Interviewers
Stuart Brash and Dave Richards
INTERVIEW WITH STUART BRASH
MONDAY
5 NOVEMBER
REGARDING CHOICE OF MERILYN FAIRSKYE AS WINNER OF THE 31ST ALICE
PRIZE
SB A rejuvenated Art Prize art award attracted 300 people
on Friday (ACTUALLY SATURDAY) night all waiting to see what
suprises the judge, in this case Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, would
come up with this year. Now Ms Macgregor who is the Director
of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Syndey had the honour of
awarding a $15,000 prize. after a bequest from America boosted
the coffers of the Alice Springs Art Foundation. She also had
the hard work of deciding who deserved to get the money. In
a moment we’ll hear from Ms Macgregor about her choice,
but first let’s hear what she told Dave Richards about
the exhibition before she made up her mind on the winner. Dave
Richards asked her if the works reflected the contemporary concerns
of Australians.
(EXTRACT
OF INTERVIEW WITH DAVE RICHARDS ON FRIDAY 2 NOVEMBER BEGINS)
EAM. I think there are - in a number of works. There’s
a very clear message coming out about issues around diversity,
issues around who Australians are, who we are. I am curious
as to whether some of the works were made before the current
situation or not, because at least one has references that I
take to be about, for example, the refugee situation.
(LOOKING
AT KATE BEYNON’S PAINTING “WELCOME”)
EAM. This
is a very striking painting which drew me as soon as I arrived
in the gallery. It’s an image of, I think probably a Japanese
woman, looking like something drawn from a comic - you don’t
know whether she’s about to high kick you in the martial
arts sense or what, and she’s standing over a map, at least
its an outline, a very strong outline of Australia and down
one side it says “Welcome “ and down the other side
it says “huan ying” which is chinese I would imagine,
so I think this work is referring obviously to the refugee situation
and perhaps playing on stereotypes. Should we be scared of this
woman who’s obviously looking like a potential invader?
But then there’s a cuddly panda down there so I think perhaps
the artist is also making reference to the sort of soft nice
side of perhaps China and we’ve got the corresponding koala
at the top.
DR Of course, Central Australia has always been dominated
by landscape art, whether that’s coming from Aboriginal
people or the white people who live here. Has that come through
in this exhibition or is it’s flavour really national or
international?
EAM.
There are some extrordinary powerful Aboriginal works in this
exhbition - works that really pull you into the feeling of the
desert and there are also works that make reference to the landscape
in very unusual ways.
(LOOKING
AT PAMELA LOFTS’ “LANDMARKS #1”)
For example, this work here, it looks like rocks from the desert
- beautiful chunks of hewn rock on which the artist has carved
the words of, I think, a Yeats poem, words about dreams
DR It is a Yeats poem - “Tread softly because you tread
on my dreams” (by) Pam Lofts who is an Alice Springs painter.
EAM.
Indeed. And I think this work - it’s not a clear realistic
depiction of the landscape but it immediately made me think
of those amazing rocks you see about here and the way she heaped
them up like that, it’s quite chaotic. I regard this as
a very poetic and a very strong work.
And then there’s more unusual landscapes.
(LOOKING
AT GRANT HILL’S “GIVE ME A HOME AMONGST THE GUM TREES”)
I love this one - a sort of suburban scene. It’s a house
....
DR One of those concrete houses of the ‘60, or ‘50’s
maybe?
EAM.
It’s called “Give me a Home amongst the Gum Trees”
. It’s a very well-painted depiction of a particular suburban
landscape but what makes it for me, he’s then inserted
this kangaroo with an umbrella. I don’t think we have enough
humour in contemporary art so that’s a nice contrast to
the more heavy political message.
DR You’ve also been looking at this painting by
Rod Moss.
EAM.
(LOOKING AT ROD MOSS’S “ROBBIE HAYES’ BREAKFAST
CAMP”)
This is one of the first works that caught my eye as soon as
I walked into the gallery. It’s an extraordinary powerful
depiction of Aboriginal people and its very moving and you get
such a sense of the characters of the people that I began to
think about the politics of it, as you do, I’m afraid.
I wondered who this artist is, does he live here, what is his
relationship with the subject matter, these Aboriginal people
... I’ve been thinking about it a lot and now I’m
beginning to make enquiries and he’s ..
DR
Can you do that? I mean, as a judge, is that important, where
the artist came from? Aren’t you just looking at the works
on their own?
EAM.
That’s a really interesting question. You can respond to
a work of art immediately and then it makes you want to ask
further questions and that deepens your understanding. I think
it’s important that your first reaction is the one that
you go with because judging works of art is a very instinctive
thing, but at the same time, when you’re dealing with the
way that people are represented, I think you have to take on
board the politics and therefore I wanted to find out more.
