About
Contemporary Australian Photography - Keelan Witton in conversation with Richard Trethewey
Emerging Photographers Keelan Witton and Richard Trethewey discuss their craft.
Richard Tretheway, Angel of Light, 2010
Keelan: What motivates you to take photographs and create art?
Richard: I think it is all the other art out there that drives me to create my own. I see it and I just love it so much that I don’t just want to admire it. I want to own it… but that is not enough either, I must make it! I guess thats the closest you can be to an artwork.
Keelan: If you could shoot anything or anyone in the world, who or what would it be?
Richard: I would gather all of my friends and a bunch of celebrities and shoot a giant Where’s Wally photo.
Keelan: Do you prefer shooting a scene set up by yourself or shooting the environment as it is?
Richard: I love constructing photos. I used to want to be an architect, and before that a painter. The need for control over my creations is probably hereditary.
Keelan: Tell us about your latest series of images and the message and meaning behind them.
Richard: I’m currently working on a collaborative project with a fellow photographer, putting together a book of biblical themed images. We’ve been constructing photographs with a contemporary angle but trying to stay true to the concepts put forward in the bible, something which to my knowledge has never been done with photography. All of the images are stand alone pieces, which we are going to exhibit later this year.
Keelan: Do you call yourself an Artist or Photographer?
Richard: When someone asks what I do, I usually say photographer, but my photos are artworks so I guess I am an artist.
Keelan: You live in the very small country town of Cootamundra and study photography in the rural town of Wagga Wagga. Do you believe this limits you as an Artist? Do you think this is a disadvantage to you?
Richard: The images I like to create usually need lots of people, glamour and locations, so when I am stuck in the outback of Cootamundra with no one around I tend to forget about making photos and spend all my time looking at art instead and playing music. With no one to complain about noise, being in the outback for me is not a time I advance my photography, but my music, which is of equal importance to me. Wagga on the other hand is a fair bit larger and I find it easy to do work there, though I would much rather be in Melbourne, Sydney, New York or any other thriving metropolis, for the hustle and bustle is what it’s all about for me.
Keelan Witton, Edward + Elizabeth, 2011, Digital Photographic Image
Melanesian Masks at the Australian Museum & the Aesthetics of Noel Fielding
Currently on display within the Australian Museum, nineteen masks from the Melanesian collection expose connections between the physical and spirit realms. The masks, from Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and Vanuatu, bridge the gap between ritual and creation. Naturally aesthetically valued, “Masks have significance in many cultures, and have a powerful symbolic language to express cultural and spiritual beliefs,” - Steven Alderton, Assistant Director of Public Engagement at the Australian Museum. There is a mystery imbibed in masks through their uses, they can be interpreted as the physical manifestations of spirits. Interestingly the masks at the Australian Museum are varied. Their materials range widely, including human hair, pig tusks, shells, feathers, turtle shell and natural fibres.
Henri Rousseau, In a Tropical Forest Combat of a Tiger and a Buffalo, 1908-1909
Similarly Artist/Comedian Noel Fielding utilises aesthetics and ideas from an eclectic array of sources. Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy has apparent visual influences from Jean-Michel Basquait, Henri Rousseau, René Magritte, Roy Lichtenstein, and Paul Gauguin and can loosely be very described as surreal.Set in a red and blue Rousseauian jungle, Fielding explores a contemporary Primitivism. An interest in flatness and geometric design inspired by non-Western art forms combining with obvious visual interpretations of tribal motifs are examples of this idea. A Primitivism influence can also been seen in The Mighty Boosh, co-created & co-starring Julian Barratt, the show attracted a huge cult following and explores similar aesthetics.
“A fowl-mouthed Kookaburra slotted into the top pocket of a Wallaby. A Wallaby: like a Kangaroo, but a different animal entirely. Along with a portrait of Andre The Giant.” Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy.
Melanesian art and objects display a large range of functions, styles, materials and motifs. This is largely on account of the variety of cultural groups within the Melanesian region. These masks, however, share an underlying belief system exploring cosmology and shamanism. Manufacture, use and appearance of the masks closely followed religious beliefs and rituals. Artistic expression was primarily concerned with the portrayal of human and animal figures, in varying degrees of stylisation.
Primitivist artists tend to favour abstract over naturalistic representation. Their works tend to represent abstract ideas related to religiosity or cosmology. Utilising animation and computer graphics, Fielding’s show mirrors his artwork. Drawing from his art practice, adventures to the arctic tundra and desert islands populated by mermen and yetis are illustrated using an intentionally home-made aesthetic emphasised by disjointed vignetting. Evident are animalistic obsessions, and even an often frightening degree of hyper-anthropomorphism. Directly referencing artists and movements, including Andy Warhol, Frida Khalo, and even William Blake, Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy can be read as a visual synthesis – an intermediary for contemporary Primitivism. There is an animistic element underlying all Melanesian belief systems – everything, both animate and inanimate, has an eternal spiritual essence. In addition, the spirits of the living and the dead could be identified with the spirits of certain animals. This can be interpreted in a visual manner when exploring the aesthetic and theoretic influences of tribalism on the work of Noel Fielding.
SPIRIT FACES at The Australian Museum
In The Penal Colony – English Language Opera
In an unnamed Penal Colony, a condemned man awaits execution, whilst a diplomatic visitor is obligated to watch. Based on Kafka’s 1914 novella, Philip Glass’s chamber opera explores ideas regarding human morality and rebellion against tradition. Kafka’s story pits society against archaic ritual. A difficult proposition is thrust upon the audience; can one reject the technological advances of contemporary industrialism and socio-political etiquette over basic human rights? This is a message which resonates and highlights society’s dependence on technology and machinery.
