Susan Sontag many years ago wrote that ,initially she thought of postmodernism as a kind of playroom attached to the side of the museum but a bit later on suddenly realised that the museum had vanished leaving nothing but the playroom
It does seem that playroom or perhaps playpen? is now the literally correct term for our institutions
I'd say yes, but there's nothing playful about this shift. It's all deadly serious and it's hurting a lot of dedicated artists while the new insiders prosper.
The NSW state government spent a measly $5 million dollars on the Newcastle Art Gallery expansion, yet spent hundreds of millions on galleries in Sydney. It is very upsetting the coal royalties see such little return spent on the arts in Newcastle and the Hunter Region. I’d label it criminal. Bendigo Art Gallery has had several expansions and refurbishments. It shows the stark difference of money spent in Victoria compared with the NSW in the regional areas.
The race breakdown for the Newcastle Art Gallery expansion is shown below. You can see how little state and federal government care about NSW regional art galleries
* City of Newcastle: about $25 million
* Newcastle Art Gallery Foundation: about $13 million
You're spot on. The regional galleries - which are incredibly important, have been starved by this govt. while huge sums have been diverted into pie-in-the-sky projects such as Powerhouse Parramatta & other western suburbs diversions, in what seems a blatant attempt to buy votes. The regions are either hopelessly anti-Labor, or rusted on Labor, and so may be ignored. There's only so much much money to go around, and any responsible administration would distribute it on a basis that rewards endeavour and community relevance instead of funding hopeless causes & personal empire building. Newcastle is the most important regional gallery in NSW, and has serious claims for govt. support.
"Scott Morrison doubled the price of an Arts degree, and in four years, the Albanese government has not managed to correct this blatant injustice." Blatant, yes, but more than injustice, the Morrison move has undermined the foundations of Australian society and culture in perpetuity.
Apocalyptic, Diana, but I think that was the whole idea. SM envisioned a nation of prosperous tradies voting for him, with fewer troublesome journos, historians, lawyers, etc.
The team behind organising Martin Sharpe’s Estate have vigorously sought a solution that would keep the house, memorabilia and artworks intact as a living museum and/or art student residence. Years of meetings and unpaid voluntarism came to this current solution with the Auction of works and eventual sale of the house to raise a considerable sum to offer many years of art scholarships and the like. While Roz Sharpe and Sandy Sharpe get nothing from the estate they and others happily put an impressive amount of time to honour their cousin’s memory. I put in a couple of bids to hopefully push up the prices.
The team - including the human ego (Luke Scibberas) - kicked my friend out of the house where he had been living for more 24 years as a theology student and friend of Martin's. Roz and Sandy were always planning on selling the property and then buying a smaller property where they would live and run as a small museum.
Our art galleries are a repetitive projection of mediocrity, ideology, wokeness and a total lack of imagination. I am sooo sick of the indigenous landscapes in the Wynn prize. I use to love beautiful landscapes and metres of paper landscapes under Perspex among many others. The crèche for young Archie’s screams talented family members or friends and has no context of authenticity or relevance.
The fine art portrait artists don’t feel intimidated or lesser. They see it for what it is … controversial and underwhelming every year. Like me they source their passion for seeing great art and artists with gravitas elsewhere.
"I don’t know whether they’re entering and being rejected or have simply given up. Either way, it must be a miserable experience to have worked hard on a portrait only for it not to be selected. It must be catastrophic to find the show packed with works of dubious merit that tick the right ‘identity’ boxes." Yes John.
BTW the art world language you quote made me go and dig up an essay by Douglas R Hofstadter from 1982 titled Suff and Nonsense .
The essay is primarily about the mystery and occasional magic of nonsense writing but Hofstadter does devote a section to a early example of art talk : “ one journal I have come across whose pages are filled with utter nonsense- meant seriously- is called Art-Language “ He then quotes two hilarious examples of serious nonsense from that journal.
Ps
Hofstadter also quotes at length some pieces of rather good intentional nonsense writing from a book by Gertrude Stein titled :How to Write 🙂
The essay is in Hofstadters book:Metamagical Themas worth a reread
Slightly off subject but I've long thought that the AGNSW's Aboriginal collection should be transferred to Customs House, Circular Quay. The natural light of its atrium would suit traditional Aboriginal work. The Customs House also is well located for historic and tourist reasons. The Gallery itself would have no further involvement after the move and could transfer its energy to other areas.
Susan Sontag many years ago wrote that ,initially she thought of postmodernism as a kind of playroom attached to the side of the museum but a bit later on suddenly realised that the museum had vanished leaving nothing but the playroom
It does seem that playroom or perhaps playpen? is now the literally correct term for our institutions
I'd say yes, but there's nothing playful about this shift. It's all deadly serious and it's hurting a lot of dedicated artists while the new insiders prosper.
Brilliant.
Like you, I am angry at what the ideological barbarians who select these finalists, are doing to Australian art.
I particularly feel for the many excellent Australian artists who are routinely being excluded from these prizes.
For example, landscape artists in Tasmania have been producing superb work in recent years - but they get no recognition at all.
