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CCP/Simone Slee Talk

I went to CCP on Wednesday afternoon, and photographed my favorite pieces. This video by Kelly Wellis I found particularly fascinating. The drawing was soothing, perhaps because of the pencil going up and down, and I liked how in synch the girls were. At first I thought they were lovers or something, and then I realized they looked super similar and were probably just twins. Moving so close to each other in such a small space made it seem very intimate, but at the same time they had such blank faces and were doing such harsh movements with the pencil that it didn't seem beautifully intimate at all - it seemed quite cold really. But that's probably just me. It was odd, I don't entirely know how to explain why but I just really liked it.

I really connected with Vivian Maier's super 8 footage too. It was just her walking around taking videos of things she found visually interesting, something that seemed part of her everyday routine (that's not that surprising, she is a photographer after all). I guess I found it appealing because it is just purely documentative, and not changed very much. It seemed like someone's home video piece. Oh, and I take a lot of video footage as I walk around too, so I guess that's another reason why it appealed to me.

I didn't take any photos of Simone Slee's 'How long can I hold this up?'  because it wasn't something that I felt overly excited by. I thought it was funny, and the large scale of the posters made it stand out quite a lot, however I didn't feel compelled to stay and look for very long. After going to her talk and hearing the stories surrounding her adventures abroad with the signs and her social experiments testing the works in public places made me appreciate it a little more, because I heard it's history. We've been talking about the idea of documentation as being artwork a lot, for example Agathe Gothe-Snappe using words from interviews as direct sources for her work, and this work that was at the WestSpace Contemporary Art Prize that included an entire wall of the letters sent in regards to creating the piece:

I think the idea of using documentation as a part of the artwork itself often leads to things being easier to understand, and in my opinion I think I'm drawn to works that seem to say something. Although I like art for the sake of being visually appealing, and there's just something about the pure aesthetics of some things, I think a lot of art I consider to be important or valuable is one that has a story and history and meaning behind it. I'd say meaning is definitely the key word there. And the easier it is for people to deconstruct that meaning, the more people will be affected. However, pretty much every artwork is saying something, even if it's quite small and not overly noticeable, and only reaches a small amount of people. I guess that's why there are so many artists and so many galleries around - so that people will keep thinking and seeing different perspectives. That's a pretty obvious thing to say. Anyway, moving on....

Aside from Slee's 'How long can I hold this up?', her other work really appealed to me. It was one of those pieces that perhaps may not have stood out to a lot of people, but that still resonated with me. It was cheeky and cute and contradicting everything I've just said about liking artworks because they change your perspective on things: I liked it cause the little tiny bits of body poking out were funny and sweet, and the contrasting bright colors were cheerful. It just made me smile.

The nose one was my favorite:

After seeing a slide show of her work I think I should also mention that I liked her project called 'my house is too small' or something - visiting other people's houses and living with and making art with them is always fun, and giving a name to and documenting that process is a very clever idea I think.

One thing I disliked about the talk was when she wouldn't stop talking about the type of paper she was going to use. I respect her passion and eye for detail in the type of paper that she uses, but I just wasn't that interested in her paper choice. It was very nice of her to show us that much intimate detail into her decision making process however. And also very nice to see shots she didn't use, and photographs she didn't print. She was very honest and open, and I appreciate that.

Dinner's ready, so that's all for now.

My favorite work at the Contemporary art prize was Bindi Cole's work '#18C'. I liked how relevant it was to issues of the time, and I thought the relationship between participating and resisting in an artwork was interesting. By doing nothing you were forced to engage with it. whether they want to or not.

I found Inez De Vega's double channel video instillation quite funny. She was clever in that she talked about meaning and messages of other people's artworks quite deeply, yet still in a ridiculous way, so people  perhaps reviewed it in a less serious way. I'd never thought about that cat so much before. The idea of having an artwork so directly about another artwork is quite bold, I think.

I also liked Phong Ngo's work. Once again, by making people take off their shoes to see it forces people to engage in the artwork before they even view it. I think having it up the top level was a good choice too. the sun came in beautifully and walking up the steps was like walking into the world of the artwork. I also found it interesting how he juxtaposed the money (wealth, something from his culture), iPads (something westernized, everyday, interactive) and another tradition of creating these boats with paper. It was a fascinating collection of ideas and concepts. I also found the choice of either contributing to the artwork or taking your little boat away an interesting concept. You could either take this away and remember the artwork every time you see it, or chose to let go if this thing you have created and contribute to something bigger, and maybe more powerful.

I liked this piece too, it was overflowing with meaningful and recognizable symbols, and said so much at once. It also reminded me of that one piece suit in 'Horton Hears a Who' by Dr.Suess that ends up ruining the planet because they just keep making more and more and cutting down trees and making factories to create this ridiculous suit.  Oh and the penis on the floor in the same room was pretty funny.

 

I also liked this work, purely for aesthetics:

And a massive painting of blue tack on the wall. Clever.

That's all for now :)