Uploaded on Youtube this week is a recent performance of mine titled 'Tic Tac Toe exhibition performance 17.09.11' This fifteen minute performance came one week after the two-hour Coat Hanger performance at Peloton in Chippendale that i was advertising a couple of posts ago. The context of the Tic Tac Toe performance (linked below) was that it was part of a performance night that coincided with the current exhibition at Paper Plane gallery at the time, 'Tic Tac Toe' by Bridie Connell. Bridie's artwork that was included in the exhibiton seemed to largely revolve around Pop culture and dating culture so l created several characters played simultaneously (being a new preoccupation in my performances) who collectively hosted, contended on and played keyboard on a dating game show, a fitting environment considering the context of the exhibition it was part of. The performance night consisted of around seven or eight other performances by other artists including a live music set by my friend Martin Peralta aka Ghost_
Jim S
Showing posts with label Youtube. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Youtube. Show all posts
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
'Head of the Nail' performance 1/3
l recently had some performance footage of three different works of mine from 2007 uploaded on Youtube: better late than never.. You'll find each of these next three posts serve as an explanation for it's corresponding video, which without any explanation as they previously existed on Youtube can be a bit misleading and the intricate plot lines l so carefully devised (at that especially young, pivotal age) tend to vanish.. still developing that side of things with performances to come. Several important performances took place in 2006 which due to lack of visual documentation will be missed here, all though my first performance that really did start it all for me; an intervention on Mike Parr's 'Amerika' (May 2006) will need to undergo some reflection, probably by the time i've written up the third and final entry.. Anyhow, these following three works demonstrate that while showing a development of the performance medium in my work at that time, which l was combining with poetry and a visual art practice (then undertaking my final year at National Art School) they would in fact by the following year be eclipsed by other artistic ventures. Aside from a few informal occasions, performance was more or less ceased for several years; l am by now looking to combine all these various directions over the past five, six years, hence having returned to examine some of these early works for what and how they existed at the time and where l can now continue and develop from them, with all that's been delved into since!
'Head of the Nail'
Art Gallery of NSW, May 2007
filmed by Daniel Havas
By no means was this performance made with any input or clearance from the AGNSW but was instead (as would seem pretty obvious in the footage) suddenly executed on a regular Tuesday afternoon during the 2007 Archibald Prize. Entering the exhibition imitating and using the props to suggest that l was blind was a statement to suggest that l was entering an art exhibition but seeing nothing; the decision for that move came from a dissatisfaction with the exhibition's long standing factory-line of enormous Easter Island-scale heads, commonly over-refined to generate that photographic finish that so often begs the insane judgement commonly overheard; 'wow, it's such a great painting, it looks like just a photograph!' My decision to pick the Archibald came from the personal distaste with the syndrome it commonly places on artists; l had witnessed the bitter experience it plunged into the life of several of my NAS lecturers and the detrimental effect that had on teaching. That addictive state that the quest for the Archibald ensues; the tunnel vision confined further each year as the scent of a win is held just beyond the nose; the artist's entres and eventually their practice becomes increasingly governed by theories and hope of what the judging panel will prefer and the obvious resolution; the longer the artist continually stays in the game, eventually their tenacity will pay off and they'll receive that magic phone call..
All would be fine if the long haul to win was such an easy, un-egotistical, expectation free process but being far from that, the example of the Archibald has a way of dictating artist's careers; the prize, which if finally obtained seems to then result in a crisis of direction; where to and to what now that the Holy Grail has been possessed? I heard once that a true sign of an addicted gambler is in their winning expression, which despite what jackpot they've won, continues to remain sombre; the achievement of their win seems to almost pass them by unnoticed in reflection of their great preceding losses and years of unnecessary sacrifice to reach that moment.. Some of the 'Archibald Hunters' l had met by my early art school years reminded me of this.
So, having explained the context; l am by this time inside the exhibition, imitating that l'm blind strolling nervously towards the part of the exhibition where l plan to execute the next stage of the performance. Suddenly from inside my shoulder canvas bag l reveal a nail, hammer and scrunched up sheet of lined paper with a quick, purposely undeveloped portrait in biro pen, which in a matter of moments is nailed to the exhibition wall, amid a short burst of hammering that rattled like a machine-gun and literally froze everybody in the room to the spot; the feeling would have been similar when releasing a few shots to announce you're about to rob a bank..
The intention of using the hammer and releasing those loud cracks into the air that afternoon was very much to do, for example with firing a gun and resolving the incredible pressure built up by a number of factors to do with the performance; the mountain of built-up tension surrounding the prize, the anticipation of it's many entrants, the hype and it's high-profile status which in terms of publicity tends to still be met each year with a lot of conflicting reviews that do each year spell out the issues with the grand-scale photographic rendering etc, l think despite it's success there's a tension that builds up each year due it's unshifting tastes. As they successfully did l wanted the sound of my performance to ring through the halls of the show and present in a momentary form, a huge release of tension; a dramatised backlash.. fueled by the disastisfaction l personally felt having witnessed the aftermath of Archibald failure or post-winning delirium during my studies then. The exhibition became the object of an issue in the Australian art world that l wanted to comment on at that time, an enormous entity of bottled up criticism and respect, successful careers and buried careers that l was incredibly intrigued to (in my miniscule state) throw stones at and see what would happen; performance proved to be the medium for this one.