Thank God for you, John. We need your voice more than ever.
Well, there's always the Hadley's Prize, although I wasn't invited last year.
I'm enjoying being a "paid subscriber" and reading your posts in their entirety. Thank you ☺️
Thanks for subscribing, Josephine. I depend on folks like you.
I subscribed first!!
The NSW state government spent a measly $5 million dollars on the Newcastle Art Gallery expansion, yet spent hundreds of millions on galleries in Sydney. It is very upsetting the coal royalties see such little return spent on the arts in Newcastle and the Hunter Region. I’d label it criminal. Bendigo Art Gallery has had several expansions and refurbishments. It shows the stark difference of money spent in Victoria compared with the NSW in the regional areas.
The race breakdown for the Newcastle Art Gallery expansion is shown below. You can see how little state and federal government care about NSW regional art galleries
* City of Newcastle: about $25 million
* Newcastle Art Gallery Foundation: about $13 million
* NSW Government: $5 million
* Australian Government: $5 million
You're spot on. The regional galleries - which are incredibly important, have been starved by this govt. while huge sums have been diverted into pie-in-the-sky projects such as Powerhouse Parramatta & other western suburbs diversions, in what seems a blatant attempt to buy votes. The regions are either hopelessly anti-Labor, or rusted on Labor, and so may be ignored. There's only so much much money to go around, and any responsible administration would distribute it on a basis that rewards endeavour and community relevance instead of funding hopeless causes & personal empire building. Newcastle is the most important regional gallery in NSW, and has serious claims for govt. support.
Real not race
"Scott Morrison doubled the price of an Arts degree, and in four years, the Albanese government has not managed to correct this blatant injustice." Blatant, yes, but more than injustice, the Morrison move has undermined the foundations of Australian society and culture in perpetuity.
Apocalyptic, Diana, but I think that was the whole idea. SM envisioned a nation of prosperous tradies voting for him, with fewer troublesome journos, historians, lawyers, etc.
The team behind organising Martin Sharpe’s Estate have vigorously sought a solution that would keep the house, memorabilia and artworks intact as a living museum and/or art student residence. Years of meetings and unpaid voluntarism came to this current solution with the Auction of works and eventual sale of the house to raise a considerable sum to offer many years of art scholarships and the like. While Roz Sharpe and Sandy Sharpe get nothing from the estate they and others happily put an impressive amount of time to honour their cousin’s memory. I put in a couple of bids to hopefully push up the prices.
But I hope some of his artwork will end up in public collections.
They've already let the AGNSW, NAS & Library take their pick. It's still a shame.
The team - including the human ego (Luke Scibberas) - kicked my friend out of the house where he had been living for more 24 years as a theology student and friend of Martin's. Roz and Sandy were always planning on selling the property and then buying a smaller property where they would live and run as a small museum.
Well said John.
Our art galleries are a repetitive projection of mediocrity, ideology, wokeness and a total lack of imagination. I am sooo sick of the indigenous landscapes in the Wynn prize. I use to love beautiful landscapes and metres of paper landscapes under Perspex among many others. The crèche for young Archie’s screams talented family members or friends and has no context of authenticity or relevance.
The fine art portrait artists don’t feel intimidated or lesser. They see it for what it is … controversial and underwhelming every year. Like me they source their passion for seeing great art and artists with gravitas elsewhere.
Agreed. Although you missed an 'e' in the landscape prize Kate...
"I don’t know whether they’re entering and being rejected or have simply given up. Either way, it must be a miserable experience to have worked hard on a portrait only for it not to be selected. It must be catastrophic to find the show packed with works of dubious merit that tick the right ‘identity’ boxes." Yes John.
BTW the art world language you quote made me go and dig up an essay by Douglas R Hofstadter from 1982 titled Suff and Nonsense .
The essay is primarily about the mystery and occasional magic of nonsense writing but Hofstadter does devote a section to a early example of art talk : “ one journal I have come across whose pages are filled with utter nonsense- meant seriously- is called Art-Language “ He then quotes two hilarious examples of serious nonsense from that journal.
Ps
Hofstadter also quotes at length some pieces of rather good intentional nonsense writing from a book by Gertrude Stein titled :How to Write 🙂
The essay is in Hofstadters book:Metamagical Themas worth a reread
I'm always happy for another book recommendation, John.
There is also an essay on Chopin's ways of composing that you'd probably find interesting
PS the Title of the essay on nonsense is 'Stuff and Nonsense ' not suff and nonsense :-)
I rather like 'suff'... it has great intonation.
🙂👍
🙂
Slightly off subject but I've long thought that the AGNSW's Aboriginal collection should be transferred to Customs House, Circular Quay. The natural light of its atrium would suit traditional Aboriginal work. The Customs House also is well located for historic and tourist reasons. The Gallery itself would have no further involvement after the move and could transfer its energy to other areas.
More likely they'd transfer the entire colonial art collection to Customs House
And their responsibility...
Neurodivergent is right up there with ‘vulnerable’ as word of the decade.
Thankfully it's not as frequently used as my pet hate, "practice".