The Installing and Opening

Finally the day had arrived when we were all in the  same room  installing various and very different types of installation work. As this was my first  time to experience this type of exhibition it was an extremely intriguing process. Upon arrive it was  clear that the gallery  had a strong  chaotic feel towards it. It was very interesting to see it through the course of the next two days change from this to a seemingly organized use of space. Each work was intrinsically  different and just as equally intriguing as the next. This whole process has been an enormous learning curve, sparking my interest about the new movements in galleries attempts to display  art to today’s audience. I have learnt a lot about the way art can or will be presented, the demands on the curators,  galleries, artist and all involved. The ability to be flexible, adjustable and  to  re-evaluate each situation and demand on the spot challenged  my typical  well laid plans and organization. It truly was a way to further my understanding and see different way to  pull together exhibitions. As my background has  mainly been in historical and scientific research and exhibitions the approaches a much more definite and solid before they are installed. Every inch is planned and  nothing is presented till all is ready. In this case each component was separate and  none were  essentially  planned in correspondance with the next till the time of installation. This was a refreshing  way to consider exhibition styles and how the space of a gallery can be  transformed in such a short time.

 

I have meet many very interesting people and gained a variety of practical skills and  knowledge  that I will indeed be applying to future endevours. I have great memories of each stage of  production. Including  the conversing with Charlie Sofo as he began to place 130 small photos in to the wooden blocks while Robyn, Charlie and Lou Hubbard discussed whether his  endeavour was obsession, compulsion  or passion. The transforming of the collaborators space  which was ironically a hidden room with in the exhibition “ No Room to hide”, was a interesting component  in its self. Furthermore all the discussions and conversation that were conducted throughout the time demonstrated how keen each  individual artist, collaborator and curator were to discuss their work, what they had done, the process they went through and even  offer opinions on others work.

 

The opening on Thursday  night was an overwhelming success and it was great to be present and see the  guest reaction to the space that was once again completely transformed by the sheer number of people present. I would  like to extend my  biggest congratulations and thank you to all the artist and collaborators involved in the exhibition. It truly was a rewarding experience. Thank you to both Leonard and Rhonda who were a great  support during this process. A thank you to Iain Brew another collaborator who without his IT expertise the projection would not have happened. A special thanks to  Caroline Rothwell and Sarah  Contos without their willingness to allow and trust I would not have been able to complete this project. And  big thankyou to Peter Fey for allowing me this opportunity. It has been a fantastic opportunity and rewarding experience and I hope to be able to keep in touch.

Insight in to the final presentations

Lexicon of Caroline Rothwell

Alison Leeson and Jacqueline Mac Donald

An introduction to Caroline Rothwell’s studio and artistic practice. This collaborative project was built on the idea that Caroline has a strong scientific , precise and accurate  approach  to her  work. The Lexicon plays with the label she uses to  refer to her PVC  pieces and attempts to extend this to all her material and work. The images taken on visits in to the studio   have been chosen to help highlight each element discussed and have been  defined using  an online dictionary. Further elaboration is present with Caroline’s own description of each element  appearing  in  red. Some elements defined are not actually present in the exhibited work but were discussed and experimented with   in the studio and are  just as important to Caroline’s process as the presented work. This  highlights the  artistic process that occurs before a piece is ready  for  exhibition.

Who is Yvette Vickers?

Alison Leeson

A display of images of Yvette  Vickers juxtaposed with elements of Sarah’s work. This is to highlight the person featured in Sarah’s work and some of the elements used and why. Some elements in  Sarah’s work  are a response to Yvette Vickers death. Yvette Vickers the B-star movie actress famously known for her  roles in  “Attack of the 50ft Woman”  and “Attack of the Leeches” as well as her prodominent  playboy  model career.  She also had cameos in a few big Hollywood films including Hud and Sunset Boulevard. Yvette Vickers was found dead this year.  It is believed that she was dead a year  before she was found in a mummified state.  The music that plays  is “corpse” by Joel McNeely & Royal Scottish National Orchestra,  and was  taken from the original  score of  Sunset Boulevard, due to its ideal sound, the fact that she  had a minor appearance in the movie and the ironic  fact  that she  also become a recluse actress living in Los angles .

