Log

I saw David-Ashley Kerr’s exhibition, Rückenfigur, on its last day at Dear Patti Smith. Kerr and I were part of the same  group show, Photography 10A, at the Brunswick Street Gallery back in 2010. I had seen his work at another group show at the Colour Factory this year. Rückenfigur  was his first solo show.

The first thing I noticed once I entered the gallery was large-size prints. There were 4 light jet prints of 80x140 cm and 6 chromira prints of 117x200cm, all mounted on foam core. The details in each of Kerr’s photos was amazing. The photos depicted one individual in a contemplative state and set against a vast landscape. The minuscule subject in each photo is practically immersed in the massive landscape. As a viewer, you get lost in the grandeur.

Inspired from the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich, we can see how Kerr invites us to take a moment to contemplate the beauty in the world that surrounds us. Having studied German Romanticism, Friedrich’s paintings reflected the notion of the sublime found in nature, as seen through the eyes of a halted subject admiring the scenery. In Kerr’s images, the subjects don’t appear struck by the sublime beauty of nature. Instead, the subjects are part of the landscape and the subject’s minuscule size against the landscape is what makes the whole image breathtaking. Unlike Friedrich’s cold colour palette of the characteristic Germanic landscape, Kerr used the warmer tones that are typical of Australian landscapes. Overall, Kerr successfully managed to depict in a unique manner the natural beauty of Australia.

I was at Beam Contemporary Gallery on Friday to see Clare Rae’s exhibition, ‘Light Weight’. The series consists of self-portrait shot in broad daylight and explores the link between performance and photography. There were two large light boxes, 100 x 150 cm, which really caught my eye. You almost feel like the artist is performing in the darkened room under a spot light. I liked the minimalist installation of the light boxes in the main space and the 3 smaller prints in the alcove. The combination of performance and photography is something I’ll always be drawn to and I think Rae blended the two very well.

A thousand bikes welded together to show how quickly China’s society changes. At least, that’s what Ai Wei Wei wants to reflect in this piece for an exhibition in Taiwan.

Lars Nissen, Untitled 2011

Kate Robertson is part of a group exhibition held at Rae & Bennett Gallery. The show, People, Dust and a Whole Lot of Spirit, consists of a collection of photographs and archives relating to ConFest, Australia’s first alternative life-style festival.

I had never heard of ConFest before this exhibition. I discovered something new about one of Australia’s subcultures. Robertson’s images are worth checking out. Her 2 photos of falling dust were an amalgamation of several dust images taken with various media. Since these images were the most open to interpretation, there was something very captivating about it.

Digital print, 42 x 59 cm

Gelatin silver prints, satin finish, 43x53 cm

I presented this body of work along with 2 video projections for my end of semester assessment. The work was one of my several attempts at reflecting on societal expectations of what it means to be a woman. It is a difficult idea to convey visually without being too literal.

I used analogue and digital photography for this project. The black and white prints were the largest I’ve ever printed in the darkroom so far. It took me half a day to get the exposure right. If I wasn’t so pressed for time due to the looming end of semester assessment I would have tried to print even bigger.

For the colour print, I shot with studio lighting and my Nikon D5000. It’s probably my favorite piece in the whole project because of the vibrant colour and whimsical look. I would like to reshoot it again, perhaps with a medium format camera or a higher end digital body to compare the final results.

Hard to believe a year has gone by! My first week back at uni feels like it was just a little while ago. So much has happened. From learning about art history to printing in a colour darkroom to editing my first movie has definitely filled the year you barely noticed it going by. I have a few artistic projects in mind for the summer holidays besides catching up with friends and going for a little trip to Hobart to check out the MONA. 

I saw the current exhibition at C3 Contemporary Art Space at the Abbotsford convent. Vanessa Van Houten’s series’, Suki and the paperfold, was the one that struck me the most. It explored identity, memory, heritage, and the past. The display of the series was interesting too, as they consisted of several arrangements or clusters of images of various sizes each including an artefact, a landscape, and a staged portrait. There is an interesting visual narrative. I like the way Van Houten explored the concepts of culture and identity. The artist’s diverse cultural background has undoubtedly influenced this current exhibition.