1.12 the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane at Artspace

Transcript

Hello Sydney, my name’s Matt. I’m Aiden. And this is Hung Up. Today we’re coming to you from Artspace in Willamaloo. You can find pictures from this show on our Instagram at hungup.au. And every time you hear this sound, that means we’re talking about a new work and a new picture.

Cool, let’s kick it off. Shall we start?

What are your names? I’m Aiden. Hey Alexi, nice to meet you. Matt, nice to meet you. What’s your podcast? Yeah, it’s called Hung Up. That’s cool. Do you need any information about the show at all? I was interested because I know there’s like some French artists or just like… Yeah, Boris Sature and there’s a number of French artists. Yeah, well I was kind of curious about like how the artists came together.

Why these artists? Yeah, well I mean there’s 12 artists, Australian and international, from like their 20s through to two artists that are deceased with Alan Cantor and Louise Bourgeois. So practicing up until like their late 90s. And the show was curated by Talia Linds, who’s the curator here. And I suppose the way we approach things here is we kind of think…

Like Osprey’s doesn’t approach exhibition making like the idea that you begin with a theme and then you… Yeah. You begin, you know, and then you appoint artists. We begin with the idea that you’re always meeting artists and then you kind of accumulate and create a kind of set of associations. Let’s go. Okay, so we’re standing against one of the walls here.

The artist is Jelena Tulecki and they have made these… A series of paintings that kind of like on a few different walls in the gallery. But this one that kind of drew my attention first. I mean they’re kind of like figurative, sort of magical, mystical, they’re all sort of dark in these greys and they have these like strange anonymous figures.

Yeah. I want to talk about this one. Yeah. So, another thing, and just to like give you some more context, we’re standing in front of these three like pretty large panels, like canvases I think. Yeah. And each of the figures have like, I would call it like 1950s or like cowboy flares about them.

Oh, true. Good point. Like this one’s got that kind of like, it’s got a sort of an undone like, the Colonel, like KFC’s like kind of bow tie type situation. The one on the right has these like amazing like rubberized full bottom half of your body, like shoes and pants in the one thing. And like a cool 1950s like droopy collar thing.

And then on the left it’s like someone in the pose of a cowboy about to draw their fucking revolver. Totally. And this character’s also got the collar but yeah, like a really nice cowboy hat and like beautiful flares. So yeah, there’s something cool about like the sort of like the cowboy imagery and then like the American like West kind of like pioneer shit.

Yeah. But also all the colors are like faded, faded, faded. And there’s this like gray wash of everything like dimmed, like the lights have just been turned off and it’s like the fraction of a second before it’s totally black. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. There’s a really interesting play with these colors and the way the material, it’s kind of like shiny. This paint is kind of, yeah, shiny and matte.

It almost reminds me of like, I want to say like a style that is usually used for like much more boring subjects, like some more like traditional drab, like still lifes. Yeah. But then we’re in this really cool world of like, yeah, magical mystery. And in this one, it’s kind of like a figure in again, these like full pant boot shoes.

Like it’s a, it’s a boot that is also your pants all connected in one. Yes. And they’re kind of magical invention. They’re squatting down almost in like a runner’s pose, but then they’re standing on their own hand. Yeah. And I love this as kind of like a sort of like surreal, what do you call it? Like a, it’s almost like a loop, like a snake chasing its own tail. You’re doing like this impossible, like self loop with your own body.

They’re in the like prepare to sprint. Exactly. Like what do they call it? On your marks, get set, go. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I think like we can talk a little bit more about these ones on the side, which, which are sort of dancing with these like fantasy world mushrooms. And they’re like, they’ve been shrunk or the mushrooms have been grown up to like pretty much human size.

Yeah. I love this one. I love the way the mushrooms are rendered. These kind of big, like sweeping mushrooms and this kind of cowboy figure with like long, like mousy, blonde hair is just standing like on the mushrooms in this like really kind of like tense, exciting way.

