Thursday 6 December 2012

Viewing Platforms | Radio review





This morning on Triple R (3RRR 102.7FM) the SmartArts program had a short review by Ace Wagstaf of our curator Kristian Hagglom's exhibition 'Viewing Platforms' at Edmund Pearce and we're pretty ok with the fact they used the term "Lynchian" in regard to the smashed up popup...

Check it out via Radio On Demand, the link will take you straight to the start of the (most important) Haggblom section at 00:40:57:

http://ondemand.rrr.org.au/grid/20121206094057

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Detail | Intervals


Kerryn Sylvia, Untitled 2012, Polardroid Duratran in lightbox with coloured mount board, 29cm x 21cm

Continuing our exploration of Intervals from our current show by Kerryn Sylvia, we have two more of her nostalgic and personal images to present to you.

"Outside floats half a house hovering in that place, between, completed only by its shadow, warping and
shifting with the direction of the light. Inside, shadow gives way to the light … although the subjective
quality of each moment remembered also distorts and shifts and finds its voice in memories that form as a
stream of consciousness recovered from childhood experiences
.


The exhibition Intervals explores personal dichotomies in time and space that began in 2011 as part of my
Honours year of study and continues up until the present moment... The passage of time becomes morphed with a warping of perspective that occurs between the child and adult self like a gap, interval, or dramatic pause within the realm of the ordinary and mundane
." - Kerryn Sylvia



Kerryn Sylvia, Untitled 2012, Polardroid Duratran in lightbox with coloured mount board, 29cm x 21cm
Intervals by Kerryn Sylvia and the accompanying exhibition Hold from Kirbi Kenniwell will be at Wallflower until December 14.

Sunday 25 November 2012

Event | In Conversation


 


In addition to the solo exhibition "Viewing Platforms" opening this Thursday, at Edmund Pearce there will also be an informal "In Conversation" between Kristian Haggblom and Louis Porter on Saturday, December 1 from 2pm. 

This is a good chance for people to further understand the work in the exhibition and other projects through Haggblom and Porter's dialogue and there will be opportunity for questions from the audience. For more information on the exhibition visit: http://edmundpearce.com.au/

In Conversation Haggblom & Porter
Viewing Platforms
December 1, 2pm
Exhibition runs Nov 28 - Dec 15

Edmund Pearce Gallery
Level 2, Nicholas Building
37 Swanston St.
Melbourne

The gallery would appreciate if people RSVP through their Facebook event.
 
kristianhaggblom.com
louisporter.com

Thursday 22 November 2012

Intervals | Kerry Sylvia


Kerryn Sylvia, Untitled 2012, Polardroid Duratran in lightbox with coloured mount board, 29cm x 21cm

‘On the one hand shadow is opposite to light, and on the other, the very image of fleeting,mutable things...’

“The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols” (Jean Chevalier, Alain Gheerbrant & John Buchanan-Brown (translator))


This month at Wallflower we have the pleasure of presenting Intervals from Mildura based artist and educator, Kerryn Sylvia. Her work is informed by an interest in family, memory and the found object and her practice involves combining a range of materials and methods. It is well worth dropping by the gallery to see the pieces but for those with geographical constraints we will be releasing a series of the images from the show via the blog.

"Many of the images for Intervals started their journey as an artist’s book titled Memories from Under the Kitchen Table. These images were collected from the houses my parents built; one that was up for sale early last year (which afforded me the chance to return to the place after thirty years), and the other which I lived in during my adolescence (and impulsively collected a 36 exposure roll of 35mm film from as a last parting gesture as we were moving out in the 1990’s). These photographs have then been further manipulated to resemble images from another era using Poladroid, a free downloadable Internet program. This sets up an interesting dialogue between past and present image-making technologies..." - Kerryn Sylvia


Kerryn Sylvia completed her Bachelor of Visual Arts Honours in 2011 and was the recipient of the prestigious Rod Fyffe Award for the most outstanding La Trobe University Visual Arts Honours student. She works across several mediums that include sculpture, photography and installation/painting. Sylvia has exhibited locally and nationally including the Mildura Palimpsest Biennale and CLIP Award at the Perth Centre for Photography.


