If you’ve read this blog before, you may have gathered that Studio ARTISTS Untitled is a group show of a collective of artists from Studio ARTES currently showing at Callan Park Gallery at Sydney College of the Arts. If not, the show is the first public manifestation of the collective, henceforth to be known as ‘Studio ARTISTS’. The artists within the collective are those who’ve developed what could be deemed a more advanced practice than other more recreational members of the studio, and include Matthew Calandra, Thom Roberts, Greg Sindel, Daniel Kim and Lynda Strong. The exhibition is curated by two Studio ARTES staff members, Gabrielle Mordy and Emma Johnston.
While the Callan Park space is relatively small, the direct and communicative nature of work by artists with disability is often best served by such intimate spaces. Mordy and Johnston seem aware of this, and it’s clear that they intended to use the gallery as more than simply a few white walls on which to hang a show. Through various methods they utilise the device of the visual art exhibition to discuss the topic of relationships, and to demonstrate the integral role of relationships within the specialised studio.
Mordy and Grahame’s simple but effective tactic of inviting the artists to work with them on the layout of the show invites consideration of the relationship between artist and exhibition space. Sindel, whose instinctual practice is the creation of comic books in a traditional sort of format, was able to enlarge frames of his work and draw them directly onto the wall, while Strong, ever the colourist, painted a lush backdrop to her framed images.
While perhaps it may be a somewhat long bow to draw, this act of working directly onto the wall of the gallery seemed to me an interesting reflection on the historical tendency for outsider artists to work directly onto the environments that surround them in lieu of opportunities to exhibit their work in traditional settings. This tendency, seen most overtly in outsider environments, is not referred to directly by the curators but through subtle implication. This subtlety is important given the current tension within discussions of outsider art and artists with disability. To link the two too overtly would perhaps perpetuate and be seen to endorse the current habit of automatically equating disability with outsider status without due consideration of the complexity of that relationship. As palpable as this tension is (at least for some), with the show existing in a gallery dedicated to outsider art, it would be naive not to recognise the links that exist between outsider art and disability, at least on some level. Obviously aware of this, Mordy and Grahame’s sensitive treatment allows us to engage with this relationship instead as a discussion of previous modes of thinking about disability and art, and as a suggestion of what may be achieved by bringing practices traditionally associated with the outsider into the contemporary gallery space.
Uncommonly for a group show, the personal relationships that exist between the individual artists are also quite evident. Kim’s large-scale reproduction of Roberts’ Mo Baby, which is found amongst his installation that fills the second room of the gallery, is the most obvious connection. In the same way that Kim shows his relationship with Roberts, Strong paints a portrait of Calandra, who in turn depicts Greg Sindel. Sindel doesn’t seem concerned to return the favour though – his content is strictly pop-cultural characters and archetypes, of any genre or era. I say that this clear depiction of personal relationships is uncommon as most curated group shows put forward artists who are linked in some way, thematically or by process for example, but who rarely have such a strong focus on other artists, as individuals, within the content of their practice.
More broadly than the physical gallery space, the relationship between disability and the mainstream is a point raised by the presence of the show within the Art Month Sydney program. Even more than this, the very aims that underlie the Studio ARTISTS initiative show an awareness of this relationship, and the exhibition demonstrates a desire to step beyond its current tentative state.
I don’t hide that fact that I’m not a big fan of the term Outsider Art in reference to specialised studios. However, Callan Park Gallery has shown very strong support for specialised studios in Sydney, and, semantic reservations about the term Outsider Art aside, that is obviously something to be thankful for. While my strongest desire is to see shows such as Studio ARTISTS Untitled appear in venues not just affiliated with Outsider Art, I do recognise the key role the gallery has been playing in recent developments for specialised studios.
With this in mind, the separation of the collective from the main studio program and its formation as a group that will operate primarily within networks and spaces external to the studio and the outsider art community shows a strong strategic impulse operating within Studio ARTES. The engagement of Elizabeth Fortescue, arts writer for the Telegraph, to write the catalogue essay is a key success of the show in respect to this.
With this impulse in hand, Studio ARTES seem set to progress the relationship between specialised studios and more mainstream networks significantly and, while this may take some time, Studio ARTISTS Untitled is a positive step in the right direction.
Studio ARTISTS Untitled is on until 8 Apr 2011, and is viewable by appointment by contacting the Gallery on 9351 1008 or at callanpark.gallery@sydney.edu.au.
