Harrison & Wood

Video Performance artists Paul Harrison and Charles wood work from a small studio in the city of Bristol. Beginning in 1993 their peices have evolved from of dead pan performances in which bodies interacting with objects, physical environments and with one another. The First video shows sections for their work in the Tate collection entitles Twenty-six drawing and falling things from 2001.
In these works the preformers

physical properties, sometimes chaotic and others highly controlled and contrived where the outcome while seeming initially dangerous was entirely deterministic and thus safe. Pieces such as the tied chair thrown at woods and Harrison dropping a cinder block onto his feet whilst wearing steel cap boots are provocative and evoke a visceral flinching reaction from the audience, though no one was ever in danger of injury. However the rolling chairs work while more dangerius has less impact and more comedic value as there is a build up.

The second video found here is ther 2011 work 10x10'. and shows the evolution of the pairs work into a narrative driven piece. The 2 minute video opens with a painter in an office building looking at 10 colour samples on the white rear wall. Then the camera moves down through the floor seeming going down to the next level where the words "This is an imaginary room" projected onto the wall. The camera then continues to move down through successive rooms each with a different coloured rear wall. In each room the contents has changed, some are mundane, an empty office space others odder a heaped tower chairs or spiderman hoovering then to the second last room, a black rear wall and the smashing of a halogen light, then we return to the painter covering up a black large black section with white. My interpretation of the story is that each coloured sample represents an imagined possible reality for the room. The final scene eludes to the possibility the within the reality of the film that all of the scenes shown previous had indeed occurred and the transition through to floor was a transition through time.

Brook Andrews - 52 Portraits and Bouncing Castles

52 Portraits photo by Robert Nelson

Inside Vox By Brook Andrews

Brook Andrew is a Melbourne based artist whose instillation uses a multitude of effects such as neon lighting, photography, mixed-media, performance and video.

his work aims to challenge cultural and historical preconceptions and he uses text and image to comment on local and global issues regarding race, consumerism and history.

His work 52 Portraits uses archival photography of native peoples from Australia, New Zealand and the Torres Straight lining the walls of the space and in the middle is a contraption reminiscent of an old gramophone called Vox (Latin for voice) On the bottom level it contains anthropological artifacts  such as literature and examples of early implements of from the 19th and early 20th century on the upper it houses a disconnected skeleton whose skull is placed facing outwards through a hole in the display cabinet towards the spout of the gramophone as if it were about to make some pronouncement.



Brook brings his cultural ancestry along with him when he creates art. This is something that is also important to me when I'm making something and is the whole point behind my final piece.
It made me think about how I was going about my own pieces and how I could streamline the main idea behind the work as well as make other comments within my piece with item selection that would have their own point which would add the the overall narrative without subtracting any of the ideas.

Scandinavian trolls and Gnomes

Scandinavian trolls and gnomes may be very similar in popular culture but there are some differences between them.

Trolls are supernatural beings in Norse Mythology, who dwell in mountains, caves and live together in family groups. In some folk tales they are ugly in others they say they look like humans but live life hermits or isolated in  mountains with their families.

* I am going to make a troll or Gnome as part of my installation.


John Bauer; trolls

http://www.linesandcolors.com/images/2006-04/bauer_450.jpg

where as Gnomes, one of the Scandinavian names for Gnomes are Tomte which was originally coined by Saint Birgitta of Sweden in the 1300s. They are also known as Nisse in Norway and Denmark. Gnomes are believed to live for 400 years, are industrious, kind, and wise. Family is important to them, and they almost always merry. Female gnomes give birth only once, usually to twins. They always live in rural areas, sometimes even on (or below) farms, and will give advice to farmers. They are seen as guardians of nature and animals. Although they are kind to humans, gnomes are still very secretive; they never allow humans to know the location of their burrows, never teach non-gnomes their language, and appear only when they want to.
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Gnome#cite_note-beryl-2

My attempt at making a troll or gnome;

my gnome in pieces.

I used knitted fabric and stuffing for the body and head and the had to the left is made of cotton Scandinavian print fabric and the beard is acrylic and viscose yarn.

The pattern is based on a old early 90's American style troll doll pattern.

Sally Ann Rowland

Sally Ann Rowland is a Perth based artist that creates works across a multitude of meduims, including photography, print, textiles and sculpture.
Originating in Adelaide She graduated the SA School of Art, University SA in 1997 with a Bachelor of Visual Arts. Then in 2000 she moved  to New York for the purpose of studying at her masters at Columbia University. This was possible due to receiving a Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship the year prior. In 2002-03 she was the recipient of an Australia Council Studio residency at PS1 Contemporary Art Centre, New York.

