Sculpture and Cities

Success, Excellence and Iconoclasm

Stephanie Britton

A far cry from waiting room wallpaper: Ian North's The Intelligence of Blood

Adelaides newest art commission has recently been installed in the Department of Surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital: The Intelligence of Blood, a challenging work by Ian North. The painting is large, about six metres wide and almost two metres high and abounds with references to surgery, blood, medicine and much more.

Catherine Speck

Asher Bilu: Doing Business with the Cosmic

From the beginning, Asher Bilus work has had two loci of concentration: the mystery of matter, its structures, boundaries and possibilities, and Mystery itself, space, sound, reverberations of the invisible, the very universe. Bilu takes on the physical demands of his experiments like a workman, he manipulates them like a technician. This article examines Bilus art practice from his early days as a migrant in Australia and winner of the prestigious Blake Prize to his recent work the Infinity Series.

Heather Ellyard

Frank Bauer Goes Public

German born artist Frank Bauer was raised on the philosophy that art, design and industry could work together to achieve a more visually coherent and democratic society. Over the past thirty years he has produced a huge body of work in metal, which includes jewellery, hollow ware, furniture and lighting. Through this text Fairlamb focuses on Bauers wind sculptures, exhibited at the Powerhouse Museum and JamFactory, which stand over four metres high and bring together his considerable knowledge of balance, precision engineering and sculptural metal work.

Gail Fairlamb

Gateway to Adelaide: The Process, The Result

Undertaken by Transport SA from 1996 until 2000, the Adelaide-Crafers Highway project resulted in major route reconstruction along a 10 km section of the Prince Highway. This has resulted in artist/ designer/ architect collaborations for the production of three major walls, elements of paving, bus stops and two bus shelters, a water feature and a freestanding sculptural piece. Artists and architects included in the project are George Popperwell, Greg Healey, Tony Bishop, Marijana Tadic, Neil Cranney, Mark Butcher and Rob Williams.

Ruth Fazakerley

Heroism in the Public Domain

The two most heroic commitments to public art in Australia since Parliament House, Canberra, are for the refurbishment of the Sydney International Airport and the Olympic 2000 Homebush Bay site. These aspirations are eloquently expressed in forms and structures that are surprising , beautiful and of varying quality. The Airport Project features the work of Michael Riley, Robyn Backen, Ron Smith, Kerry Clare, Lindsay Clare, Brook Andrew and Fiona McDonald. Those included in the Homebush Bay Project are Peter Cripps, Terri Bird, Ari Purhonen, Neil Dawson, Paul Carter, Ruark Lewis, Janet Laurence, James Carpenter, Elizabeth Gower and Robert Owen.

Tempe MacGowan

Melbourne's Public Art goes Temporary

The City of Melbourne has made some sweeping changes to its public art strategy that focus on the town hall as a place where public and government meet; an essentially civic space open to the scrutiny of its citizenry. Examples of such change are indicated by Fiona Foleys Lie of the Land installation, Town Hall Transformed by Melbourne artist Ian de Gruchy, a collaborative piece by construction / performance group Bambuco which created a stage for two performances by the Five Angry Men collective entitled Bells. Holt discusses.

Richard Holt

Public Art Boom in Western Australia: It is the edges that make it interesting

The difficulties of public art are universally acknowledged - they are the same across state and national borders and usually result in compromised solutions - however if they are to be considered more as collaborative efforts between artist and community rather than works of 'art' the outcomes become interesting. Millers article addresses this notion through a discussion of recent Western Australian public art programs and in particular the achievements of ArtSource, an employment agency for visual artists. Key figures in this text are Brian McKay, Ahmad Abas, Tony McClure, Jon Tarry, John Elkington, Linnea Glatt and Michael Singer.

Nikki Miller

Signage to Confuse and Amuse

Richard Tippings installation Signs Signed was in Munichs Salvatorplatz during August 1999. Twenty two reflective signs were placed in the square and streets around the Literaturhaus as a part of the Piazza installation art project, curated by Art Circolo. This feature includes images of Tippings Signs with accompanying text.

Richard Tipping

Space adventures: Collaborations in public art and urban design in Victoria

Local government bodies in Victoria are demonstrating a range of approaches to the development of public art in urban design with recent project examples indicating new possibilities between artists, residents, designers, architects, business and even neighbouring councils. The Skewed Arch example in the City of Yarra is one discussed along with the works of Inge King, Chris Perk, Diane Mantzaris, David Davies, Alistair Knox, Ian Sinclair and Jackie Straude.

Andy Miller

Stafford and Staff: Queensland's Public Art Agency

Morrell examines the recent structural developments which have taken place at and around the precinct of Brisbanes Roma Street Transit Centre. Under Queenslands Art Built-in policy approximately $1.4 million was proposed to be spent on works of art to feature in the new precinct. Morrell was the public art curator for the Roma Street project and this article developed out of conversations held with the Public Art Agencys Executive Program Officer John Stafford.

Timothy Morrell

Texas: Artists Move in on Project Row House

A tidy little row of identical white houses, glowing in the Texas sun, has become the unlikely home of a cutting-edge experiment in public art. Seven houses are for artists installations, while another seven of the houses have been modernized and furnished for young, single mothers and their children. This text discusses the works of artists Vicki Meeks, Tracy Hicks, Radcliffe Bailey, Pat Ward Williams, Natalie Lovejoy, Joseph Havel, Fred Wilson, Shahzia Sikander, Nari Ward, Chen Zhen, Jens Haaning, Annette Lawrence, Deborah Grotfeldt and Rick Lowe.