Yeah. It’s fantastic. You’re right. Like all their muscles are taught in this pose. Like you literally can’t do this pose. Yeah. You know, at ease. But yeah, I was saying it looks like in fucking Red Dead or in the cowboy movies where you’re about to shoot somebody like draw motherfucker. Yeah. It’s great. And behind them is either like light shining through dust or like theater drapes.

Yeah. Actually, I think it could well be drapes. I can see like the outline of that. Yeah. I think they’re big like curtains. Cool. Like 1950s like photo studio flavor about all these. Totally. Like those sort of very carefully lit pictures and like there’s more of the this artists work dotted around, which is cool.

It’s kind of like it’s all woven in with the rest of the show. I reckon this is the Louise Bourgeois work. Yeah. That’s my guess. Yeah. I mean, I don’t really know much about her. Like she’s sick.

She’s a huge deal. Yeah. So this one, let’s talk about this first real quick. It’s like from 1958 and like it’s a sort of a handwritten note in pencil, which is just on this kind of plinth that you kind of have to like bow over at 90 degrees, like bend your body to really read. Yes. And she’s got this like quite beautiful, like even cursive writing.

And it’s like this list. It’s like I have failed as a wife, as a woman, as a mother, as a hostess, as an artist, as a human woman. Is that what it says? As a something woman. Anyway, the words are like kind of hard to read as a daughter, as a writer. I have not failed as a truth seeker.

Lowest ebb. So cool. And then there’s like the little diagram of like a wave of ebbing. Fucking cool. And it’s just like this. I remember living with an artist, Matt, who like would make notes like this to himself. Like and like it’s just this kind of cool, like, I think quite brave and like scary sort of thing to like try and put your art down in writing.

Like she’s not really saying like this is my picture. Like she’s saying like this is part of my practice and like I’m working something out on the page here. And yeah, she’s Matt was doing the same thing that she did, which is like, you know, like trying to figure it out using the forms like as a sketch on this page now.

Like, yeah, but not. But but this is drafts, you know, like this is this is like like this is not even like the manuscript. It’s like the storyboard of something else bigger. I think. Yeah. So cool. So cool. Well, let’s talk about these fundamental questions that I think every person and especially every artist will come up against, which is like, you know, how do I feel value like?

I feel about myself and my practice as like a person and that’s like kind of related to that like success word and you know how does it feel to be an artist in the world where you know all these things that bourgeois is saying she has failed at other things by which she will be judged you know by the culture so true the culture doesn’t really give a fuck if you’re a truth

seeker totally so it’s almost to me it’s like this affirmation to herself yeah that it’s like you know she’s defining her own set of values she’s like you know maybe all these things are fucked up in my life but I know that at the end of the day this is the one yeah you know it’s this very fucking diogenes thing yeah I live in a barrel and like seek the truth yeah no matter what very

fucking cool yeah this is absolutely righteous and it’s like it’s such a small uh piece of paper right it’s like one quarter the size of an a4 what would you call it a5 or smaller yeah um from like a little notebook and like maybe there’s some writing on the back but doesn’t doesn’t really matter but yeah like fucking so cool the the size of it is just in this in this big space like yeah

in this big space it’s this little thing in the middle of the room in the right in the middle of the room is fantastic I gotta say the way this show has this show has been laid out like it hit me as soon as we walked in yeah like it’s such a big deal and it’s so fucking cool yeah yeah I was standing in front of this big five panel like hanging painting um by Wura Natasha

Ogunji um called I Saw a Man Falling yeah um it’s like five uh taped up well they’re just like so it’s five pieces of is this like tissue paper or like or like what is it fine thin like yellow

almost like creche craft paper yeah totally it’s so cool and yeah like you said it’s just taped up on the wall yeah which is so cool to see in this context like you know such a kind of simple cheap material as your canvas yeah and and as the like the the install like what’s actually like holding you up on the gallery wall yes and the bottom is not taped the bottom is just dangling yeah dangling

yeah dangling in the breeze there’s a um a big figure painted in this like dark blues and blacks very cool very fucking cool it’s it’s like a really juicy like work because because of this monumental figure it’s like twice as big as a normal man yeah but but he’s on this like very light light