Kerryn's artist book: Memories from Under the Kitchen Table are $45.00 each through the gallery and also available as a free iPad download.

Kerryn Sylvia, Untitled 2012, Polardroid Duratran in lightbox with coloured mount board, 29cm x 21cm

Intervals by Kerryn Sylvia and the accompanying exhibition Hold from Kirbi Kenniwell will be at Wallflower until December 14. 

Sunday 4 November 2012

Invitation | Viewing Platforms




It is with great pleasure that we invite you to Viewing Platforms, a solo exhibition from Wallflowers' curator, Kristian Haggblom at Edmund Pearce Gallery, Melbourne. The show opens November 29 from 6-8pm with an 'artist in conversation' with Louis Porter on December 1st at 2pm

Viewing Platforms is a photographic investigation of the relationships that are played out in the Australian landscape between people, places and the environment and the subsequent interaction of society, space and nature. In order to do this, photographic documentation is produced at remote touristscapes and the in-between places that are connected to the uniquely Australian long distances to “journey” to these locations. The photographs in this exhibition include some of the encounters Haggblom has experienced on these journeys; a note seeking a lost dog on the back of a Carlton Draught box at a Northern Territory rest stop, a Crewdson-like mysterious circle at the foot of a slag pile in Broken Hill and a peeling wall vinyl on the window of a Mildura camping store of Scandinavian-looking backpackers pointing at a car park. Visually and conceptually, within these spaces of transience and awe the tourist infrastructure that is physically imposed over particular landscapes is considered a “stage” for, not only visitors, but also guides and other tourist industry workers. The imagery depicts how the landscape is contained for consumption and is captured from within the performance of tourism. 

Here is a preview from Art Guide Australia's November/December issue by Dan Rule:

Art Guide Australia Nov/Dec 2012 by Dan Rule.

Viewing Platforms will run from November 28 - December 15
Edmund Pearce Gallery is located on Level 2, Nicholas Building, 37 Swanston Street, Melbourne. Gallery hours are Wednesday - Saturday, 11-5

Thursday 18 October 2012


Posters | John A. Douglas





John A. Douglas has brought a stack of posters with him that will be available for free through Wallflower at the opening. It was produced for his Penrith Regional Gallery show with the support of Chalk Horse, ozco & d/Lux/MediArts.

Monday 15 October 2012

In Conversation | Christopher Köller



Palacio Fronteira, Lisbon, Portugal 2009


Christopher Köller will be exhibiting Parádeisos, photographs of both international and local gardens produced between 1997 and 2009 at Wallflower, opening Friday October 19 from 5-7pm. In the tradition of our previous shows we have asked him some questions about his work, life and experiences.


If you don’t mind me asking, how many years have you been photographing for? You are respected as one of Australia’s most established and senior image-makers.

I was the family photographer at nine years of age. However my first exhibition was in 1981.

Let me continue with a second question which is a bit laborious and many photographers don’t like to deal with. Your projects I think are a celebration of the medium in analogue mode; you seem to champion film (and plastic cameras) but not totally for “respected” qualities but also inherent flaws. Many believe that digital advancements are liberating photography, taking it to audiences that wouldn’t usually be interested, for example, at the ACP you can do a course to “better use your iPhone camera” but online you can also purchase t-shirts with the slogan “buy film not pixels”. What are your thoughts on digital photography and what’s happening to analogue production?

I still prefer to use film because of the quality of analogue camera lenses—from the cheap faulty plastic of the Diana to fine German Zeiss lenses for Leica and Rolleiflex. I use digital technology in transferring from the film to the print and love the capacity to tinker and improve the information on the negative. I still love proof sheets as a way of editing and learning from mistakes and successes.

At Wallflower we are showing the Parádeisos series, which has been produced in many countries, how did it begin? And what would you like to tell us about the project?

