Search
You searched for articles tagged with Politics ...
25th National and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA)
25th National and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) 15 August 26 October 2008
It's time: Emily Floyd
Its Time : Emily Floyd Australian Print Workshop Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne 23 August - 18 October 2008
Spatsville: Memoirs of a failed painter: Alasdair Macintyre
Splatsville: Memoirs of a Failed Painter: Alasdair Macintyre Ryan Renshaw, Brisbane 23 September - October 11 2008
New social commentary 08
New Social Commentary 08 Warrnambool Art Gallery 6 September 2 November 2008
Shards: Judy Watson, Yhonnie Scarce, Nici Cumpston
Shards: Judy Watson, Yhonnie Scarce, Nici Cumpston Curator: Mary Knights South Australian School of Art Gallery (SASA) 30 September - 24 October 2008
Without Borders: Outsider Art in an antipodean context
Without Borders: Outsider Art in an Antipodean Context Curators: Glenn Barkley, Peter Fay Campbelltown Arts Centre, NSW 30 August 21 September 2008
Ornament: Anne MacDonald
Ornament : Anne MacDonald Carnegie Gallery, Hobart 19 September 26 October 2008
Warburtonta-latju Warntu Palyaranytja (We are doing Warntu work in Warburton)
Warburtonta-latju Warntu Palyaranytja (We are doing Warntu work in Warburton) Holmes à Court Gallery 1 August 14 September 2008
Fremantle Print Award 2008
Fremantle Print Award 2008 Fremantle Arts Centre 23 August - 5 October 2008
Exit music: a lake and a stand of trees: George Popperwell
exit music: a lake and a stand of trees: George Popperwell Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA) 25 July 7 September 2008
Neo Goth: black in black
Neo Goth: Back in Black Curator: Alison Kubler UQ Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane 25 July - 21 September 2008
Gleaning Relational Aesthetics
The term Relational Aesthetics was first coined by Nicolas Bourriard, French curator and, since 1999, co-director with Jerome Sans of the Contemporary art centre Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Relational art doesn't produce a product but focuses on relations between audience members, events and ideas.
Depravity-in-Wharfedale
Founded as recently as 1888 the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wharfedale was by reputation the biggest madhouse in Western Europe, and Brooks small village lay huddled beside it. Brook tells the story of living in sin, celebacy and the wall that proposed a division between madness and sanity.
Qin Ga: 'Miniature Long March'
The Long March A Walking Visual Display is an international collaboration involving over 250 Chinese and international artists taking place along 20 sites of the historical Long March. Each site was chosen for its symbolic import; the Long March was tatooed onto Qin Ga's back transforming his body into both an artwork and a Long March object.
Here Come the Jets
Current trends in image reproduction, addressed through the introduction of giclee technology and industry. Neylon deals with issues of prints authenticity and some of the controversial debates surfacing within Australias art community.
Philanthropy, Sponsorship, or Dinner?
On July 29 2005 the Prime Minister, John Howard, was guest of honour at the annual Australian Business Foundation for the Arts (AbaF) Awards Dinner. Joanna Mendelssohn reports on the event.
Biennials of the World: Myths, Facts and Questions
In recent years, in the rarefied world of high art, in the places where international curators meet and work, amongst critics, commentators, artists, sponsors and collectors there has been no subject more widely discussed than that of the international recurrent exhibition. While Stephanie Britton recognises that the more closely it is examined the larger and more complex the subject becomes she has set out to tackle some of the essential ideas and questions surrounding these exhibitions. Includes two double fold out charts exclusive to Artlink: 1) a map of the world showing all the current biennales and triennials plus a new analysis of the 112 most frequently invited artists; 2) a star chart titled Artlink's Intergalactic Guide to the Curators of International Biennials and Triennials which lists the most frequently employed curators on these events and which events they have worked on.
An Inauspicious Occasion
In May 2005 Brisbane lost a landmark. Wendy Mills water sculpture On this auspicious occasion, commissioned in November 1998 as part of a major refurbishment of Brisbanes Queen Street Mall and a broader attempt to achieve a more culturally sophisticated city, came down in the dead of the night.
Public Interrogations
Architecturally-trained artist Richard Goodwin regards built and urban spaces as his performative stage. He has sought out parks, passageways, plazas, under and overpasses and other connective, forgotten and in-between spaces to insert an often absurdist mark of his presence.