At the intimate Parade Playhouse, the Sydney Chamber Opera presented the Australian premiere of In the Penal Colony, the first Philip Glass opera to be performed in Sydney. Featuring just two singers, two actors and a string quintet, In the Penal Colony is a frighteningly intense translation by Glass. The repetitive oscillating harmonies highlight the psychotic machine, regulating the ritualistic actions of the players. The execution is played out, disregarding reason in favour of tradition and the status quo. Glass’s score is precise and intentional. Nothing is strictly mechanical or repeated without purpose and Conductor Huw Belling masterfully orchestrates this dualism. Both singers Pascal Herington as The Visitor, and Paul Goodwin-Groen as The Officer brought effortless complexity and contrast to the roles and prove interesting examples of English Language Opera.
Though quite a long history, English Language Opera is currently developing as a genre especially in light of projects such as Mini Operas, organised by English National Opera. Involving a world-wide online search for composers, writers and film makers, the initiative is aimed at exposing emerging opera talent. The Twentieth Century was when English Language Opera was established as a legitimate art form. With origins in 1671 - The Tempest was Shakespeare’s first play to be set to music – and highlighted through the late Victorian era , English Language Operas primarily involved the Savoy Operas of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan which often spoofed operatic conventions. In the twentieth century English Language Opera was dominated by Benjamin Britten. Britten’s operas are firmly established in the international repertoire and he has more operas played worldwide than any other composer born in the 20th century. Later American composers such as George Gershwin flooded their work with elements of popular musicals. This was followed by modernists, like Philip Glass.
English Language Opera has been explored within genres of popular culture, one example being Terrance Zdunich and Darren Smith’s Repo! The Genetic Opera, a rock opera featuring performances ranging from the great soprano Sarah Brightman through to Paris Hilton. Repo! has achieved cult film status and proves an interesting example of unique creative ingenuity within English Language Opera.
Interestingly, even with this history, there appears to be a high level of devaluation of English Language Opera. This involves criticism comparing European Opera, specifically Italian and German Language Opera, and often a misapprehension regarding the quality of language used in foreign opera. There is an illusion that “grander” language, exists within foreign language opera. English Language Opera is considered direct, blunt and unattractive in comparison to European counterparts. This may be a subjective understanding but this illusion is often lost in translation to English.
Remarkably the language used in Glass’s opera sits perfectly within the perfectly styled sterile environment of the pure white set. Emphasising the peculiar and disturbing nature of the story, the set is concealed by white venetian blinds, hiding the horrifying torture machine until the climax when the set is gloriously defiled by bright blue ink. This interesting set was framed with surtitles projected on the wall above the stage. The use of supertitles within an English Language Opera raises questions regarding the difficulty of surtitles or subtitles as a method for translation and the interrelation of image and text. Titling exists as a phenomenon that is both internal and external, on the borderline between image and voice. It is an addition, the third dimension, to the visual itself. It is interesting to observe how it becomes an effort to place the titles in the visual field in the least obstructive or obtrusive manner. Text acts as a barrier, an infringement between access to pleasure that extends itself to the audience and the work of the mind and intelligence to synthesize the three different kinds of signifiers; visual, audio and textual. The subtitle is conceived as an after-thought rather than a natural component of the film.
In the Penal Colony is a difficult but utterly worthwhile experience, with all elements uniting to deliver a whole moral and emotional journey. With imagery reminiscent of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Glass’s score highlights the mechanical operations within the story, an allegory of the moral dilemma of being a bystander.
IN THE PENAL COLONY - Sydney Chamber Opera
The Art Lounge, Olafur Eliasson & Interactive Exhibition Design
ARTLIB Lounge was a temporary art installation running in conjunction with Art Month Sydney and The Rocks Pop-up Project. Acting as a commentary on art-audience interaction, audience members were invited into a simulated lounge environment and given a number of artworks to project on the wall behind. Exploring the impact of technology on the viewing experience, Audiences were encouraged to participate directly in works created by emerging and established artists, creating new works they were able to take with them. The creation of a snapshot is a unique experience - the audience becomes actively involved with works they have selected. ARTLIB intends to develop interactive experiences exploring the democratisation of art.
Olafur Eliasson’s The Weather Project, 2004 references the Kantian occupation with the experience of nature as a human construct and the concept of seeing-yourself-sensing or sensing-yourself-seeing. Both projects explore the interactive nature of the traditional construct of an art museum through altering methods of presentation. Eliasson’s 2009 exhibition Take Your Time at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney explored ideas regarding experience and interpretation in relation to the mind and the body, and how different modes of presentation affect the reading of the work. ARTLIB intends to actively cultivate links that extend passed the context of the museum - the historical institution nominated as the soul cultural authority - conversely placing art in places where it has not existed previously. Eliasson creates massive museum-wide environments, commenting on experience and perception, and how museums and art institutions can provide an environment for self-reflection. He contrasts these cultural institutions with society’s other institutions, which serve a different purpose. Unlike shopping malls, media and the event-driven entertainment industry, art institutions and other places of cultural production require a kind of activity or engagement. Questions of cultural responsibility are raised as the institutional environment is critiqued through re-contextualisation of the work.
ARTLIB hopes to elevate our cultural engagement as a city. The audience is invited to engage with work that they genuinely connect with, as opposed to the work of an artist they already know by name. The interactive nature of the ARTLIB Lounge and Olafur Eliasson’s practice describe how in a contemporary context traditional cultural institutions are so exposed that they no longer truly exist. ARTLIB and Eliasson’s work remap the construct of gallery and museum space.
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