NATHAN SUNIULA

Nathan Talked to us today about his practice -painting he showed a a short film about Americans loss of depth in the world of painting and its ressurection through abstract and minimalist painting.

he discussed his interest in the formal properties of painting including surface ,support,theory and the medium of communication

The context of his thesis called the "disrupted field " talks about how people become accustomed and desensitised to their condititions until an event disrupts their field or space a good example of this is when somebody becomes used to living next to a motorway they never notice all the noise until something like a car crash happens and it destroys the normality of their space because different disruptions of sound etc are occurring.

"The feild is influenced by the event and the event is influenced by the field.

Nathan showed us some of his work and disscused how he was heavily influenced by the Ie tonga a Traditional Samoan mat used in forgivness rituals.

He incorporates the mats by sealing them with PVA cutting them up placing them on the canvas using oil paints over them then sealing them with polyurethane in an effort to capture and combine the texture and tactile nature of the woven mats creating a paradigm joining his Samoan culture with western culture.

In his other works with oil he works with oils and he found peanut oil works in his proccess he lays down a base layer and then he lays a top layer which he scratches through with a nail to create a woven effect transmitting the properties of the ie toga to canvas his aim was to create a hovering feel venturing into epistemology.

One thing that stands out about Nathans talk is how much people can take their own work and even themselves for granted sometimes I think we need to step outside of ourselves to really see ourselves or at least to disrupt the feild.......

Tiffany Singh and Tessa Laird

In this picture we see Tessas use of colour to create a nostilgic feel reminesecnt of 60's -70's peacock revolution where men started dressing more flamboyantly





In this picture we see 2 of Tessa's prints the top one consists of blues ,purples ad indigos its quite intriging because it is about the vision of colour through the eyes of a bee because from the point of veiw they see in ultra violet I guess thats how they find pollen. very thought provoking that the veiw of the world we humans have is not the same as the other creatures who inhabit this planet

In this picture we see 2 of the wax duplicates created by Tiffany Singh originally used in the "what colour is sacred exhibtion"

Tiffany worked for 1 year in India teaching art to street kids while there she was given gifts of small idols which she made wax duplicates of.

she used the wax duplicates for her art exhibition she utilised the colours of the Shakra which are the same as the rainbow in reverse eg the colours of the rainbow

-red

-orange

-yellow

-green

-blue

-indigo

-violet

In shakra the colours are in reverse with violet at the top (the head ) the highest point of the shakra.She introduced a new way of looking at art because she was more interested in the interaction and effect of the art on people rather than the value of it being bought or sold.

In her exihbition named "What colour is sacred" (named by Tessa after reading a book by the same title by Micheal Colenso) she set up the wax duplicates of the idols in coloured groups like a rainbow she invited people to become involved and exchange pieces of art for one of the wax idols interesting to note the dark blue idols went first .

She concentrated alot on others senses such as smell "Newtons peace bomb exhibition" and sound as in the knock on the "sky and listen exhibition"

Tiffany is interested in tracing past audience engagement and interaction she is a brave artist and has obviously ben rewarded for standing up for her beliefs that art doesnt always have to be about money or what you see.

My Favorite colour has always ben green because Ive always Idolised the Incredible hulk.

Another artist that utilises alot of colour is the one and only Tessa Laird she spoke to us about colours and the fact that colour is actually a form of radiation I also remember her saying that colour cannot be pinned down because it is in continuous transformative flux she also told us that Isaac Newton discovered how to seperate light into colours using a glass triangle called a colour prism I like the way her research gives a more informed approach to her practices and she successfully makes colour the star in her works at the double rainbow exhibition she has made colour the filling of the sandwich as opposed to most artsits who merely see colour as bread holding the work together.(see pics at the top)

Ps Im sure that your book project about colour will be a resounding success and I look foward to reading it !

William Hsu Artist run spaces

Auckland art gallery

The original Auckland art museum with a water fall in front

concrete ,glass,steel and funeral bouquets

Keep building the mega mall up and soon well block out the clock tower completley who cares

The Auckland art gallery is now a Mega mall where its free but you still have to pay if I wanted glass ,concrete and steel I would have gone to Auckland hospital WTF

this isnt the Auckland art gallery I remember the one I remember didnt block out the sun and infect the street like leporasy pretty soon they will close offf the whole road so they can expand.

The Auckland art gallery I remember is pictured at the very top I still remember letting my daughter play in the fountain 10 years ago and not having to look through oversized windows to see the trees

I remember space ,sun ,air and a charismatic building with a skyscraping clock attactched to it now this is all but a memory swept away by a fukin mega mall structure that is like walking around in a damn rubiks cube it reminded me of the David Bowie film Labirynth.

It is a shame that the once welcoming feel of days gone by is no longer welcome in the concrete jungle now every one wants space inside but wheres the space outside I think the architects must have ben exconvicts because they didnt give a toss about the out doorspace of the building.

Cold, dank, dark, surgical, shadowy and agrophobic is how I describe this building to me it is no longer the Auckland Art gallery it is far from it should be called the Auckland Art Gallery Mausoleum-a stately or impressive building housing a tomb of memories.

