OK, finally got around to putting up some of my work from the Motel project. All in all there were 22 paintings and three 3D pieces as well as the film.
Right then, better go do something about Christmas… before it all begins again.
Hope yours is a good one,
Amanda
Last night’s opening of The Underpass Motel exhibition was also the launch of the film from which it all began. Looking around the gallery (as best one could - it was standing room only) at the paintings, sculpture and drawings being shown it was easy to see why the film itself might be forgotten.
The collaborative video project began 18 months ago when Stuart Elliott invited eight artists to take a room in a motel which didn’t exist. Beyond that there was no brief and few of the artists knew what anyone else was doing. Most of us had never met. We all worked in different ways with different mediums - pencil-drawn animation, puppetry, live action and computer animation. The rooms we made and the characters which inhabited them had nothing in common, no storyline and no controlling direction. From this came hours and hours of footage in every format imaginable from which someone had to make a film…
Those “someones” were Patrizia Tonello and Graham Taylor. Their participation was noted in a press release which said “Pivotal to the creation of the movie trailers was the involvement of Graham Taylor and Patrizia Tonello. Graham …3D animation, web and graphic design. Patrizia, a well known local artist, brought not only artistic skills to the project but found herself developing great editing and film skills. …Together they created a world that has incorporated Stuart’s themes and iconography, weaving a story about a story about a yellow suitcase that keeps appearing, a case that is baffling police…”.
What that doesn’t tell you about is the thousands of hours of creative editing which turned a disparate pile of disks into The Underpass Motel. It’s pretty easy to miss that they made a story where there was none. It doesn’t mention that working within a group of eight single minded artists can be far more difficult than attempting to herd cats. It doesn’t tell you anything about their own animation - computer generated by Graham and stop motion puppetry by Patrizia. Nor does it say that they also created the posters, the packaging design and the booklet which accompanies the dvd.
And while all this was going on Patrizia was, like the rest of us, painting and sculpting for the exhibition. Hardly surprising then that only 9 of the 111 works being shown are hers. In the catalogue we see 8 paintings and one sculpture. There are also some of the sets used in her film which are being shown with the others in a room behind the main gallery space. Not listed: is the film itself. Nowhere does it say that Patrizia is a tenacious and talented filmmaker deserving more than an ordinary place in the list of collaborators. Nor that without her and Graham The Underpass Motel would be just a pile of disks. We need to keep that in mind for ourselves when we are watching the video or seeking out her work. Make the effort. Her puppet, a little old man, is to be found sitting on the edge of her set - look for him - he’s exquisite.
See you there,
Amanda
Patrizia Tonnello is represented by Gallery East in North Fremantle - details of current work can be found there. Her own website shows a wonderful visual history of her work.
Graham Taylor’s website includes both still images and animation.
The Underpass Motel exhibition is showing at the Turner Galleries until the 7th November 2009.
The Underpass Motel DVD is also available from the project’s website.
An exhibition curated by Perdita Phillips and Stuart Elliott
Wednesday 7 October 2009 6-8 pm
The Junction Gallery
N block Swan TAFE Midland Campus
(at the back of the campus, Lloyd Street, Midland, Western Australia)
Exhibition runs 8-22 October Monday to Friday 9:30 to 4:30
Featuring the work of Michael Arnold, Paul Caporn, Peter Dailey, Clare Davies, Stuart Elliott, Eva Fernandez, Richard Foulds, Matthew Jackson, Michael Jurotte, Peggy Lyon, Adrienne Marshall, Geoff Overheu, Perdita Phillips, Lorraine Pichette, Gregory Pryor, Bruce Slatter, David Small, Sue Starcken Andrea Wood
The title of this post says it all - the Underpass Motel, a collaborative video project, which took over my life, my heart and my sanity (!) for the past 18 months is up on YouTube with a couple of trailers… take a look.
This is part of the countdown to official launch on the 9th October at the Turner Galleries.
I’ve talked already about the Underpass Motel - a project that’s been keeping me off the streets for the past 18 months…
I’m pleased to announce now that there’s a story about it in the current issue of Artlink magazine.
Underpass Motel is a collaborative video project described as a “series of musings or dysfunctional daydreams” by eight artists with very different styles. We then went on to produce works related to the film - drawings, sculpture and paintings. The dvd will be released at the opening of the exhibition on the 9th October 2009 at the Turner Gallery. The exhibition will include some of the sets, puppets and props used in the making. The dvd itself is over 2 hours long - with the main film, “making ofs” by each artist and extra scenes.
The WA showing of Dr Perdita Phillips In Vetland exhibition opens on the 28th August to show the results of her 2009 Art Meets Vet Science Artist in Residency program at Murdoch University’s School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences. Her X-ray sculptures, photographs and drawings will be situated in both the clinical and research areas. For full details as to times and events see the In Vetland blog.