If you haven't already, hit the link and enjoy
Jim S
performance 1 of 3
'Head of the Nail'
Art Gallery of NSW, May 2007
filmed by Daniel Havas
By no means was this performance made with any input or clearance from the AGNSW but was instead (as would seem pretty obvious in the footage) suddenly executed on a regular Tuesday afternoon during the 2007 Archibald Prize. Entering the exhibition imitating and using the props to suggest that l was blind was a statement to suggest that l was entering an art exhibition but seeing nothing; the decision for that move came from a dissatisfaction with the exhibition's long standing factory-line of enormous Easter Island-scale heads, commonly over-refined to generate that photographic finish that so often begs the insane judgement commonly overheard; 'wow, it's such a great painting, it looks like just a photograph!' My decision to pick the Archibald came from the personal distaste with the syndrome it commonly places on artists; l had witnessed the bitter experience it plunged into the life of several of my NAS lecturers and the detrimental effect that had on teaching. That addictive state that the quest for the Archibald ensues; the tunnel vision confined further each year as the scent of a win is held just beyond the nose; the artist's entres and eventually their practice becomes increasingly governed by theories and hope of what the judging panel will prefer and the obvious resolution; the longer the artist continually stays in the game, eventually their tenacity will pay off and they'll receive that magic phone call..
All would be fine if the long haul to win was such an easy, un-egotistical, expectation free process but being far from that, the example of the Archibald has a way of dictating artist's careers; the prize, which if finally obtained seems to then result in a crisis of direction; where to and to what now that the Holy Grail has been possessed? I heard once that a true sign of an addicted gambler is in their winning expression, which despite what jackpot they've won, continues to remain sombre; the achievement of their win seems to almost pass them by unnoticed in reflection of their great preceding losses and years of unnecessary sacrifice to reach that moment.. Some of the 'Archibald Hunters' l had met by my early art school years reminded me of this.
So, having explained the context; l am by this time inside the exhibition, imitating that l'm blind strolling nervously towards the part of the exhibition where l plan to execute the next stage of the performance. Suddenly from inside my shoulder canvas bag l reveal a nail, hammer and scrunched up sheet of lined paper with a quick, purposely undeveloped portrait in biro pen, which in a matter of moments is nailed to the exhibition wall, amid a short burst of hammering that rattled like a machine-gun and literally froze everybody in the room to the spot; the feeling would have been similar when releasing a few shots to announce you're about to rob a bank..
The intention of using the hammer and releasing those loud cracks into the air that afternoon was very much to do, for example with firing a gun and resolving the incredible pressure built up by a number of factors to do with the performance; the mountain of built-up tension surrounding the prize, the anticipation of it's many entrants, the hype and it's high-profile status which in terms of publicity tends to still be met each year with a lot of conflicting reviews that do each year spell out the issues with the grand-scale photographic rendering etc, l think despite it's success there's a tension that builds up each year due it's unshifting tastes. As they successfully did l wanted the sound of my performance to ring through the halls of the show and present in a momentary form, a huge release of tension; a dramatised backlash.. fueled by the disastisfaction l personally felt having witnessed the aftermath of Archibald failure or post-winning delirium during my studies then. The exhibition became the object of an issue in the Australian art world that l wanted to comment on at that time, an enormous entity of bottled up criticism and respect, successful careers and buried careers that l was incredibly intrigued to (in my miniscule state) throw stones at and see what would happen; performance proved to be the medium for this one.
If you haven't already, hit the link and enjoy
Jim S
Friday, April 8, 2011
new artworks: thoughts on Sex Tape
The two images below are newly completed drawings which in regards to my former posts, apply to the 'exteriors' module. The emphasis on pastel colour via the red under-painting gives them the hot visceral Australian appearance i've been after, hopefully they should be appear further dramatised when opposed by the drifting, muted, mixed-media 'interiors' to come..
currently untitled, oil pastel on paper 2011
Coffs Harbour commission, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas 2011Recently some offers have come available to create artwork for local Sydney bands as well as (with the recent acquisition of my beloved Moog VC system, see once again below) in some cases join these bands, to provide in light of my musical ignorance 'tactical interference' as l call it. These propositions got me around to thinking of a project name l thought of a while ago, whilst anticipating the soon-arrival of my VC manipulators.. I thought of creating an imaginary band called 'Sex Tape' depicted exclusively in artwork, kind of like what Damon Albarn did with inventing 'Gorillaz' and hiring Jamie Hewlett to create all the images/animation of the 'band'.
In this guise i've now decided on inventing myself as a sort of 'music mercenary' which bands/artists can hire to make their artwork or to join in on their sound, or both! Sydney, as anyone who goes to enough gigs knows, is brutally divided by its 'scenes' most of whom resent each other and don't allow any fraternising with the enemy; l always enjoyed working with a mix of bands during the Exquisite Corpse/up late with Jim Shirlaw years and now l intend to contribute in breaking down these petty barriers as an artist and musician of fortune.. we shall see.
On the news of my music l don't have anything to upload yet but l can positively say i've made a lot of ground in the last four weeks with figuring out what does what and sculpting a sound that makes an electric guitar sound totally unholy while also still audible, not actually patching the guitar through the audio in/out of the Moog Freqbox did a lot to assist that!
More on the Sex Tape coming up, VC setups as well as a Youtube special feature,
J . S
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