People who say that there is no such thing as bad art are lying. LOOK takes an objective view of the subjective world and, with a free drink in our hand, guides you through Brisbane's best galleries and art exhibitions. From institutions to artist-run initiatives, installation to illustration, photography to painting, LOOK is an ongoing document of Brisbane's ever engaging and growing arts culture.
You're in the middle of a grassy desert in north west New South Wales, it's 40 degrees, you're wearing your Kuta Lines*, waiting for a lift. A guy called Johnny Appleseed picks you up in a 1970s Mercedes Benz, which feels as though its literally gliding compared to what it would seem in the city. He's smoking tobacco that came from the 1950s.
Hey Sassy! What do you mean feminism never happened!? Are we fucking the revolution back to square one, too many times in a quick succession, like Kevin Arnold losing his virginity in a wet dream? Are we too concerned with a return to essentialism or more with Harajuku? Is Naomi Wolf's dogma still dogma? To be honest, there's a hint of truth in all of the above.
In the Big Red, test patterns are common occurrences due to, from what I can gather, either unremitting censorship, or lack of content. The artist Hu Jieming once constructed an artwork where he took stills from 24 hours worth of Chinese Television, and about 20% of the screen shots were test patterns.
Holidays are great for taking to board games. Trivial Pursuit, Cranium, Mah Jong... But none are as telling of a personality than the game Panic!, where a player has to name three to seven objects/activities/Pauly Shore movies whilst racing against the clock. We were building our own self portraits, just by cognitively naming five things that start with V.
Done any Christmas window shopping lately? Checked out Olivia the pig at the Myer windows in the city yet? Well if it's your kind of thing come down to the RawSpace windows and witness the latest offering from ARI and collective The Wandering Room. When You're Around sounds like a song lyric ('You Spin me Right Round Baby'), a line from a poem or part of conversation; as an exhibition theme it has provided a point of departure for featured artists Kristine Dragland, Peter Booth, The Wandering Room (David Creed, Sarah Werkmeister, Angela Rossitto, Alex Cuffe) and Isao Yamaguchi.
It's often said theres one thing that keeps us all together - the sky. That, and mortality or something. The curatorial premise of Constellations isn't so much that the art is about the sky (duh?), as it is the idea that all of us here in the Asia Pacific Region can see similar stars, we share a commonality and collaboration is rife.
The Versus Show is back for it's third (the charm) season. The two artists that have hitched their wagon to this shining star are the spark worthy Rob Scott and Nick Hornum. Bring on the fireworks we say.
The ‘versus' concept was spawned over a year ago by artist Mel Baxter (curator Curvy, Hand Drawn, New York Buck).
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