Rowland has exhibited in Adelaide at the Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Contemporary Art Centre of SA and the Samstag Museum of Art. She has also had numerous exhibitions in the USA, including ZieherSmith and Guild & Greyshkul, New York, Mark Moore Gallery in Los Angeles and Western Exhibitions, Chicago. Her most recent show was at the Freemantle Arts Centre, eairler this year.

Her work that uses cliché phrases and incorporates them into calendars, tea towels, pencils and mugs. These pieces are then available for purchase after the exhibition. The idea that the art can exist as a singular entity outside of the display and is a commercial product as well as a piece of art.
Other peices are such as the bookcase with no shelves have a lot of visual stimuli, there are a multitude of ready made components stuck together to create a cohesive meaning. This idea is something I am hoping to replicate in my own work.

The weekends in 15 years of working life minus one month’s annual leave taken each year as a continuous block

720 wooden graphite pencils printed with the text 'Did you have a good weekend?'

2013

The Way Things Were

Two silver plated walnuts, enclosing two ball bearings that rattle when held.

2011

A Perfect Day

Plastic bucket, mirror, toy

2002

The Spare Room

Carpet, windows, felt, velvet, furniture, books

1999

Bookcase

Bookcase with no shelves, with books, trinkets, timber, radio

2001

Iced Vovo

'First registered as a trademark in 1906, Iced VoVo biscuits have become one of Arnott’s most famous biscuits. An Iced VoVo is a lovely biscuit topped with two strips of pink fondant and a strip of strawberry jam, all sprinkled with coconut - a symphony in pink!'

http://www.arnotts.com.au/our-products/products/fancy-and-fruit.aspx

And I think it also makes a fantastic cushion as well, the iconic Arnott's Iced vovo's have been a part of many people's childhoods for over a hundred years.

Above a real Iced Vovo

Above my Iced Vovo

The reasoning for creating a large Iced Vovo as a cushion was to create iconic items associated with Australian culture in large but realistic forms. My Iced Vovo is made from upholstery fabric, upholstery foam, 3D puff paint white, red cotton, fake pink fur and then all hand sown together to create a usable piece of art.  

Arnott's biscults have been part of Australian diet and culture since 1865. 

'1865, a small bakery opened in Hunter Street, Newcastle, north of Sydney, New South Wales. It supplied bread, pies and biscuits to the local townspeople as well as to the crews of the many ships that docked at the port to load coal. From these humble beginnings rose a company whose name is now synonymous with Australia's favourite biscuits and snacks.

Today, Arnott's employs thousands of people and supplies biscuits to more than 40 countries around the world. Millions of Australians have grown up on Arnott's and for them, Arnott's is more than a food company, it's a piece of Australia's history.'

http://www.arnotts.com.au/about-us/arnotts-heritage.aspx

Tea towel furniture- Suzie Stanford

http://www.suziestanford.com.au/thestory.htm
(for some reason her website has been taken down)

Suzie Stanford

Is a Melbourne based commercial designer, mainly she works with jewellery and has also done installation work with furniture creations and pendant lights.

Her work is based on her love of collections and vintage and old items, some of her works are furniture covered in vintage souvenir tea towels which she has turned into upholstery.

 
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwLoq2YPiNz_FJ8G2eQ0MPxBhSnUIDAloV0VACt1f1335VGEVT7Tojq1fK0eo65z7B0lW8uq79GtIVKZt8a7CZkC4WVib2Pg5xRMwOuS_iFUhxoQbjD5TRMBGunoqD7gDwBrq0BVDtcJJ1/s1600/Suzie+Stanford+upholstered+wing+chairs.jpg


https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUbi4W0KibN6yUS0BA7J9wIn9VCbsn85_T77StCnrfEf-hD6__KJWj194vsl4a9sbqgoSDxVRR3BHXhGlbDepxRqBMTgU2AFcag40q97c6_vRwOHTOCkmPbukpRKXeCm9qTjKvLWdhyphenhyphenMY/s640/suzie+stanford3.jpg

I like Suzie Stanford's work and the materials she has used, like myself I tend to collect things and her upholstered chair are fantastic. I have done something similar except the choice of chairs I have re-upholstered are to fit into the Scandinavian heritage concept.

60's scandinavian style and kitsch style #2

Howard Holt christmas reindeer
The type of kitsch items I have been influenced by in my own work.

 Even through the cermanics by Howard Holt co are made on mass production and are from America the style fittes into my idea of Australiana.




Sweden folk horse pattern:  A Dalecarlian horse or Dala horse (Swedish: Dalahäst)^[p] is a traditional carved, painted wooden horse statuette originating in Swedish province Dalarna.


Images from Pinterest.
 


The Dalecarlian Horse was created as a past time and turned into a souvenior the carved wooden horses and also other animals were then painted with trditional motifs. They have one from the 1600's and has become known as a iconic image of the swedish handicrafts.