In these days I’m preparing the bibliography for my book about Indonesian Contemporary Art.
In the last year I have tried to read every single publication, magazine, website, brochure, article, blog post about art in Indonesia and, of course, try to speak to many people involved as possible.
These are some interesting books and catalogues that were important for me to start orientate in this world:
During my researche on the contemporary art scene in Melbourne, I had the chance to visit the studio of the artist Alasdair McLuckie at Gertrude Contemporary, in Fitzroy.
The artist moved in recently, in January, and he is very happy to have plenty of space to work.
Alasdair’s first inspiration is primitive art and cultures, an interest that he had inherited from his father. Recently he has re-discovered modernism, that had itself a very close relation with tribal art.
Looking Alasdair’s beads works, you can tell that he is very concerned with the formal aspect of art, and his artworks are accurates in every detail.
There is also storyteller aspect in his work. Some of his collages, prints and drawings are infact collected in notebooks made to be browsed.
Coming into the studio, you can see the artist’s favourite palette everywhere: deep blue, orange, saffron yellow, pink, pale violet, grey, black and mustard green.
The interview is coming soon, in the meantime here you are some pictures from my studio visit.
Melbourne. I consider the afternoons devoted to see art exhibitions like a sort of cultural safari.
You need a friend to enjoy it and a location where it is likely to meet dangerous, exotic or fascinating artworks.
In Melbourne some good locations for exhibition safaris are Fitzroy, the CBD and South Yarra.
So a couple of days ago I was in South Yarra with a friend and we had the chance to see the wonderful exhibition of Louise Saxton called “Sanctuary too” at Gould galleries.
No other show could be more suitable for an art safari: the subjects were in fact animals, insects and birds after vintage illustrations from natural history books and colonial painters.
The particularity was that all these artworks were realized in needlework, which means lace and nylon tulle arranged to form the images of animals.
All the pieces of this sort of collage were ties together by needles. Only coming closer to the artworks you can notice the needles, as well as the real nature of the different tulle.
That way the animals look stabbed, and at the same time the illusion of shape formed by the colourful patches is revealed.
My friend was fascinated by this coexistence of beauty and cruelness as well.
I just come back to Melbourne after two weeks in Perth. I was there for a reportage on the Perth contemporary art scene.
Through the Turner Galleries I came in contact with the artist Peter Daily, an established and very generous artist who has his studio in Woodbridge.
I meet him at a floor talk for his exhibition at the Fremantle Art Centre and he gives me many precious information about the artistic situation in Western Australia and about his highly imaginative work.
Visiting his studio I notice how much importance Peter gave to the materials in his works. He seem to experiment new techniques all the time, daring to use also unexpected and unorthodox material with great results.
The interview I had with him will be out soon, in the meantime here you are the pictures I took from my visit to the artist’s studio.
I recently visited the studio of the Australian artist Mark Hilton in Melbourne.
He just moved from his old studio in Fitzroy to a new one in Abbotsford, so unfortunately he did’t have many past works to show me.
Anyways the one he was currently working on was complex enough to monopolize my attention.
The project is a continuation of “Hunting Where The Ducks Are”, a series of high reliefs depicting the darkest issues of contemporary society.
Every piece was shaped like a letter. In the end they will form the sentence:”Don’t Worry”.
In this work there is a striking contrast between appearance and truth, something in which Mark has always been interested.
Some of the scenes represented on the high reliefs are inspired to current affairs, like often happen in the previous production of the artist, other ones are drawn from the artist’s personal memories. There is no narrative connection between the pieces, although we can find a train as recurrent element.
The aesthetic look of the artwork is inspired by the decoration of the doors of the Duomo in Milan, where the artists had a residency in 2007.
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Media Previews, along with the free catalogues of the exhibitions, are among the advantages to be part of the “media”.
I have no idea how the NGV has come to know that I’m a journalist, but you know, I got this mail and the object was “Monet’s Garden Media Preview”. I couldn’t say no.
The ingredients were all there.
The National Gallery of Victoria. One of the most famous modern painters of all the times. Pastels colors Frenchness. I was sure the dynamic NGV would adjust itself to the élégance et finesse required from such event.