Give Wings to the Arts
This article outlines a radical new model for arts funding in Australia which will seek to adequately address many of the economic and creative necessities of young and established artists. Hall clearly sets out the proposal for the model, pointing out the four wings which would come into place to assist various sectors of the creative industries including Visual Arts, Literature, Crafts and Composition and Choreography and would replace both existing Fellowships and New Works Grants.
New Museum Creates Cafe Society in Shenzhen
At the end of January 2005 in the He Xingning Art Museum in Shenzhen, a conference was held to coincide with the opening of the first dedicated Contemporary Art Museum in China named OCTA Contemporary Art Centre. The conference was essentially looking at the major issues confronting contemporary art in China as it goes through yet another dramatic evolution.
Sculpture by the Sea
Artists and the public converge on Cottesloe Beach, Perth for the WA incarnation of the famous Bondi Beach event, 17 - 28 March 2005
Barney and Tibby Ellaga
New paintings from SE Arnhem Land at Raft Artspace, Darwin, 1- 23 April, 2005
The Dreaming Festival
The Dreaming Festival, director Rhoda Roberts, Bush Galleries, Woodford, Queensland, 10 13 June 2005
Pantjiti Mary McLean: A Big Story
Pantjiti Mary McLean: A Big Story, Paintings and drawings 1992 - 2005 Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc., Adelaide 7 May 7 August 2005
22nd Telstra NATSI Art Award
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) 13 August - 23 October 2005
Intimate Transactions 3:2005
QUT Creative Industries Precinct, Brisbane The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne 25 - 30 April 2005
Ghost River Paintings
Jo Darbyshire Span Galleries, Melbourne 1 - 19 March 2005 Gallery East, North Fremantle 13 May - 5 June 2005
Pitch Your Own Tent
Curated by Max Delany Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne 23 June - 27 August 2005
Fremantle Print Award 30 Years Later and Still Standing
One of the many pleasures of running an annual award for excellence in printmedia is the thrill of unpacking the entries and encountering a work that takes your breath away. That thrill can evaporate when the judging panel dismisses the favoured work, or simply die away amongst the endless piles of entries waiting to be processed before you.
Degenerates and Perverts
Degenerates and Perverts: The 1939 Herald Exhibition of French and British Contemporary Art by Eileen Chanin and Steven Miller, with an introduction by Judith Pugh Miegunyah Press, 2005, RRP $69.95 Reviewed by Paula Furby
The Gordon Darling Foundation
Background to the Foundation and its support for the Artlink special issue on South East Asia. The personal interest on the part of benefactors Gordon and Marilyn Darling in the traditional cultures of South East Asia. Their mission to start the first national portrait gallery in Australia.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Contemporary Arts of the Region: South East Asia and Australia
Background to how the special issue on South East Asia came about, and speculation that Australia is at the crossroads of a new sensitivity to Asian culture and a desire to be part of its development. Despite growing industrialisation Asian cultures are still distinct and hold highly contrasting attitudes to artistic expression. Thanks to Neil Manton of the Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade for his influence in funding this project.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Australia Asia: Striking Up Conversations
Collection of items (some by other writers) relating to Asia and Australia: Adelaide Installations, and women in film program both in Adelaide Festival; Aboriginal connections with Indonesia; Australia-Taiwan exchange; art education exchanges throughout the Region; letter from Nguyen Thu of Hanoi College of Art.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Refocusing the Gaze
Review of the First Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Sept - Dec 1993. The rationale for selection, search for different voices from each country, enormous diversity, some common threads eg experience of colonisation; politicisation; role of religion in some countries. Dramatic performances by Dadang Christanto (Indonesia) and S. Chandrasekeran (Singapore). Theme of environmental pollution also appears in several works.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Friends of Hanoi
Efforts to save the ancient city of Hanoi from redevelopment - an Australian businessman raises money and support
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Faces of Hong Kong to Australia via Singapore
The artist lived with local people in Singapore to find imagery from populist Hong Kong cinema resulting in the exhibition Mien.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Pink Herrings and Tasmanian Tigers
The artist as a gay Asian male who migrated to Tasmania to escape persecution in Hong Kong, has "copped it swee" a lot of the time. Undeterred he has produced work which addresses this theme and worked quietly towards reform of the laws against homosexuality in Tasmania.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Modern Art in Thailand: A Glimpse
A concise history of the beginnings of modernism in Thailand from the 1890s. In the 1970s the current Princess established an alternative space for young Thai artists in which the tensions between art for art's sake and art for religious purposes were evident. Politically correct art about Thai-ness was sponsored by banks in the 80s. Later political instability and environmental problems gave rise to a new kind of work challenging cultural consumerism.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Unpredictable Repercussions
The massacre of pro-democracy students in May 1992 was a watershed for Thai artists who began to identify with change, formed associations and took part in rallies, and called for public monuments to the tragedy. The City Art League was formed to present performance art in public places and the Concrete House to draw attention to AIDS through art activities. This brought social and political issues into the realm of art.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Asialink Making Pathways for Art (Part of Australia/Asia, Striking Up Conversations)