light light um paper that’s like another layer of that paper yeah it’s folded yeah I was gonna say like there’s a okay so that’s the face there yeah that’s what I was saying yeah okay that’s cool yeah um I was thinking uh just about how because this work isn’t framed and it’s on this like you know

less traditional background it feels like I don’t know it’s really there like it makes it a bit more like visceral or something like we’re like really like with it and yeah that’s true moving ever so slightly because it’s on such thin paper yeah it’s a really kind of successful play of like materials like just under his arm here there’s these lovely little like crinkles on that thin paper that have just

been stressed by the paint yeah it’s like it was like when it gets wet it like wrinkles up yeah good good take yeah let’s talk about this let’s talk about this so we’re looking at like these oh yeah let’s get the

name of the artist so this is jack ball um and I think it’s called pda uh pda normal pda and it’s got this like 2000 and I mean I was gonna fucking say but okay no it is this was made in 2019 or whatever but it’s got this kind of like to me this like 2011 like tumblr like queer like party imagery

like um sort of flavor like those colors just the colors on all of them like they all have this kind of pink hue to them like pink pinky bluey yeah it’s just like the color temperature of all the works like and um yeah so like do you want to describe the work more like fully like yeah so it’s like

maybe 20 prints and they’re yeah all in these kind of blues we’ve got a bunch of kind of close-ups of like you know a sunburn or like a dolphin or like you know socks like close-ups of fabrics and then I guess the other key part of the work is these kind of uh I don’t know u-shaped racks that have kind of

been positioned against the wall uh one is hanging upside down from the ceiling and some of the uh photos are just hung on on these which is just draped over draped over them which I guess is like you know you very much recognize this you know configuration when you walk into a gallery it’s kind of like a classic you’ve seen it a hundred times I mean I wouldn’t say I’ve seen it a hundred

times but yeah I think I get what you’re saying you’ve totally seen the print hanging over the thing it’s like yeah I guess so yeah I’m not saying it’s like bad or cliche or whatever I’m just saying it whoa who said anything about that cliche I’m just saying it’s definitely a tool that’s in the uh contemporary photographer’s arsenal like just take the photo out of the frame off the wall and let’s

yeah let’s move it around now it’s three-dimensional you can walk around it you know you can it’s it’s yeah it’s cool for me I’ve been thinking a lot about prints recently they’ve got also like different types of like print there’s like a glossy print there’s matte prints kind of like being central work is really interesting yeah it’s got like what is it it’s got like two prints like stacked on top

of them three there’s three prints is it three there’s like one on the left there and then there’s one on the right which is um which we’ll get to but then in the middle they’ve like cut out this like um you can see it may be a close-up of that person on the left but it’s like okay and like oh yeah let’s just describe it so it’s this big sort of x like double x of like maybe tape or bands it’s maybe like

the back of a bra or something on someone’s skin like a real close-up of the skin but what all of these have is this kind of like erogenous like wet like bodily kind of imagery like they’re all like crotches and like you know like it’s it’s very like yeah it’s it’s very like um yeah it’s very

sexy I was kind of like um I was as you was thinking I was like yes there’s like this like you know inner thighs and like tight trunks like you know dripping with water it’s not like it’s not horny though it’s not horny yeah it’s not erect yeah for sure it’s not erections it’s more of like this like yeah it’s like a more flaccid exploration yeah yeah intimate totally it’s intimate I was

watching one of my fucking yeah clothes off rather than trying to yeah I was watching one of my fucking youtube holes last night as I as I am yeah totally I’m like a recovering youtube addict back in remission um and the one I watched last night was like this Japanese um tradesman repairs uh jewelry

he like refurbishes jewelry and like a woman gave him his like her partner’s like great-grandmother’s like wedding ring or whatever and he says um jewelry is special because it jewelry is so intimate because it knows the warmth of the body and like that’s like what I’m getting here is like the warmth

