lorelai and Rory.

- Agnes

Musical Paintings

Music Painting by JUL & MAT from JUL & MAT on Vimeo.

Sweet Jeebus, Elliot, if you are reading, let's attempt something similar with your new high gadgetry video camera?

- Agnes

Cake

On wednesday was the annual meet and greet between the new painting students from year one and those in years two and three. In previous times, it just meant a cup of tea and a biscuit, however, for some strange reason (maybe recession prompted?), this year drew forth a much larger contribution of cake, more cake, tartlets, Amber's famous cheese straws and a trip down memory lane in form of cheerios and tomato sauce (big ups to whoever brought that along).

Although I have no photos of this baking exchange (I had not anticipated such a turn out), I was reminded of it when I discoverd this site today.

Favourite cakes were the ones that involved some sort of serra verb list performance. The pink one above was pushed off a building ledge, while the blue icing on the one below it was filmed in a state of painterly pouring (you can watch the accompanying videos on the site). Also liked the Kafka 'cake' and 'Tracy Emin's entry' (as in the REAL Tracey Emin??)




Cake is art.


- Agnes

p.s. The new first year painters are a friendly bunch, making me nostalgic for my first year experiences...

No Common Sense

Having hermited myself in my house for over a week now, flu-contagious and developing OOS symptoms from staring at laptop screen for hours on end, I thought perhaps it be best to treat myself to natural light by heading to the first of the Year Two exhibitions.

Those of you who remember, it was my year that were the first guinea pigs for this exhibition endeavour and although the work I scrambled to make for my own show last year was absolute crap, I learnt a lot about what not to do for Pilot this year, which means that the Year Two shows allow a greater learning experience for our professional practice paper which is good no??

The shows are also an easy way of acquainting myself with the practices of those in the year below us (like a taster course). And being the first to admit that I'm not familiar with most of these practices, a lot of what I saw came as a huge surprise.

This particular exhibition in Gallery Three called No Common Sense was exactly that, a showing of eleven disparate practices. But in remembering the purpose for these shows is to provide a space for the students to test out what they're doing in studio in a public space, plus the time that they are given to put the show together (a couple of weeks or so), I don't blame them for not aiming for cohesiveness. Nor do I think that it takes away from the quality of the work.

Please forgive me, this is less a review than a noting of observations as there were so many people around, sometimes I couldn't get close to specific works!

Favourites from this show

- The smaller cardboard projection screen structure (4th photo down). Interesting install technique of letting the viewer decide how much information they get through the choice of either full view (front) or partial view (back). This worked well in this small one, not so much in the larger one though.

- Crazy crystalline rock structure things covered in fabric, a surprise from a promising painting student.

- And although I think these were hung a little too high, the Mt Wellington Quarry photos (biased opinion as I used to live close to the area and am therefore very attached to it). Lainy and I were remarking on how terrifying the acidity of the colour green was. Absolutely toxic.

This show is on for one day only!! That day is tomorrow. So have a looksie if you be in the neighbourhood. Also, there are two more shows opening on Thursday, one at Gallery Three 5pm and the other at Cross Street Studios at 6pm.

Am signing off to write more theory. Brain is consistency of mush. Until the next time I feel like procrastinating? Yeah it's a date.

- Agnes