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

Kitsch or Kind: Representations of Aborigines in Popular Art

Much contemporary Aboriginal art functions in the inappropriate melding of two visual art traditions and is kitsch within the given meaning within the article.

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

Monstrous Change Observed

Exhibition review Forrest Place During the Time of the Fly Plague and Other Paintings 1993-1995
Thomas Horeau
Perth Western Australia

Published December 1995

Worms and Roses

The first Australian garden books put vegetables first but by the mid 19th century the language of flowers was in vogue. Gardens, flowers and art...

Published December 1995

Made in WA: A Sculptor's Alternative Practice

Although well known in regional art histories, Western Australian sculptor Edward Kohler has a far wider importance. Economic survival led him to blend popular and high art long before it was standard practice. With the Piccadilly Theatre reliefs of 1938, the sheer exuberance and infectious quality of a positive (if unconscious) kitsch aesthetic entered professional Australian art 60 years ago: Hollywood meets Olympia.

Published December 1995

Artrave

Published December 1995

Boys and Girls: Pierre et Gilles' Sydney Mardi Gras Poster

Examines the 1995 poster for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. How appropriate though, at the moment when Mardi Gras had successfully commodified itself as a cultural event, that its key representation should be through international glamour product photography.

Published December 1995

Motor-Cross Dressing

Issues of stereo-typing, conforming behaviour and fun and practicality are looked at in an observation of an MG driver.

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

Destiny Deacon: It's Been Ages Since We Last Marched

You can hear her on the radio and see her on the television and contemplate her in better State galleries. Pluralist par excellence, artist, writer and film-maker Destiny Deacon has been blazing away on visual and linguistic fronts since premiering 'Koori Rocks Gub Words' in 'Pitcha Mi Koori' (1990).

Published December 1995

Reathing, Writhing and Fainting in Coils: Richard Grayson

Exhibition review Received
Richard Grayson
Greenaway Art Gallery
Adelaide South Australia
12 July - 6 August 1995

Published December 1995