Form and function

Does form follow function or does function follow form ?
the answer to this is neither
form and function are illusions for example what came first the chicken or the egg I know in Grants speech he mentions it was the chicken but I beleive it was the egg the reptilian egg to be precise as chickens evolved from reptiles.
For me as a Maori carver Form and Function are 2 sides of the same coin the spirituality behind my work is the function behind the form and the form of my carvings brings meaning to the function.
confused yet ?
So was I until I realised that my greatest creations actually created themselves like witers who finish award winning novels and at the end say "It practically wrote itself" or when I carve a Taonga I have an Idea of what it will look like in the end but once it is finished it always looks slightly different which leads me to the theory that form and function come second to instinct and meaning .Emma mc Lellan is a prime example of someone who is slave to neither form or funtion and instead creates through a feral instinct in the dark not knowing what a piece may look like when the light is turned on.
Forming without function and creating function without form is experimenting learning growing and is the at the base of indulgence in the world of art.Creating just because.

Emma Mc Lellan and Xavier Mead

Maha Tomo -LNP NZ election 2011 political poster

Xaveir Meade - Blessed virgin of the barricades

Emma mc Lellan

Emma McLellan

Emma Mc Lellan Is interested in curiosities such as Wunderkammern (wonder room)cabinets which are like miniature museums of collected oddities from the past which began in the 16th century

Her work is heavily influenced by bestiaries also known as beast compendiums from the 12th century.

She builds up layers in her works randomly doing what feels right to her experimenting and gos with the flow she mergers painting and screen printing to create her work she also appropriates William Morris patterns for her backgrounds she uses a dry paint method to achieve a smokey effect in her paintings called scumbling which makes her CMYK screenprints look like paintings

She is interested in genetic engineering and especially mutations because she sees mutations as the catalyst for change I have a different theory though I think survival and evolution is the catalyst to mutations.

Having Kids is what sparked her interest in genetics and hereditary histories.

I find her work very visceral,organic and unplanned and random like Dr Frankenstein she creates a menagerie of mixed up and sewn together believable beasts of beauty but on canvas.

How does Xavier Meade approach screenprinting differently ?

Xavier has a very different approach to screenprinting he is very much concentrated on what is happening in the world around him today right now as opposed to Emma's references to the past

Where Emma's work is quite personal and almost private like looking into a museum window box by yourself Xavier's work is political and public he sees his artwork as a vehicle to take political veiws to street literally.

His work is for the freedom fighters the poor and the illiterate I remember him saying that Mexico has a very low literacy rate so the posters are all about the image not the text and they have to catch the attention.

Xavier is very in touch with indigenous cultures and shows alot of admiration and understanding to the Maori people in his project Purakau he show cases Maori , NZ and Cuban artists and his booklet is translated into Te Reo , Spanish and English.

His art work pictured at the top is called Blessed Virgin of the barricades which is a prayer or an

homage to all the street artists ,political activists, freedom fighters and protestors of the world

The Virgin Mary /Virgin of the barricades is someone for them to pray to which literally illustrates the power of the poster !

I connected well with Xavier as I appreciated his respect for Maori Subsequently we exchanged gifts he gave me a poster booklet of Purakau and I gave him a political poster I had made called LNP (Labour National Politics) NZ election2011 (Pictured at the very top) the Idea for this poster came to me in May2011 I felt strongly about how detrimental nationals policies were against students and minorities and how they see money as power in the blue at the top is John key all the figures are white and the further down the pyramid you go the less empowered you are.

In the red which symbolises labour all the figures are equal and are linked also they are red not white although I concentrated more on the context than the form I was pleased that I made it when I Did it was a raw expression of protest in a poster and I was glad to give Xaveir one of the originals there is still one in the mac suite at the msva and I have ben inspired to make more after hearing Xavier passionately speak about voicing expressions through posters.

Seek Collaboration and Auckland Mueseum visit

Today we talked about the SEEK exhibtion.

This exhibition was a collaborative effort consisting of 3 artists -

Dion Hitchens who specialises in sculpture and installations this drawing is called Kingdom of the dragon king"

Bill Riley who specialises in painting this installation is called "Stacks"

James Ormsby who specialises in Drawing the image in the background is called piece is called " mine mount mine"

I found this peice to be the most intriguing because there is alot of history behind it and I appreciate the uncanny appropriation of the Image I also like the third dimension of it revolving like a record.

This is a moving image piece it is a photo of a Mine that James Ormsby used to cycle past everyday as a child in Waihi.

He saw the Image in a pamphlet and decided to appropriate it into his work obviously not bothered by copyrights.

At first glance I thought this was a picture of a planet (Mars) because of the circular form and because it was set against a black background.

If I had to describe this peice of work in one word it would be "transfomer " because it is the epitomie of more than meets the eye from a distance it looks like a planet upright and upclose it looks like a crater or a mine and once it rotates upside down it resembles a mountain with a bike track hence the name " mine mount mine" Very innovative use of an everyday image to create a powerful work of art showcasing how artistic views of mundane objects can provoke thought .

The seek collaborative stands for activating thought in their audience rather than being activists they combine informal interaction and are against being branded or labelled finally the key theme to keep their work authentic is that they interact and comminicate with local communities as pictured above where they exchanged art for food to give to the local foodbank at their Sydney exhibition.

THE AUCKLAND MUESEUM

At the Auckland mueseum I really enjoyed this installation called the gold wall it consists of hundreds of gold leaf squares that have been burnished on individually square by square (15cmx15cm) the gold leaf contains real gold and cannot be touched by hand so is picked up by static cling. the thing I liked most about this wall was the way it reacted to the flash in the camera in this first photo I used no flash in the second photo I used a flash which as u can see created an illuminating effect reminescent of the regal ballrooms of the french renaissance period.