Asialink an organisation to encourage a better working understanding amongst Australians of Asia, was set up in Victoria in 1990. Since 1991 Asialink has organised a series of exhibitions of Australian art touring varoius Asian countries. Policy to always send an Australian curator and/or one of the artists to each venue to provide the human link. Artists' residencies are also an important part of the progam.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Australian Studios Hanoi (Part of Australia/Asia, Striking Up Conversations)
The efforts on the part of the author and others to set up a studio for Australian artists, writers, historians and others within the Hanoi College of Fine Arts. Support being sought from the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture and the art education institutions in Australia.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Where to now?
Thai art has grafted partly grasped Western styles onto a Thai base, and the market is booming But a lack of direction and critical voices is evident in this rigid status-ridden society. Pioneering innovators like Thawan Duchanee who translated Buddhist philosophy into a modern mode lost his fire and became repetitive. Corporate patronage has encouraged this. Those who are breaking new ground include Prasong Lueuang, Vasan Sittiket, Montien Boonma, Chirasek Pattanapong.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Confronting Paradox
As a Director of the School of Fine Art at Silpakorn University, Somporn Rodboon has been instrumental in helping students get an international perspective. She invited Australian women eg Joan Grounds, Noelene Lucas, to be artists-in-residence. Diane Mantzaris arrived in 1992 and made a suite of contentious computer generated prints dealing with the May anti-democracy military crackdown.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Strange Encounters
'Art Festival: Temples and Cemeteries' is an unusual event held in Chiang Mai over three months. Organiser Uthis Utimana, lecturer at Chiang Mai University, chose to show art in temples and cemeteries as Thai people are more familiar with them than art galleries and they encourage people to contemplate life. Artists ran into trouble with religious and education authorities who misunderstood some of the pieces but were undeterred.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
To be an artist
The author recounts her education in a Thai boarding school under the male patriarchal system. As an artist she has tried to come to terms with her upbringing and her work has reflected the situation for her mother and grandmother as well as the death from cancer of her father. She describes her installation work 'Dinner with Cancer' as a commentary on consumption - "humans are not only consumers, they are also being consumed".
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Thawan Duchanee: Art and Philanthropy
Thawan Duchanee is a successful Thai artist whose studies abroad helped him to create a new Thai art which is a hybrid of western and eastern ideas. He set up a museum in Chiang Rai to promote all the contemporary Thai arts and has funded many scholarships. He was a resident artist at the University of Melbourne April-May 1993 where he created a huge painting as well as an 'Oz' version of his Thai homes using various elements as votives to nature.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
An Art Space in QSNCC
The Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre was opened in 1991. It includes an art space managed by the new company CON-tempus which strives to introduce the idea of an art dealership in an art community in which up to now artists have had to handle their own marketing and promotion. The directors hope to foster art collecting, and make artists less commercial in their outlook and more willing to create better and more radical art.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Posturings under the Bodhi Tree: The selling of Pseudo-Religion
Thai artists of the 'Buddhist Revival' claim to make Buddhist art just because they use the visual conventions of that tradition. The Tantric mandalas have been widely misappropriated. As soon as you take temple art out of the temple you run into difficulties of definition and authenticity. There is still traditional Buddhist art being made in the temples, but there is a great trade in pseudo-Buddhist art which is cheap and damaging.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Learning About Difference
Artist Joan Grounds describes the experience of her first residency in Thailand in 1989. Her lack of knowledge of Thai culture and language and having to operate in a climate where open critical debate about art or other topics was not possible were some of the challenges she faced. Since then she has returned four times to make art works in Thailand and witnessed the rapid changes which occurred over the period including a greater willingness to discuss issues.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
A Thai-Australian Exhibition
Thai-Australian Cultural Space was an exhibition at the Bangkok National Gallery in 1993 of works by Montien Boonma, Vichoke Mukdamanee and Kamol Phaosavasdi from Thailand and Joan Grounds and Noelene Lucas from Australia, all of whom had experience of working in countries other than their own. A common theme of the work was our relationship to nature and the spiritual in art and life.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Metaphor for a Delicate Balance
Artist Noelene Lucas describes the rationale behind the work The Presence of the Centre which she made at Silpakorn University in Bangkok during a residency. It deals with her perception of the landscape of theAustralian Centre as seen from 11,000 metres flying to Thailand, and the fragmentary way we perceive. It is a metaphor for negotiating our position in the world.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Making Asian Art Accessible to Westerners
Review of book 'Modern Art in Thailand, 19th and 20th Centuries'
By Apinan Poshyananda
Published by OUP, Singapore, 1992.
