As an art student it is often necessary to talk and write about your work. I have heard this is also true for practicing artists. In my time at university I have never experienced significant trouble meeting these expectations. I have always particularly enjoyed talking about my work whether it be informally, with friends, family … More Heavy Criticism
Untitled was a group show at At The Vanishing Point in Newtown, showcasing undergraduate art in Sydney. My contribution to the show was a video installation, Leviathan/Ouroboros. The following is an excerpt from my Honours research paper: The work refers to the hermetic concept of a life divided into polar opposites to explain our feelings … More Untitled Understood
lampoon /lampoon/ • verb publicly satirize or ridicule. • noun a satirical attack. — ORIGIN French lampon, said to be from lampons ‘let us drink’. Mike Parr and Peter Kennedy’s 1972 film Idea Demonstrations sits with commanding gravitas at the headwaters of Australian performance and conceptual art history. The film documents a series of twenty-four … More Seminal Fluids
My Body, My Business was a group show at At The Vanishing Point in Newtown, dealing with issues relating to the body. My contribution to the show was a video of my performance, Circumcision. It was accompanied by a small artist’s statement: The performance piece, Circumcision, explores notions of catharsis and the possibility of its … More My Body, My Business
Notes from the Fall was a show of acrylic drawings at the Silver Spoon Gallery in Balmain, dealing with notions of falling and failure. The diagrams from the exhibition contrast various myths and ideas about falling in an investigation of the fundamentally broken nature of humanity. Hans/Icare compares the tragic death of the artist Bas … More Notes from the Fall
I have had long hair for more than two years. On Saturday evening I shaved it all off. Personally I felt it was long past time for a change. I was tired of the effort and inconvenience of having thick, curly, long hair. But now that the hair is gone I feel the possible repercussions … More Cut and Dried
I read Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut recently. It is definitely a strange book, but still quite enjoyable. One particular passage struck me as worth quoting. It is Kurt’s response to his brother’s question, “Art or not?” There are many good people who are beneficially stimulated by some, but not all, manmade arrangements of colours and … More Art or not?
Tom Isaacs 