The series began with a commission to photograph something—anything, in Ararat Victoria for an exhibition and the Art Gallery of Ararat’s collection in 1997. As most of the other photographers involved were photojournalists, I decided to photograph gardens.

As well as diverse locations, there are multiple stories and historical settings in Parádeisos, what role does travel play in these works? Do you research the places before you shoot or are the location and shooting process more intuitive?

I have an interest in gardens and their design and I had studied bonsai in Japan in the 1980s. Sometimes I travel to places to visit particular gardens I have researched, sometimes I take the Diana with me when I am travelling in case I come across a garden. It has become increasingly research-driven because there are features that make certain gardens better to photograph.
  
Your work “Milano” was, amongst other things, related to the past impinging on contemporary reality, do you feel that you have also touched on this idea in Parádeisos? How important is the ‘hand’ of the designers and gardeners and of course the people that consume these spaces?

Yes I agree the gardens are mostly historic, although I do photographic remarkable contemporary gardens too. But I have also photographed the topiary in Paris Disneyland and in a parking lot in Los Angeles. It varies about how important the designers and gardeners’ work is the final result. But also the weather, time of day, time of year and the dice roll of the Diana’s random leaking of light are significant.

Your book Parádeisos is published by M.33 and is available through Wallflower, can you elaborate on producing a book, especially now as it’s so much easier and accessible to do so in Australia.

The digital revolution has reduced the price of pre-production and overseas printing has become very competitive. I enjoyed working with the designer, editor and author of the essay, choosing the works to include, but the interaction with the printer was a bit stressful at times.

In an interview with Kings ARI for your 2010 video retrospective ‘Killing time’ you mentioned harboring a “secret desire to be a film maker”. I must admit I have the same desire but I’m unclear where or if it will ever be played out. Do you think you will be pursuing your own cinematic desire in the near future?

I have long been obsessed with film and enjoy reading film theory. I did briefly study film-making at Prahran. I will continue to make videos. I collaborated recently with Elizabeth Presa on one called Screen Test 508 which was shown at Screen Space gallery in May this year (2012).

As with myself, I believe you have a deep and engaged interest with the Land of the Rising Sun. Although this is meant to be a short interview, can you tell me when you first visited, about your experiences there and how it may e/affect your work?

I have been interested in a range of Japanese cultural phenomena. In the 1970s I studied kendo (sword-fighting) when I was living in London and I got interested in Japanese cinema, especially Oshima, Ozu, Kurosawa and Imamura. I was interested in Japanese photographers when I was studying photography, especially Daido Moriyama, Eikoh Hosoe and Masahisa Fukase whose work I still love. I lived in Japan from 1982-84 where I started visiting gardens.

As a long-time educator and head of photography at the VCA for many years, how do you feel about the present dismal cuts and closing down of particularly Humanities and Social Sciences and art departments within universities? What is for the future of arts education? I must admit it looks like very unstable ground.

 It was disparaging to constantly have to whittle away staff hours, and to do more with less money. Also the pendulum had swung too far to the side of paperwork at the expense of time spent teaching. The few who are passionate and driven will find ways to educate themselves and learn wherever they can. However cutting education funding doesn’t have a positive impact on the education of the majority of young people, and they miss out. To compete globally as an intelligent and creative nation we need people with a wide range of skills, the nature of which can’t always be perfectly anticipated, and also shouldn’t rest only on demand.

Extending on the last interview with Robert Canali (who is actually also a musician), I asked him at the end of the interview if he had a question for us, to which he replied “what will you be listening to while installing the show?” I think I am comfortable saying a lot of your work is “operatic”, what would you recommend punters listen to while viewing Parádeisos?

I would suggest listening to Mariza, the leading contemporary Portuguese fado singer. Fado is romantic, nostalgic and almost always sad—about unrequited love, love that has ended, love that should end.

And to conclude, any questions for myself and/or Team Wallflower?

Where is the best coffee in Mildura?
As we are sponsored by Stephano's brewery, of course we can only endorse their product...



Christopher Köller’s Parádeisos will run in the main gallery until November 13.