An exemplary study of this period tracing traditional practice, regional categories, ethnic divisions, foreign arrivals, and the advent of modernism and westernisation in art and life. The reader gains insight into Buddhism and social structures including kingship in the course of looking at this complex history.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Modern Art in Thailand: A Glimpse
A sketch of the main institutions and galleries, the prizes, sponsors and patrons, as well as a list of the main galleries was a guide to the art scene in Bangkok at the time of writing. Several of the large hotels also had commissioned murals as well as acquiring new works by contemporary Thai artists.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Introduction to Indonesian Modern Art
There are perennial debates within art circles in Indonesia about applying terms like surrealism to local art. The history and geography of Indonesia mean that theirs is a 'different' kind of modern art which took the form of an art rejecting Dutch colonial rule. Later, in the 80s the influential theorist Dr Soedjoko advocated including traditional art and craft in the fine art canon. He predicted a shift in world focus from Europe and America to the South.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Art of Social Concern
A survey of the role played by politics in art and vice versa before during and after Independence from the Dutch. Artists were employed by political parties to promote their ideologies; by 1950 artists rejected this. Some were arrested for depicting social realities. 20 years later a new group took up the baton, and again incurred the displeasure of the government. Humour was adopted as a means of expressing truths.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Streams of Indonesian Art and Perceptions of Paradise
'Streams of Indonesian Art from Pre-historic to Contemporary'
Published by the Committee of the Festival of Indonesia, Jakarta, 1991.
A series of essays by Indonesian writers.
'Perceptions of Paradise: Images of Bali in the Arts'
By a US scholar Garrett Kam,
Publishedby the Museum Neka, Bali, 1993.
Both publications help to fill the gaps in written art history. 'Streams' tries to sanitise the history of the oppression of artists by political forces and ongoing social inequities.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
The Power of Yogyakartan Surrealism
Why has Yogyakarta produced a school of surrealist painters and what do they paint about? Life perhaps offers strange encounters, especially in the meeting of eastern and western elements,but the clue is in traditional attitudes to the ghostly or uncanny. These are transposed into scenes of modern life which are richly varied and powerful. They include one of Indonesia's only woman artists, Lucia Hartini.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Women Artists in Bali
The author organised an exhibition of work by Balinese women artists to travel to Australia with a grant from the Australia-Indonesia Institute. She took a year to research and collect work and discovered a great deal about how and why the work was made. Her brief was inclusive - not just painting but craft including the famous woven textiles and temple offerings.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Role of Galleries in Contemporary Art
Around 1983 art dealers first appeared in Indonesia. By 1990-91 there was an art boom, and galleries were operating in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, and Bali. Owners come from various walks of life, including oil trading. With some notable exceptions, there is a sameness about the offerings in most of these galleries. A brief history 1930 - 1955 describes the establishment of galleries to supply visitors interested in local art.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Exploring the Potential of Printmaking
Indonesian printmaking emerged around the time of Independence in 1945. It began to be taught in colleges in Bandung, Yogyakarta and Jakarta and became a way of showing Indonesian art abroad. Prints are now seen in offices, banks, hotels and homes. Indonesian printmakers have participated in international print exhibitions in Norway, Taiwan, and Japan.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Introduction to Art in Vietnam
Vietnam has a long and diverse cultural history with strong sculptural traditions of Dong Son and Cham ethnic groups. At various times artists went to Europe to study and French art was a strong influence. In the north a socialist realist mode flowered in the 60s and 'formalism' was repudiated. Printmaking and political posters were strong during the war. Now painting flourishes; in Hanoi 'the village' is an inspiration, in Saigon various western styles are seen.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Vietnamese Lacquer, Silk Painting and Modern Vietnamese Art
1. Lacquer painting is a very old medium which was adapted by 20thC painters including Nguyen Gia Tri. 2. The most famous exponent of Silk painting was Nguyen Phan Chanh (1892-1984) who painted villagers and country life. 3. After 1925 artists adopted oil paint and after absorbing French influences, by the 90s formed a new Vietnamese identity typified by a group of 3 senior artsits. In 1989 a group show of young artists was a turning point.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Trailblazers Recognised at Last