So I wore my little back dress with fuchsia stockings and I invited my boyfriend to come with me.
He was not sure he wanted to came. It was too early for him, I mean, nine o’ clock!
“The whole thing would be to classy for me anyways!”, he mumbled curling up in the sheets.
“Come on! Since we are in the City, we can also go do groceries at your favorite Mall after!” I told him.
This convinced him and he finally woke up. He wore his never washed second world war German coat, he grabbed his grannish blue and grey groceries trolley and we were ready to go.
My interview with artist Bindi Cole is the cover story of the Australian magazine Trouble.
The interview is part of my research about contemporary art in Melbourne.
You can read the magazine online at this link
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The Italian web magazine Art a Part of Cult(ure) just published my review on the exhibition “Rally – Contemporary Indonesian Art” at the National Gallery of Victoria. The interview is part of my reportage about Indonesian Contemporary Art.
Here you are the link to the review
Here you are the link to the English translation of the review
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Two ladies in their fifties were chatting amiably in the hall of the National Gallery of Victoria.
They dressed casually, both with sandals and baggy pants. They had decided to turn their usual boring Saturday afternoon into an entertaining on, why not, a cultural walk through one of the most interesting museums of Melbourne is not a crime.
With all the National Gallery has to offer, they have been lulled by the pastel shades of the paintings of the New Impressionists, in a new exhibition called “Radiance”. They have also visited the European Masters section and the Asian Art section at the second floor and they were quite content with what they saw.
Since the two ladies don’t feel conservative at all, they felt no disdain towards a visit to the contemporary art exhibition on the ground floor.
The international magazine Women in the City just published my interview with the Taiwanese artist and busker Lin Bee Dwo. The interview is part of my research about the Melbourne art scene.
Here you are the link to the interview
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My understanding of Melbourne so far it that everything is about the lanes. The graffiti, the social life, the art exhibitions.
A week ago I was searching for this Trink Tank gallery and, guess what, I ended up in a blind alley. In a blind lane to be precise.
I asked a bunch of people in front of a bar if they know where this Trink Tank gallery was.
A guy with a chef hat smirked:”You just passed it. It’s there!” and he guided me without fail to a shrine in the wall.
Inside the small shrine, like a Neapolitan Madonna, there was Marc Standing’s artwork “The Duchess Of Avon”.
I read the press release that you could take off from a stack of papers. Apparently the shape of the statuette was from a 1970s Avon perfume bottle, which ironically contained Sweet Honesty perfume: “Her tribal painted face is a stark contrast to her Eurocentric bridal ensemble. Coloured thread emanates from her bouquet, enfolding her in an almost suffocating embrace. However, her stoic stance is one of pride and reverence.'” stated the press release.
“So… that’s it!”
“Yeeee!” said proudly the guy “This is the gallery!”
Australia. You can have huge streets, kilometers of nothing just outside the city, the broadest spaces ever and at the same time, in a shady lane in Melbourne, the Trink Tank gallery, probably the one of the world’s smallest gallery.
Read MoreApparently there’s nothing new with it.
Apparently it’s something going on since 2003 or something.
Apparently it’s just me, a country-mouse from Italy not informed about the new trends.
All right, I get that, but still it’s difficult to me to be impassible whit this bunch of people stirring awkwardly on the crowded sidewalk for no reason.
If I were back in my Campania countryside, I would mistake the whole thing for a collective exorcism. But of course, the square in front of Flinder Street Station has very little in common with the Campania countryside.
So, these people are dancing with no music but with a lot of concentration in their absurd outfits.
With a more accurate observation I notice that they all wear headphones, so what is happening is that everyone is dancing with their own playlist.
The obvious consequence is that everyone is doing his own moves charmly out of sync.
Naima Morelli is an arts writer and journalist specialized in contemporary art from Asia-Pacific and the MENA region.
She has written for the Financial Times, Al-Jazeera, The Art Newspaper, ArtAsiaPacific, Internazionale and Il Manifesto, among others, and she is a regular contributor to Plural Art Mag, Middle East Monitor and Middle East Eye as well as writing curatorial texts for galleries.
She is the author of three books on Southeast Asian contemporary art.
Reach out: contact [at] naimamorelli.com