of these bodies like you know they’re not just like these hard like fuck objects they’re like they’re like warm and like there’s no faces we should say there isn’t a single face and this whole like spread of photos but it’s intimate and like kind of kind and loving like 100 yeah there’s a real yeah I can’t quite picture I think I’m digging it more as we kind of hang out with it okay and just in the very in

the background here is one of those like real tacky like seashell frames it’s around a mirror yeah it’s like been framed like you’re a fucking on holiday in the central coast like and but like you can only see like a little bit of the frame because the artist has just slapped this other photo right yeah totally I’m dying to see the frame it’s actually so cool to get this close to pictures and have the

artist have some control over how we see it like I’m thinking about the feed and it’s like you know if this shit was on their feed I would just like I would be in control yeah it’s like as far as images go like pictures especially like we’re so used to kind of dominating the way we see them yeah and like there’s one here that’s draped and like we can’t see the back of it yeah like we wouldn’t be able

to get behind it without like knocking all yeah without being really disruptive yeah okay this one’s like a game of chess now I’m realizing so we walk past this on on the way in yeah it is more like a game of go this is Boris Akua games whose rules I ignore the bench

um wood leather and lead balls okay so these are like weighted um yeah I guess like I didn’t read the text agents over the reading let me just do my uh art interpretation I’m um pinching I’m like grabbing my my temples uh with one hand and like divining what this work is about in inverted

covers so yeah this is your final exam yeah let me see how close you can get so um so I if I fuck it up I fail art school okay so there’s a bench with space for two people to sit on either end and we’re watching um and and like sticking out of the bench is these kind of like

soft like leather pegs with like uh lead weights in them and there’s holes like maybe 20 holes uh with like room to sort of place these funny like phallic looking uh weights in and there is some totally inscrutable game going on it’s a bit like that episode of it’s always sunny where they like have

this elaborate game where like they’ve made up their own rules there’s two characters and they are they are making up the rules as they go along they’re like inventing a game but like what’s kind of cool to me about that is like oh wow they’ve got this beautiful parisian apartment all right guys jesus see how much money artists make it’s ridiculous they should we should be taxing artists

also like jacked and handsome he is jacked and handsome yeah true he really fucks good too yeah ah it’s also a game of intimacy they’re kind of like growing closer oh my god this is incredibly sexy yeah i want to play this game with someone um and yeah so like that so there’s like this uh really

cool like the first thing that i’m seeing is like um a really fun like uh question for like not even like linguists or like smarty pants but like for anyone like what’s the difference between a game and play like what’s the difference between playing and a game like usually people will say that um a game has rules but that’s not quite true because play has boundaries and rules like these guys i

would say are definitely playing at a and b maybe playing a game but like they’re playing at this thing you know you can’t just run off and like throw a brick out the window and say we’re still playing like then you’re being ridiculous well they’re not playing this game anymore they’re not playing this game anymore yeah sure um so yeah it’s really cool for for one for that there’s also like

this really wonderful like sexual tension going on yeah are you gonna um are you gonna mark me on my my final art essay yeah i think like yeah most of it i think the most interesting part uh that the wall text gave me that maybe we didn’t think of is the bench itself there is like this is like more of a curatorial point or like you know how things function in galleries point it’s both doing like you

know it’s a game board uh but it’s also like being presented like a sculpture like simultaneously which is cool true we would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which this

episode was recorded and pay our respects to their elders past and present we extend that respect to aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples listening today you can find us on instagram at hungup.au thanks for listening bye bye you

Show notes

EPISODE 12 🐬📝👶🃏 This week we visited @artspacesydney in Woolloomooloo. This is their last show before they close for a year, so check it out. We talked about cowboys, truth seeking, wet socks and sexy games. Here’s a list of the artists we talked about in order: @jelenatelecki, Louise Bourgeois, @wuraogunji, @jack__ball_ and @borisachour. Sound fx from @fanniesosalove video work “I twerk to remember, I twerk to resist.” The show is curated by @talialinz, thanks to @alexieglass for letting us in on how the exhibition came together.  You can follow along with the pictures from this show at hungup.au on instagram