Preview of my presentation for Caroline

This is a preview of what i am desigining to present Caroline Rothwell’s work. This is the introduction video. So take a look. Also a small update. No Place to Hide will now be known as No Room to Hide.    caroline vid one

Who is Yvette Vickers???

When I first  came in to Sarah’s studio I was overwhelmed by the transformation it had taken since last time. I was suddenly confronted  by a  all engulfing  installation work in its own right.  The warning words of Sarah’s when meeting in the street of “ be careful… everything is just  balancing …. so be really careful” did not prepare me for what I saw. The room was covered in plaster, boxes and massive constructions that towered above and  around the space.  I literally had to take a step back and take it all in .  The  first   feeling to set in was that of confusion  and shortly after that  curiosity and  intrigue. What  was all this ?, Why was it all there? What was going through Sarah’s head at the time of formulating the idea and construction the installation?

When progressing beyond the sheer  overwhelming size of the construction I was able to  delicately explore the components and elements of the work . This is  quite a complex construction and it almost felt  like there was a never ending level of discovery involved in the work Certain elements spoke out right such as the use of wrapping  in white  alluding to ideas to mummies and the  famous  Christo and Jeanne-Claude who wraps elements of  an environment. Other elements that  stand out is the  featuring of  body parts and clothes in the work like eyes, boots, ring,  shoes,  etc. The feature of a woman’s head  makes you wonder who  is it that Sarah has decided to include in this unique display. There is also  the intriguing repletion of the name Yvette Vickers. Of course there in the studio I was unable to truly appreciate all elements and work as a whole but as soon as I got home  I set about researching who is this Yvette Vickers.

This is  what I found.

“Those closest to former actress and Playboy playmate Yvette Vickers say she led a dual life: one as a private recluse hidden away in her Los Angeles neighbourhood, and another as a vivid storyteller who charmed audiences at film festivals and kept in touch with her fans years after her star had faded. Now police believe the badly decomposing body found in Vickers’ Los Angeles home, although not yet identified, is indeed the 82-year-old woman best known for her role in “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.”The coroner’s office has yet to determine how long the body lay in the Vickers home. Ed Winter, assistant chief of investigation at the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner, said the body “appeared to be mummified.”

For the full article  go to

http://abcnews.go.com/US/playmate-found-mummified-friends-portrait-yvette-vickers/story?id=13522253

From even this little snippet it was clear to see that the installation that  Sarah had constructed was essentially a tribute in response to  Yvette’s  death. The use of white plaster  and wrapping  clearly alludes to the mummified state that  they found the body in .  The height of the fore front boxes were  probably to do with “ her role in “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.” The painted picture of the lady  definitely matched  a younger  Yvette  Vickers. This  has made for an extremely intriguing work that did insight me to respond to it in order to gain more information and  context to the work  to increase my understanding of it .

The Transformation of Sarah’s Studio

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Celebrities and their masks

When considering  Sarah Contos’s works I feel  the best way to communicate and  reveal the artist  behind the art is to  highlight the themes that are predominate in the studio. In this way I feel that I can communicate a strong  and logical  thought  process and  unity of Sarah’s work. By  demonstrating the  thoughts that are provoked  within me when I am in Sarah’s studio I hope to emanate the same  thoughts with in the audience.

I started with the most  obvious theme that seems to repeat its self throughout Sarah’s studio. The theme of masks. Throughout her studio are various variations of  masks and the act of masking . These  masked works  primary surround images of celebrities. This provokes thought  about celebrities and the  mask they  wear. How do we know what is truly  part of the celebrities personality  or  just  part of the celebrity mask they wear for  the paparazzi and public?

Just think of all the celebrities that  have had an alter ego at some point. When researching this I came up  with examples of David bowie  and Ziggy stardust, Beyonce and Sasha fierce, Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana.  then I thought of another two very obvious ones, Lady Gaga in  overtly an alter ego of Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta  . Another person that  may of had not one  but many alter egos or  wore  various masks  at different phases of his  life would have to be Bob  Dylan. This was well betrayed in the present biographical movie of his life which saw a variety of  actors of  various ages and genders. Of course there are many more  but these are  just a few that come to mind  After this little bit of reflection of  obvious masks and alter egos it has  really made me  consider  the  world around us and how we reveal or conceal parts of ourselves in different ways and different circumstances. Essentially  Sarah’s work has  sparked thoughts about  masking  in society  and  the various ways it is incorporated  in to  all walks of life  without us even realising. In this way  sarah’s work has worked as  a platform to facilitate communication and discussion about the social world around us. It helps us to reconsider the images  put  before us and question in more depth an  accepted  culture.

