Infinite Strangeness

Hot on the tail of my entry about Wunderkammer and Fiona Hall’s Force Field comes Wunderbox. (I’m beginning to feel like I’ve slipped through a crack in my verandah and landed in the 16th century). It’s now showing at Christchurch Art Gallery – a series of works drawn from the gallery collection, which act as perfect partners for the wonderful whackiness of Fiona Hall’s show next door. In short, it’s a comment on collecting, based on the 16th and 17th century ‘wunder cabinet’ concept – “an exhibition of bell jars, boxes, cabinets, dolls, display cases, two monkeys, several bees, hundreds of hooks and one miniature coffin……..of secretive spaces, model worlds, fictitious collections and idiosyncratic trophies by contemporary New Zealand artists.” All ‘very me!’ I loved it and came home with my fingers twitching with the urge to make things – and to stuff other things in jars. It’s not as if I’m not surrounded by surplus visual paraphernalia after all and putting some of it in jars and under glass domes might at least keep the dust at bay. (I think I'm a frustrated museum-keeper). The (much-reduced) work shown above is Neil Pardington’s superb photograph, “Land and Marine Mammals Store (tryptych) Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand. 2006-2007. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery. Purchased 2007. www.christchurchartgallery.org

Cabinets and Curiosities

Yesterday I visited the Christchurch Art Gallery to take a look at “Force Field,” an amazing exhibition of work by major Australian artist, Fiona Hall. Sadly, the two photographs I’ve posted here in no way illustrate how truly incredible it is as a body of work. The intricate workmanship (especially in the beaded exhibits) and the detail in each piece is unbelievable; the concepts and ideas are wondrous and thought-provoking; the displays – with their entanglement of shadows, reflections and lights – quite stunning. I was transfixed. It was like walking into some twisted little private museum where every exhibit is slightly left of centre, where some mad scientist has been fiddling with Nature to extraordinary effect. I especially loved Tender – a breathtakingly beautiful collection of birds’ nests created from shredded American banknotes. As someone who has collected birds’ nests, I was in heaven. Two huge glass cabinets contained an amazing array of nests from multiple species – each replicated in shredded money. The glass on one cabinet was printed with the Latin names of each species the nests were modelled on; the second cabinet was printed with scrolls of numbers - the serial numbers of over 3,000 one dollar notes that Hall shredded to create the work. I was dazzled. I came away wondering what Fiona Hall might be like in person - for her intense, detailed and exquisitely perfect works seem to hint at a degree of obsession. Not that that should be seen as a criticism – I can be a little obsessive myself. But oh for a glimpse inside her mind!!! The works illustrated above are: Top: “Holdfast 2007” tin and aluminium; Collection of the Artist. Image courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley, 9 Gallery, Sydney. Bottom: “Cell Culture” Detail 2001-2002. Glass beads, silver wire, Tupperware. South Australian Government Grant 2002. Art Gallery of South Australia. Image Courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley, 9 Gallery, Sydney.

www.christchurchartgallery.org

Of Beads and Body Parts

Christchurch Bus Stop. Nov. 2008. Ajr

I rather like the idea of shiny plants growing out of old sardine tins – especially when viewed on a poster on a city bus stop. There’s something almost comedic about that, that has insured I WILL get along to Fiona Hall’s “Force Field”, now showing at Christchurch Art Gallery. Not that this well-known Australian artist intends too much comedy – not if you believe the reviews anyway. Her work sounds beautiful/strange/enticing – a collection of ‘specimens in glass cases,’ a gathering of discarded objects (old cans, beads, skulls etc) – that make me think of evolution gone haywire. It’s just a pity that Damien Hirst has already had so much mileage out of the ‘bejewelled’ skull idea…… not that I’m pre-judging an entire show – and a huge show at that by all accounts – on the strength of one work. I'm prepared to 'wait and see.'