3 major influences. Nguyen Sang (1923-1988) painted in a politically charged and nationalistic mode but always as a personal expression. Bui Xuan Phai (1920 - 1988) painted small streetscapes depicting the soul of old Hanoi, a nostalgic view. Nguyen Tu Nghiem (1922-) was more innovative looking again at ancient village sculpture in pagodas and paradoxically moves closer to a Modernist style.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Women Achieving Against Great Odds
Women make up 30% of painters in Vietnam yet have received little attention. Women face many obstacles to success. Married women whose husbands do not approve of their practice are the most disadvantaged. A handful of women artists have become known, and one has taken part in exhibitions overseas. Previously there used to be annual group shows of women artists, but now the trend is towards solo shows.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Fine Art in Ho Chi Minh City
Interview between author and the painter Ca Le Thang about new developments in Ho Chi Minh City brought about by the open-door policy doi moi and the increasing commercialisation of fine art. Modernism is more easily accepted here than in some other parts of the country. The magazine My Thuat was formed 2 years ago as an organ of the City Fine Arts Association, and provides a forum for artists and critics to air important issues.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Changing Attitudes to Ceramics
Ceramics have a long history in Vietnam and two 13th Century centres Bat Trang and Phu Lang are still active today. Old blue and white porcelain ware used to be in common use in peasant families, but different polychrome styles are now in vogue and fake antiques are common too. In some design colleges non-functional sculptural forms and decorative motifs have replaced functional ware, but there is a healthy expansion of production nationally.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Hanoi- Heritage in Danger
Hanoi was founded 1000 years ago, and has always been an important centre, culturally and economically. Its Ancient Quarter is a miraculous human-scale blueprint for living and working and much of its original character survives today. The French Quarter built in the 19th Century was a sensitive complement to the old Asian architecture, but today all this is threatened by ugly, insensitive development motivated by greed. Hanoi needs a handsome prince to rescue her!
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Printmaking in Vietnam: Old and New
There are very few specialised printmakers in Vietnam, partly because of the expense of materials and equipment. Woodcuts, a traditional form, with the use of multiple coloured plates, are in demand but are now rare, engraving in both metal and plaster is growing, lithography dates from the anti-French resistance, and silkscreen was used for socialist posters in the 70s. Graphic arts are moving into the world of advertising where the money is.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Textiles Bridging Vietnam and WA
Carpets have long been a link between East and West. In 1992 a Western Australian textile designer-maker Rinske Car-Driesens began working with the Vietnam Women's Union and a Singapore business women's body to have her carpet designs hand-knotted in Vietnam using Australian wools dyed in Albany. While Car-Driesens uses CAD-CAM technology to design them, the Vietnamese workers rely on their hand and eye skills to produce wonderful results.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Refugees Confronting Memory
The US/Mexico based Border Workshop group worked on a collaborative shopfront installation in 1992 with the Cabramatta community of western Sydney where many Indo-Chinese refugee populations settled in the 70s. A large installation representing a refugee boat and a walk-in temple containing video monitors playing back student interviews with local people.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Introduction to Philippines Art and Culture
Many ethnic groups have melded to form the present day Philippines. Colonial rule and the influence of the US, Spain and Japan have all left their mark while there is still much resistance to losing traditional values. Art expression is varied and unrestricted and since the 1990s regional areas have come to the fore. Support from the state has been erratic. Artists are struggling against the onslaught of capitalist developments and art for investment.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Indigenous Statements Now
From early 80s artists began to search for local identity - the use of local indigenous materials was part of this. One 70s pioneer was Junyee who used living plant material in performance art. Roberto Villanueva and Santiago Bose work in mixed media to explore ideas of being Philipino in a modern world. Imelda Cajipe-Endaya's paintings deal with 3rd world citizens, women, migrant workers, poverty. Roberto Feleo uses mythic narrative in a playful idiom.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Images of Women by Women