In addition to her own work, in order to do something a little different, Perdita combined her interest in collage and maps by calling for images from other artists to create a large wall piece. The aim was to show a ‘world’ of ways that animals are represented by connecting many images together. My contribution came about when a friend forwarded on the invitation suggesting that “Blue might get a guernsey”.
So who’s Blue? He’s an important character in the body of work I’ll be showing in October as part of the Underpass Motel exhibition. He appears in animation and in a series of paintings. This one, which is showing as a digital image at In Vetland, is an oil on panel study for a larger work which, as yet, remains untitled. Blue is a good and sturdy cattle dog with a gritty sense of humour yet he encompassess more layers of meaning than a fine torta - few of them much fun. None of which are going to be explained… ever. Blue also doesn’t exist.
The model for this incarnation was a Belgian statue called Tennike Pis which is located on the corner of Kartuizersstraat and the Rue de Vieux Marche aux Grains in Brussels. Unfortunately that is all I know of him - enquiries as to his maker have drawn a blank. Does anyone know?
Have fun
Amanda
Yesterday Studio A was abandoned without a backward glance.
Destination: Midland Town Hall.
The event was to assist with curating the Print(Ed) exhibition with Jánis Nedéla. (If you don’t like where your work is hung I will immediately deny all responsibility and demote myself to the role of “fetch and carry”.) It looks great.
The opening should prove to be a big night - there are over 70 entries from artists hailing from all over Perth. And I will break the code of silence to tell you that the standard is high. Whether you’re a printmaker or an appreciator of print - attendance is mandatory- even if it’s raining. I will cast an extra lure: by reminding you of the wine, nibblies and a Town Hall full of prints and printmakers. What more could you want?
Opening this coming Thursday night, 30th of July, at 6pm.
Location: Midland Town Hall
Great Eastern Highway, Midland
I won’t be able to wriggle out of it either because I’m one of the speakers. And goodness it’s my annual cake day (gave up calling it a birthday - I’ve had too many) - instead - I’ll be providing some of the entertainment.
Public speaking, by the way, for the weak-knee avoider is actually really easy because you can’t lose no matter what you do. Even if one falls flat on one’s face - one’s worst enemy will be delighted!
For further information contact City of Swan Visual Arts Officer Rachel Birighitti on 0424 023 871
Have fun,
a
Sorry about the late notice (I just knew I’d lost a list in the madness of the past week). Tonight is the opening night of the 24th Western Australian Printmedia Awards 2009 (phew…). It’s at the Moores Gallery, 46 Henry Street Fremantle and starts at 6.30pm.
I won’t be there cos I worked through the night last night after a week of the same. I got 8 hours sleep total over 3 days… I’m not going into the saga except to say it wasn’t my fault - the logs were large and frequent.
All was overcome and, I gotta say, I’m fairly pleased with the result but at the same have mixed feelings. Not new thoughts but reinforced this morning (tired and miserable) by a growing disillusion. Working so hard on stuff like this means I’m not in my studio making art; I’m submitting work that’s not really suitable for this event because I don’t have time to get something else on the press; and, thus, know up front that I’m not even in the running for the kudos. I think we have a problem Scotty.
Right now, I’m going up the hill to close (slam) the studio door behind me and try to work off the funk. Paint, play with the clay or just clean up the mess. Printmaking? Not very likely.
Amanda
PS For what it’s worth, this pair are what I entered - renamed Stockyard 1 and Stockyard 2. They were, in fact, a diptych but had to be submitted as individual pieces because of the size limitation. It’s a hybrid work - digital imagery but using an etching press to transfer the image to plywood. 600 x 900mm.
As a pair the work was called Puff the Magic Dragon. The image and the title look innocent enough for those who can’t face digging any deeper… The ambiguity intentional. The stockyard is significant. It’s a comment on lots of things. Made me cry after I realised what I’d made. But art is like that.
It’s official. Or rather, the website is up…
Finally, I can explain the slowdown in my online presence during the past year.
My involvement in The Underpass Motel, a collaborative video project under the directorship of Stuart Elliott has been an enormous commitment which overwhelmed both my life and my artistic practice. One which involved hand made puppets, set construction, scripting and thousands of frames of animation. (Old fashioned stop motion with a recalcitrant puppet is like that - fun, frustrating, addictive and tedious but, above all, rewarding.)
While production of “forensic evidence” continues, and the dvd will not be available until the opening of the exhibition in October, a preview can be seen at the official website. The launch and exhibition are to hosted be by the Turner Gallery in William Street, Perth. More details closer to the time.
Amanda
The WA Printmakers Association have an exhibition booked at Tresillian in Nedlands as part of Artopia 2007. Opening night 28th September. Runs to 8th October.
Even though I’m still a relatively new member of the association I reckon I’ll contribute something. In fact I think I need to after the last exhibition. I have a reputation to uphold, or rather er, recover. A lot…
Amanda
