Pretty Baby

Collecting and making dolls grows in popularity in Australia, but members of Australia's arts industry are relatively under-represented in the ranks of doll collectors. Original dolls speak of the culture that produces them.

Published December 1995

The Taste Factor

When I was an art critic, I quickly grew to dislike the word 'taste'. It was a convenient tool used to dismiss reviews by people who didn't like what I had to say. Whenever I delivered a negative crit upon a widely revered artist, or a positive crit on a very minor figure, they complained that I was allowing my taste to undermine my professionalism.

Published December 1995

If Aquarium Gravel Is So Bad For You, How Come It Tastes So Good?

In the trading card world there are collectors, dealers, curators, critics, interested observers, and of course various magazines. Does this world sound familiar? Looks at the role of collecting...

Published December 1995

Kitschville - The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

...But the Mardi Gras will always be a child of the seventies. Remember that mantra 'the personal is political'. In spite of the co-option and mainstreaming of Lesbian and Gay culture this wonderful spectacularly amateurish display (of difference) cannot help but be a politicised intervention.

Published December 1995

Bigs R Us

Australians have a natural thirst for objects of grand scale, however ridiculous their theme or location or context. From big sandfly, big axe to big oyster and beyond, we are the big desert island that experiences big wets and big dries, little wonder someone made a Big Tap to remind us...we are big drinkers.

Published December 1995

Kitschoprenia

Our affection for kitsch is a benign form of aesthetic hypocrisy. My generation, give or take 15 years, adores kitsch. We want to have some badness; it's fun: you laugh both at your dismay for an object and your perplexity over the delight that it brings. In a broad cultural sense, my generation is kitschophilic; and this means, I suppose, not that we love the kitschy object with innocence but that we love the contempt which the kitschy object arouses.

Published December 1995

Delma's Collection

Collections of any kind require patience, luck, money, space, time and dedication.....

Published December 1995

Thought Police Versus Life: Extracts from an Interview with Ray Hughes

Discussion with the artist Ray Hughes about issues that have impacted on his art practice. Biographical details also included.

Published December 1995

A Dual Aesthetic

Exhibition Review Patmos Series Paintings
Jules Sher
Perth Galleries
Western Australia

Published December 1995

The Black Swan of Western Australian-ness

Since 1829, the inhabitants of the western third of Australia have identified more closely with the black swan than the kangaroo. The swan was and is to be found on a wide range of items from buildings to letterheads and furry toys. It crosses class boundaries...

Published December 1995

Mary MacKillop Kitsch

I confess to a feeling of great affection for Mary MacKillop (1842 - 1909), vernacular culture and kitsch, and great enthusiasm for the idea of an Australian Vatican - an extravagant museum which is also a major site of pilgrimage.

Published December 1995

Artrave

Published December 1995