I’m curious as to why these subjects are being depicted
like this.
DR
It’s a very interesting story. In fact, Rod Moss has been
telling that story, writing that story down for many years as
well, so it should be interesting to go down that path. What
have you found out?
eam Well, the one thing that I’ve learned is that he’s
very much involved with the people who are in this paintings
so he’s not coming in like a tourist and just taking snapshots
of them and making paintings, because that could be what’s
happening - although I have to say I suspected not, because
the painting has such a power that I find it difficult to believe
that someone just coming in and taking photographs would have
access like this.
DR
He would have had to have a secret camera .... I mean ... It’s
such a relaxed group there.....
EAM.
Absolutely,
and what I like about it is it goes beyond just depicting in
a very realistic way ... their expressions, their emotions,
come through in this painting. People talk a lot about figurative
painting but ... even the way he’s depicted the landscape,
you can almost feel the sizzling heat, because of not painting
it as you would see it in a photograph. He’s actually given
it this extraordinary quality of movement ... the way that the
land around the people is shown and the shadows and so on that
draw the eye into the shack. It’s a very very striking
work.
INTERVIEW
WITH STUART BRASH
MONDAY 5 NOVEMBER RE CHOICE OF MERILYN FAIRSKYE AS WINNER OF
THE 31ST ALICE PRIZE
WITH HER WORK “EYE CONTACT” RESUMES AFTER INTRODUCTORY
COMMENTS NAMING THE WINNER
EAM.
I have to say first of all that it was an incredibly difficult
decIsion and I did ponder really pretty well up to the moment
when I had to announce it. Merilyn is actually a video artist
and given that there were probably 5 or 6 people who really
deserved to win, I began to think about what would tip me over
the line. This particular work drew me because there’s
a way that artists working with video are very much updating
the tradition of portraiture. What this artist has done is,
over the last ten years, photographed hundreds and hundreds
of people from different cultural, social and racial backgrounds
and she’s put them together into this video which is essentially
just a series of photographs of people but they’ve all
got their eyes shut which makes them very vulnerable and you
are actually presented over the 8 minute loop of the video with
this incredible panoply of faces of all different nationalities.
They’re a bit anonymous because they have their eyes shut
so they’re not making eye contact with you, (in fact “Eye
Contact” is the name of the piece) but she’s then
given them their first name and their occupation . So the work
is very much about challenging stereotypes, but it’s also
very simple, it’s about the incredible diversity and range
of humanity and I just felt, the more I thought about this work,
that at this particular point in time when we have this really
rather horrendous world situation developing and issues around
people being treated differently because they come from different
backgrounds, it’s an incredibly evocative piece and very
moving.
DR The interesting thing you’re saying there is ..
it sounds like ... because of the current situation, it swayed
your thinking in the judging of the prize. Is that always the
case? The judge is always set in the context of their times
as well, so that was where the decision came from?
EAM.
Absolutely. I think, as I say, there were so many really good
works, any of which I could have chosen simply on aesthetic
grounds, I could have said, well there’s some fabulous
great painting, there was some very wonderful indigenous work,
and so on, and yet at the end of the day, I wanted to have something
that gave a little bit more. Quite often works of art don’t
exist alone, they are informed by the people looking at them,
Your reaction to the works will depend very much on who you
are.
SB And also because art is such a subjective ... to judge
art , I can only imagine, is such a subjective exercise and
when you’re comparing things there like, as you say, a
DVD versus a painting, versus scupture versus an installation,
where do you start?
EAM.
Its very hard. It’s very hard. But very enjoyable as well.
I’m absolutely delighted - I gave two special commendations,
one to Rod Moss and the other to Lucy Yukenbari - and both of
those works are now being purchased by the Art Foundation so
those two works will also go into the collection. Which is terrific
... so we spread it around a little bit. It’s always very
hard. The “winner takes all” prizes are the hardest
of all to judge.
SB Well, certainly because of the bequest to the Alice Springs
Art Foundation, the $15,000 prize, will be very much sought
after. As a regional prize that’s quite a large amount
I would have thought.
EAM.
It’s a large amount for any artist. Artists are not particularly
highly paid members of our society and there’s only a very
very few that can charge significant sums of money for their
work. Many artists work away for years without earning a lot
of money, so in that context - I think even in a national context
- it’s a big prize.
SB And good to see local artist such as Rod Moss being recognised.
He has been recognised many times - he won the Outback Art Award
in Broken Hill, three years ago now, I believe - so he’s
certainly been around a bit, and Pamela Lofts, who I think has
an installation in the prize as well,
EAM.
Yes, and Pip McManus. There were a number of very strong works
from this region which was fantastic for me to see coming up
from Sydney as I hadn’t been to Alice before so it gave
me exposure to what I thought was some very very strong work
from this area.