Women are producing some of the most challenging art in the Philippines by using feminist themes and achieving a synthesis of art and feminism. These are drawings, paintings, 3D works in all media from papier machŽ to stone, and performance art. The work is confronting, emotive, full of vitality. Images are drawn from the kitchen, childcare, main domination, domestic surroundings and the natural world.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Woven Textiles: The Enduring Tradition
Traditional Philipino woven textiles are still made today, keeping alive an ancient regional art form which is poorly documented in museums and not well recognised. All the varied types of weaving are described and illustrated. The patterns, iconography and styles are now seen in modern interior design and in fashion and help to maintain something essentially Philipino in a society which has taken on the trappings of world culture.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Struggle in Baguio: The Arts Guide Makes a Difference
In the 80s artists working abroad began to return to the Philippines; the author established the Baguio Arts Guild with a group of other artists in the highlands 5 hours from Manila. In 1989 the first Festival was held and has established itself as a vital proving ground for new artists as well as being part of the local community. An Arts Centre was set up in 1992. However a devastating earthquake in 1990 is just one of the many obstacles for artists in this 3rd world situation.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Writing About Craft
What is the relationship between the art or craft object and its maker? This question is put from the Philippines in relation to crafts and compares the importance of the origin or culture of the maker in that country to that in Australia. Students of Philippine crafts have applied the 'mapping' method which helps to understand the depth of tradition and their subsequent evolution into urban variants. Writers on the crafts are developing ways of exploring these questions.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
An Australian Creates Space in Manila
From 1989 - 1991 artist Neil Roberts found himself engaged on a series of working visits to the Philippines. He decided to use only local materials, striking a welcome chord with his hosts. His tendency towards sparse presentation was in sharp contrast to the overload of the installations and paintings of local artists, echoing the contrast between Australian and Filipino attitudes to space. At ARX in Perth he collaborated with Cesare Syjuco who has the ART-LAB space in Manila.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
The Shaping of Contemporary Art in Malaysia: New art new voices
Theatre director Krishen Jit talks to artist Wong Hoy Cheong about contemporary Malaysian art and his adoption of a figurative style of painting after he returned from study in the USA. This is being used by young artists in Malaysia as an expression of rebellion, as is performance art. Malaysian society avoids dissenting voices and has been slow to accept the angst in modernism, which perhaps has only just been fully internalised though it was introduced in the fifties.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Looking to Origins: Mastura Abdul Rahman
Mastura Abdul Rahman is a Malaysian Islamic woman artist and draws on the tradition of SE Asian woven textiles in the very precise ordering of her compositions which depict the arrangement of traditional Malay houses seen from above. Traditional head and breast cloths are ritual objects of great potency with the power to kill the weaver who makes a mistake in the design. To the initiated the paintings embody some of the same aura.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Culture of Silence: A Reading of Three Malaysian Artists
An overview of the history of Malaysian modernism and the work of three artists who rebelled against their Islamic-style training at the Institute of Teknologi Mara. Riaz Jamil Ahmad, Ahmad Shukri Elias and Tengku Sabri. Riaz and Ahmad paint in a neo-expressionist figurative mode, Tengku makes carved wood sculptures which have echoes of old Malay motifs. After some years of dissent the three have adopted a stratgic self-imposed culture of silence.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
Fauzan Omar - Layers of Meaning
Malaysian artist Fauzan B Haji Omar has worked in collage and mixed media since the eighties when Malaysa was freeing itself of British influence. For some time he used strips of torn canvas heavily encrusted with paint, followed by work which draws inspiration from rotting jungle vegetation, reflecting the changing landscape where the natural world gives way first to rubber plantations and now to golf courses and industrial estates.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia
David Castle's Journeys into Asia
David Castle's jewellery has been influenced by over 15 journeys to Indonesia since 1972, particularly the islands between Darwin and Bali. He finds the ceremonial activities of the Balinese attractive and this is evident in his body adornment pieces. He was an artist in residence in Kuala Lumpur in 1991 creating links with the University of Tasmania in his home base Launceston where his current exhibition Journeys was held.
Contemporary Arts of the Region: SE Asia & Australia