Like most, the idea for this exhibition
started with a conversation. This became a series of conversations, exchanges
of ideas, questions, references... Many of these circled the idea of not knowing
and how this notion plays a role in art practice. I came across this idea in On Not Knowing: How Artists Think (by Elizabeth Fisher & Rebecca Fortnum (eds). I found
the notion of practice as a place where things can happen, as opposed to an
object, enlightening. It is a mode of working that I am continuing to explore.
Each of the artists in this exhibition has
a very different way of utilising not knowing. Kath uses materials; in this
case bees wax, as tools with which to draw, exploiting their unique qualities
and properties. The artwork is installed in relation to the particular space. It
is in one state of completion when the exhibition opens, however, due to the
vulnerable nature of the materials, it is perpetually unfixed and proceeds to
transform over the duration of the exhibition. The artwork is never fully stable,
nor does Kath control or pre-determine the exact outcome. She sets it up and allows
the materials to interact with the environmental and architectural conditions
of the location. She therefore allows chance, change and not knowing to play a
large role in the artwork.
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| Kath Fries, Solace, Hill End, 2013 |
Similarly Renuka’s work is not static, she
is constantly changing and adjusting it in the space. Renuka enters the gallery
with a set of materials and reference points in hand, and works in response to
these within the space and time frame of the exhibition. While the result or
outcome is not predetermined she has control over how the work changes; each
decision is made in the moment.
 |
| Renuka Fernando, Studio Articulate, 2015 |
It is a generous gesture to share the
figuring-it-out, studio-like space with the viewer. It is a reminder that what
you see in the gallery is simply a point in time in the history of an artwork
even though we tend to think of it as ‘the end’, whole, complete, finished. It
is rare the artist themselves will think an artwork as an end point, nonetheless
it is often viewed as such.
In this exhibition I have two different but
complementary artworks. The first is two stop-motion making/unmaking
documentary animations. I never completely know how these documentary
animations are going to look; I only know what it feels like to make them. Each
time I have incorporated a situational component that places me in a less
controlled position. I enjoy discovering the work when it becomes an animation,
seeing what occurred from a different perspective of making.
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| Gillian Lavery, Blondous Spiral (screen shot), 2015, animation |
The addition of a wall drawing provides an
alternative reference to time and a different aspect of not knowing. I know the
shape and types of mark that I am going to make; the pencils that I am going to
use and I have a set time frame. But I am not exactly sure what will occur
during the making of this work. It is always a unique experience to engage with
the audience when one is working in the gallery space.
This wall drawing will be created and
destroyed over the course of the exhibition. At the finissage event there will be
a formal erasure of the drawing. In concert with the animations created through
unpicking, the erasure of the drawing will form a starting point for new work.
It is a deliberate choice to work in a way where rather than the material
artwork it is the act of making (or unmaking) that is the primary focus.