Christopher Köller is represented by fehilycontemporary.com.au




Saturday 13 October 2012


Feature | Trailer

Leading up to the next opening here is a sneak preview of one of the videos that will be featured by Sydney-based artist John A. Douglas who works with video, photography and performance. The series Strange Land deals with cinematic narratives, outback histories and disasters that are played out in the Australian landscape. During the closing weekend of this exhibition Mr. Douglas will be running a video production workshop through Wallflower.  



Saturday 22 September 2012

Sold | Geode




We thought we'd round out the week with some lovely news about one of the Geode works which has been sold from Ghost Notes. The piece (which is one of our assistants' favorites) is from an edition of three and was purchased earlier this week. 

Visit the Gallery in the coming weeks to see this excellent work before the conclusion of the show on October 17.

Friday 21 September 2012

Photo Set | Ghost Notes














From the opening of Robert Canali's Ghost Notes with Geoffrey Pugen. Exhibition runs until October 17.

Friday 14 September 2012


Photo Set | 'Ghost Notes' Install





Yesterday morning the Wallflower team was excited to be installing Robert Canali's exhibition Ghost Notes in the main gallery space. With laser level, spirit level and measuring tape to hand, it was a flurry of bubble wrap and pencil marks. Although tempted, no curators were sealed in the perfectly sized, quintessential crate which contained much of the work.






Mid-hang the media came to take some shots of the install and talk to our curator, Mr Haggblom for a television segment in the local news.








Ghost Notes opens tonight, Friday September 14th at 5pm and runs until October 17 at Wallflower Photomedia Gallery, 41 Deakin Ave, Mildura.




Tuesday 11 September 2012


In Conversation | Robert Canali






Robert Canali's work will be opening at Wallflower on Friday September 14 from 5-7pm,. As with previous shows, we asked Canali a series of questions about his work, his music, plans and the exhibition.

Mr. Canali, you make primarily photographs but also sculptures and installations. You are in a band Grounders and have been discussing video with me. Any other outlets? And how do they all come together, if at all?
  
My creative pursuits are not necessarily linked by any premeditated reason or purpose, but rather represent an evolution. It always begins with an idea and from there I try to source the ideal format to facilitate that concept. For example, I came to photography as a sculptor; I only started shooting because I wanted to understand how the camera worked. It was in my research of the camera and its workings that inspired my photographic work. The same can be said for my place in the band: I one day decided I wanted to learn how to play drums, so I saved up, bought a kit, and taught myself to play. Just as I had taught myself how to use a large format camera I taught myself rudiments and rhythms on the kit. It has often been throughout the learning process that some of my most successful work is made. I find the mistakes along the way to be the most exciting moments, for it is in those instances that I can respond to what I am doing and filter a response. This can be said to describe most of my pursuits in life. I am never consciously aiming for all of my ambitions to come together in one way or another because each act, though unique, is an extension of myself.


The images featured in GHOST NOTES are all connected but the viewer may not get this at first, can you elaborate on that connection (feel free to drop some science)?

Aside from all of the work being photographic there are several links between each piece in the show. For starters the works share a certain aesthetic, one piece informs the next whether it be through colour, shape, texture or size. These formal elements ground the body of work and make it whole. In addition to the look of the work, each photograph was conceived of the same subject. The backdrop for the work is Western Canada - Banff National Park and rural Alberta. There I found landscapes that revealed themselves as sculptures. I treated the geometry of these monuments as a painter would pigment on their pallet. There isn't really a need to reference any science to describe the relationship between the subject matter in the work. Figurative or abstract, they all come from the same source, the mountains. The black and white works act as an index, suggesting a foundation or background from where the rest of the work evolved. The geodes are minerals I found while traversing these landscapes and the more abstracted images are actually macro photographs of light shining through paper-thin sections of those very minerals. The work comes full circle in a way, panning in and out on the same object, showcasing it in ways that make it seem possible for that object to be more than it is, or something it could never be. It is these possibilities that I am after in this work and in all of my work.
  

