The thing about taking a break from the art world is that the art world never takes a break from you. The exhibition schedule/treadmill marches on, oblivious to your absence or presence. Art Tart recently got back on the circuit and discovered it’s just like riding a bike.
Thursday night was Mikala Dwyer and Justene Williams at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery. Dwyer’s circle of mysterious, totemistic sculptures is composed of pretty much everything you can imagine: wood, PVC, a couch, money, magnets, lights, dirt, plants, moon rock, noise, letters from the dead, artist’s blood and of course her idiosyncratic PETG (heat shrunk plastic). Yet the most interesting thing about the installation is you, well, your location anyway. Stepping inside or outside the circle initiates a series of psychic shifts: from outsider to insider, audience to performer, uninitiated to anointed. Wherever you are, be prepared to have your ideas about comprehension and understanding challenged. Where is meaning located? Dwyer seems to ask, if indeed it is to be located at all. But big questions aside, Dwyer’s knack for placement gives us some very nice things to look at (see particularly #10 and #1).
Justene Williams’ gallery was packed: with people and with packaging. Wall to wall cardboard floor thatching and grungy stools made you feel as if you were actually part of the performances projected around you. The FEMMZOIL video suite re-presents the performance work of Futurist artist, Valentine de Saint-Point. It’s not a straight re-enactment, but one filtered through Williams’ particular aesthetic. There’s a flatness to the work, a constant push and pull between 2D & 3D that references the artist’s photographic background and the archival imagery which inspired the performances in the first place. Added to the mix is Williams’ interest in accessible materials, gender bending and popular culture (see Futurama episode in which Bender wants to change into a female robot). If you’re in a meditative mood, it’s very easy to be mesmerized by the shimmering imagery and enchanting soundtrack. Exhibitions close: 10 October 2009
