O Projects was an artist run space that I co-initated and managed alongside Kent Wilson, Carl Scrase and Sam Martin in 2008. We held solo and group exhibitions, performative events and discussion nights.
This is a selection of catalogue essays I wrote for O Projects exhibitions.
Please visit http://oprojectsarchive.blogspot.com/ for a more extensive archive.
“Red Lion”, Stephen Rendall and Brian Spier.
O Projects Gallery, March 1-24, 2008Catalogue Essay: The nature of collaboration.
by Laura Castagnini
It is in the nature of collaboration that ideas shift and change.
Opinions are bounced back and forth between different people, the
original idea gaining momentum as it tumbles headlong into an unknown
arena before standing tall to display itself in a unique and almost
unrecognisable form.
The art produced during collaboration becomes not that of two
individuals, but that of a third person, a collective identity;
another being that would have been impossible to fathom from any other
than the merging of those involved. Collaboration results in one being
forced to give up creative control and simultaneously set aside the
preciousness and habits that have been formed through working alone.
The collaboration becomes a device an artist can use to pursue and
experiment with ideas that are different to their ‘usual style’. This
process creates an outcome that has the essence of each artist but
becomes the work of this newly created collective identity.
This idea of artists ‘merging’ in order to form a newly created
collective entity was realised by William S. Burroughs in his
collaboration with Brion Gysin for their book The Third Mind. When
interviewed they explain this concept as:
GYSIN: When you put two minds together…
BURROUGHS:… there is always a third mind…
GYSIN: …a third and superior mind…
BURROUGHS: …as an unseen collaborator.
Collaboration is described as “complete fusion in a praxis of two
subjectivities…that morph into a third; it is from this collision that
a new author emerges, an absent third person, invisible and beyond
grasp.”1 Burroughs and Gysin insisted that this collaborative process
results in a phantom artist or “Third Mind”.
We can take this idea of this “Third Mind” and consider the newly
found confidence that artists often seem to possess when
collaborating. The creation of an ‘unseen collaborator’ becomes
similar to that of an ‘alter ego’; an artistic entity separate from
one’s personal identity that one can ‘take on’ when necessary. Whilst
supported by the collaborative entity, an artist’s ability to
undertake large projects is immediately increased in comparison to
when working solo. Furthermore it is more comfortable and socially
accepting for artists’ to promote and push forwards the work of this
‘other’ collective identity than it is of an individual practise; this
increased drive can lead to interesting and unexpected results.
An example of this phenomenon emerged during the collaboration between
Steven Rendall and Bryan Spier for their recent exhibition “Red Lion”.
By working on an idea separate from their individual practises Rendall
& Spier found a sense of unprecedented freedom which led them to
surprise even themselves with the consequential outcomes. Spier
describes the exhibition as:
“very different to our previous collaborative work, and different to
what we expected we would do. I think our earlier (collaborative)
paintings rely on a clash of stylistic elements, whereas this time we
are setting aside the habits of our individual practices to reach an
outcome that best responds to the particular setting. The resulting
work is one that neither of us could have conceived individually”.
It is in the nature of this new entity of the phantom“Third Mind” that
collaborative artworks tend to surprise both artist and viewer.
Collaboration extends artistic practise and pushes artists towards
unchartered territory; it is an essential ingredient for the
development of contemporary art.
“The Big Rainbow Funhouse of Cosmic Brutality”, Paul Yore
O Projects Gallery, 24th June- 8th July, 2008.Catalogue Essay by Laura Castagnini
Is this a fantastical utopia or a critical view of mass culture?
Or simply an acid tripper’s playground?
In “The Big Rainbow Funhouse of Cosmic Brutality” Paul Yore bombards
our senses with “colourful vomit”; an explosion of kitsch plastic
flowers, toys, beer bottles, Tibetan flags, fountains, fairy lights,
music and play- doh.
The process seems playfully decorative and childlike, yet the
resulting artwork appears almost ridiculous. Why on earth would a
grown man spend so much time decorating colourful junk? Confusing and
pointless, it is a monument to the absurd.
In bird- like fashion Yore has obsessively collected the plastic
detritus of our wasteful society and arranged it into this enormous
vibrant nest. The work has a has a life of it’s own; it began with a
desk and chair in his studio at Monash but soon spilled into
neighbouring studios and has since morphed into the all- encompassing
sensory overload that has taken over O Projects.
Yore’s work is decorative and fun yet also highlights the wastefulness
of our culture; the high production rate of such plastic goods is
exhausting our limited natural resources and leaking pollution into
the atmosphere. In an ironic paradox; these objects (such as plastic
flowers or twinkling lights) are an artificial recreation of nature
yet are slowly destroying the very environment they are emulating.
“The Big Rainbow Funhouse of Cosmic Brutality” is built to explore the
incongruous nature of our existence in this world and is showing at O
Projects Gallery from 24th June- 8th July, 2008.
(Paul subsequently exhibited a new version of this installation at Heide Museum of Modern Art. See http://www.heide.com.au/Exhibitions/Paul_Yore)
"Echoes of Gold”, Rachel Feery and Lisa Stewart
O Projects Gallery, 19th August- 4th September, 2008.Catalogue Essay by Laura Castagnini
Virtually wandering through the deserted landscapes of "Echoes of Gold" one
feels vaguely expectant, that something magical could suddenly occur at any
moment. Innumerable fairy tales are based in similar settings.
Children romanticise them with capital letters; “The Desert”, “The
Mountains” or “Under the Sea”. Anything could happen.
“Echoes of Gold” is a video-installation that takes the viewer to un-
inhabited lands of mysterious origins. The artists invite you to climb
aboard a fabricated boat to be transported from the ordinary into the
imaginary. The viewer is taken on a journey through constructed envi-
ronments to discover the wonderment of magical and artificial realms.
This fantastical enviro-vision reunites one with ‘nature’ as an escape
from the everyday. A frightening glimpse into the future and a parody
of our quick fix culture, it takes us on a ten minute holiday to a simula-
tion of nature. To vast empty expanses of make-believe landscape where
we can shut off our brains and soak in the glitter. Play-doh replaces cliff
tops and blue cellophane substitutes the ocean in picturesque natural
beauty for the future.
“Echoes of Gold” is at once a critique of our advancing technological
culture and a celebration of artistic playfulness and exploration.
(Lisa and Rachel subsequently exhibited a new version of their installation at Firstdraft Gallery in Sydney in 2009. See http://www.firstdraftgallery.com/020%20Exhibition%20Archive/index.html)