Experimentation and discovery

3^rd  visit  to Caroline Rothwell has  gone very well.  Caroline seems  quite  comfortable letting me document around her  while she works and I must say I  feel  quite comfortable in Caroline’s space. The  working space in the studio has changed considerable since the last time I visited . There is clear  experimentation with material and installation  techniques occurring.  The alteration of the space use almost hits you immediately due to the  brightly coloured topographic  landscape  maps that are suspended. Caroline is working on the wall behind these  playful landscapes on a completely different piece for a gallery in Victoria. This is the true nature of Caroline’s workshop and work ethic. There is always  more than one project occurring at once and  the collision  of these  works  create  narratives of their own . Caroline informed me that she likes to  work this way as it  keeps her active and saves her from overworking on  one piece.

She also  explained how she identifies and sees her  body of work as a whole. She explained that she refers to them as a “Lexicon” as she sees as each individual piece in  an installation is a word and it is what you  present them with that create sentences and  narratives.  She  illustrated this  by explaining  that the  pvc  topographic pieces that were hanging from the ceiling  if she installed them along with say the  wire geometrical frame it  speaks  more harshly and highlights the  industry of the  build world  more than if  the  topography pieces were combined with the wood  which presents a more environmental critical tone to it. This was also  demonstrated  by the “toxic Mickey mouse “  this has a very different narrative of globalisation and corporation than  other pieces in the studio. I liked the analogies and the  consideration of the works as a language that Caroline is  slowly  building.

This session  I  used  more to document experimentation and major changes to  the studio  rather than  the studio as a whole.  I hope to use this material to  build upon the  introductory foundation created last time . I also used to opportunity to more discuss and question Caroline about her work and use of media hoping to get a more personal insight in to the artist head space. This approach ended  up being  quite advantageous  and beneficial to my greater  understanding of Caroline and her  process. Since the  last time we meet, Caroline has  been doing research to discover how she  can  represent the theme of  no Place to hide. She has  found simple  by  goggling the term there  seems to be a strong social presence that uses this term to identify with  anti-terrorism initiatives.  This in itself  says a lot about the state  of mind of  society today especially due to recent events. Caroline is obviously considering to possibility of creating a work in response to this issue. She has been  thinking about  landscapes and territory.

Caroline  demonstrated to me  how scale can make a work  appear  in a completely different  way. The waist high wire geometric frame alone seems  nonthreatening  but  simple   my placing  metal casted mini trees it  translates incredible differently. The frame seems larger and more overbearing. With the concept of scale now demonstrated to me  and seeing the importance  it has on perspective I  continued to  document from  various angle, high and  low, parallel and  adjacent to objects in order to see from a different angle.  I am really enjoying the fact that I  will get  to  communicate this  through blog and  my presentation in the exhibition as this is a very rare insight  in to the process and thought  process. This is the type of information that audiences should  be aware of  and the No Place to Hide exhibition is truly opening the  doors and revealing this to the awaiting audience. I feel honoured to  be able to help facilitate this  and I do think that this exhibition will play an important role  for the audiences who  view it to increasing their understanding of installation art work  in the contemporary sphere.

She has been entertaining ideas of creating a installation work that encourages or forces the audience to  venture inside it and  essentially  interact with  it . this approach will  uphold peter’s desire to remove the  approved and  predetermined viewing angle  of  art. This will allow the  audience to view all angles and choose the  position that  best  suits their  needs. I can also see parallel to  what I have  been reading and opinions  I have been  making  in regards of how art can ascetically appeal to  today’s audience. The  physical action of immersing  the audience in the works and having them essentially investigate the work and how to  view it  allows the audience to feel invested in the work . There  has  been a  distinct  movement in audience  preference  towards immersive installations that  encourage multiple viewing angles and  employ  multiple senses to engage  with the work.