Your sculptural work is very photographic and it seems, in some sense, to pay homage to analogue technologies, how did it begin? Presuming it came after photography.
  
The sculpture you're referring to, Vessel, was created quite spontaneously. It began as most things do, with an idea and a sketch. Though it may not reflect this in its polished finish and construction, it all came together quite organically. I'm glad you sense its reference to analogue technologies, as the inspiration was definitely photography and the tools that engineer the craft. I wanted to make something seductive that spoke to the ephemeral aspects of the medium and the practice.


Can you tell us a little more about the title GHOST NOTES? 

The title Ghost Notes is actually a term used in music theory to describe a note with rhythmic value but no apparent tone. This was brought to my attention while learning how to play drums. Imagine if you will, tapping lightly on the surface of a table and every so often tapping once a little harder while maintaining the same tempo. The result is a pulse that lays under the beat, a ghost in the rhythm. Similarly the work in this show accents facets of these landscapes that are embedded within them. The title is also fitting as it describes the work regardless of the term’s technical definition. Some of the imagery harkens back to a dead era of photography. With this work I strived to take what the since departed masters of black and white photography achieved, and transition it into a contemporized form using novel techniques and modern philosophies.

  
Like prior exhibitions in the past, I have asked you (the artist in the main space at Wallflower) to choose a video piece for the Projection Room that would work with your own project. Can you give us some thoughts on Geoffrey Pugens ROCK and how it relates to your photographs? Connections are obvious but it would be good to hear if you have anything to add.
  
What I find most captivating about Pugens work is the way his piece reveals the subtle nuances of a rock. In his video the surface of the mineral shimmers and reflects light as stunning little spectrums amidst a sea of black. As the camera circles, these revelations come and go, fading in and out of focus. This effect spoke to my practice, reminding me of my process while making some of the work in this show. Positioning and repositioning minerals on light tables, waiting for the perfect angle to present itself. The moment when the inanimate object came to life, boasting magnificent colour and depth.

Have you been to Death Valley?
  
No but I am dying to go...no pun intended.


Tell us something about the art scene in Toronto?
  
It may lack the rich history and vibrancy of Paris, Venice, New York or Berlin, but in its humility and youth it certainly has its own voice.


You also told me this project has come to an end whats next?
  
Allow me to rephrase that; "come to an end" sounds too definitive. Let's say I have benched this work for now to pursue more current curiosities. As of late I have moved away from the camera, as I have made most of my work about what happens inside of it. I have been experimenting with a variety of camera-less photographic techniques as well as devising some of my own. The results have been exciting so far. I can say this without giving too much away, the work does not read as photo as much as it does painting or illustration.


Any questions for us?
  
What music were you listening to while installing the show?


Well, I think we'll be listening to some Squarepusher, a touch of Aphex, Black Moth Super Rainbow and possibly some Autechre if the mood takes us.

Canali's show in the main exhibition space will run until October 17. 


www.robertcanali.com
www.groundersmusic.com

Image: "Drumheller" Robert Canali, Archival Pigment Print, 40"x50", 2012


Wednesday 1 August 2012

Exhibition Detail | Lost and Found





In the lead up to Lost and Found at Wallflower, opening Friday 10th August, we will be taking a closer look at individual images from the exhibition. Each photo contained in the show has been swept from a home, damaged by sea and salvaged from the wreckage during the clean-up efforts following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Despite the thousands returned to their owners by The Memory Salvage Project there were many too damaged to be recognized, unclaimed and almost discarded before they were formed into a travelling exhibition, a reminder highlighting the ongoing impact of this disaster.




An interview with Munemasa Takahashi, initiator of the Lost and Found exhibitions, was recorded by  aperture.org's "exposures" blog:



We also have an interview from Inside Art with Naomi Cass, Center for Contemporary Photography director. This episode aired July 4th 2012.






http://www.insideart.tv/uncategorized/lost-and-found-in-fitzroy/

Lost and Found: Family Photo's swept away by the 3/11 East Japan Tsunami will open at Wallflower Photomedia Gallery on the 10th August 2012 at 5pm.