Nancy Bless

The Art of Living Dangerously: Victor Meertens

Documents the life and work of Victor Meertens: his journey to Europe where he became inspired by the work of the early Flemish painters and Grunewalds Isenheim Altarpiece (c.1505-1510), his involvement with the Third Australian Sculpture Triennial and the Australian Biennale 1988, his various solo shows and other notable achievements within the contemporary Australian art scene of the late 20th century.

Jonathan Holmes

Unchain my Art: Notes on the role of myths and preconceptions in shaping perceptions of women's art

This article notes the role of myths and preconceptions in shaping perceptions of womens art. In framing art reputations in Australia, the most disputed and uneasy component is gender. Peers looks at the 1970s feminist art movement which was important for providing the blueprint for an ongoing understanding of art as an interrogative gesture and the works of women artists such as Grace Cossington-Smith, Stella Bowen, Joy Hester, Clarice Beckett, Janine Burke, Kiffy Rubbo, Margaret Preston, Hilda Rix Nicholas, A.M.E. Bale, Margaret Olley, Meg Benwell, Judy Perrey and Anne Marie Graham.

Juliette Peers

Beyond Mertz and Whitechapel: 'contemporary' Australian Modernism

Furby raises the issues of women artists role in Australian society and the considerable lack of recognition for this minority. The radical art group, the Contemporary Art Society (CAS), which was founded in Victoria in 1938 to counter attack academic art and to foster original and creative contemporary art, had its majority as women artists. The works of Mirka Mora, Erica McGilchrist, Nancy Borlase, Elsa Russell, Jacqueline Hick and Barbara Robertson are included in this discussion.

Paula Furby

Wendy Mills in the Mall: The 'Water Table'

Wendy Mills was invited in November 1998 to design an artwork that would engage, intrigue, amuse or challenge but not intentionally outrage members of the public. This article discusses Mills piece On This Auspicious Occasion and the ongoing challenges faced during its creation and thereafter.

Michele Helmrich

Interview with Peter Sellars: Architecture, Adelaide Festival and Organic Oranges

Urban ecologist and architect Paul Downton interviewed 2002 Telstra Adelaide Festival Director Peter Sellars and Associate Director Cathy Woolcock about urban design and ecology and the attempts to create a shift from the idea of 'ownership' to 'participation' between people and the urban and natural environments. This feature also weaves in comments by Bert Flugelman, Judith Brine and Francesco Bonarto about the way they are prepared to express their feelings about their city and the way it looks and feels.

Paul Downton

Will we get real artist's moral rights?

With the recent boom being enjoyed by public art in Australia, the issue of moral rights legislation has become more pressing. It was in recognition of the power differential between most artists and the users of their work that Australia became a signatory to an international agreement, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works designed to redress the imbalance. Some of the clauses and conditions of this legislation are briefly discussed.

Tamara Winikoff

Public Art in Adelaide

Francesco Bonarto

Polemic: GO BACK You Are Going the Wrong Way

Brook breaks this argument down into sub categories: The rationale of the art history museum, The cabinet of curiosities, Evolution, Cultural evolution, Art as the source of memetic variation and The cultural museum.

Donald Brook

Why You Should Join VISCOPY Now!

While the eyes of many artists glaze over at the mention of copyright, the explosion in use of visuals in communication means that artists creating those images need to be well-informed and well-represented in copyright issues. Mark Ferguson spoke with VISCOPYs new Chairman, Adelaide photographer Mark Fitz-Gerald, about the role of VISCOPY and the developing awareness amongst visual arts and craftspeople of the importance of copyright royalties.

Mark Ferguson

Auctions and Copyright: Moratorium

Recent auctions held by Christie's, Sotherby's and Deutscher-Menzies have clearly demonstrated that the market is now looking towards artists in their fifties and even younger. The relationship between artists and auction houses is here discussed with reference to artists Juan Davila, Charles Blackman, Imants Tillers, Mandy Martin, John Wolseley, Howard Arkley, Lloyd Rees, Emily Kngwarray, Lin Onus and groups Desart, Balgo Artists and Utopia Arts.

Paul Greenaway

Artrave

Artlink

Vis.Arts.Online

Ruth Fazakerley

Celebrating The Exquisite Corpse

Bendigo Art Gallery 10 June - 3 September 2000 and touring other public artspaces in Victoria throughout 2001

Juliette Peers

Watermarks: Crossings, Carolyn Lewens and Neil Stanyer and Illuminating Evidence, Felicity Spear and Sarah Winfrey

Geelong Art Gallery 11 August - 13 September 2000

Lesley Harding

Paramor: Lost and found

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, NSW 9 September - 39 October 2000

Joanna Mendelssohn

Australian Icons : Twenty Artists from the Collection

Art Gallery of NSW 4 August - 3 December

Maurice O'Riordan

CHEMISTRY: Art in South Australia 1990-2000: The Faulding Exhibition

Art Gallery of South Australia 16 September to 5 November 2000

Christopher Chapman

Parameters Head: A La Ronde, Sally Smart

Experimental Art Foundation 7 - 30 September 2000

Stephanie Radok

Allan Baker, A Survey

Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery University of Western Australia, Perth 8 September to 20 October 2000

Margaret Moore

Chiasm; An Enduring Symbol; Objectum; Core

Chiasm - Donna Fulton, Richard Giblet, glamorama, Bevan Honey, Andrew Smith, Ric Spencer An Enduring Symbol - Mark Hummerston Objectum - Mark Cypher Core - Matthew Hunt Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts 29 September - 29 October

Philippa O'Brien

Talking Together

Lola Greeno (curator), Amanda Baxter (Pilakui), Michelle Brown, Destiny Deacon, Dulcie Greeno, Len Maynard, Nennerpertenenner (Sammy Howard), Francesca Puruntatameri, Thecla Bernadette Puruntatameri University Gallery, University of Tasmania, Launceston September 2000

Gregory Leong