When Khaled Sabsabi was selected to represent Australia in next year’s Venice Biennale, and subsequently dumped, there was a nationwide epidemic of hanky wringing. “What will we do? The pavilion will be left empty! No artist will ever agree to step up and take on the role!”
Well, Creative Australia apparently didn’t try very hard to find a replacement, preferring to restore Sabsabi to the post, totally reversing its opinion of the controversial works that had brought about his disqualification, while issuing abject apologies. Had they looked a little harder, they would have found plenty of artists outside the charmed circle of friends and colleagues who would have had a go.
To sample what’s survey, The Scales, you won’t have to travel to Venice, but to the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre in Katoomba. It’s a relatively compact show, in which the works are either extremely large or small. They are also obliquely autobiographical. Although what doesn’t like to give everything away at first glance, there’s nothing especially cryptic about his imagery. The ambiguities are intended to enhance the experience of the work, not to obfuscate meaning.