Tony Garifalakis
Gemma:
Ashley Crawford looks at Australian artwork that has been banned from recent international exhibitions in the article "Lost in translation" (Art Monthly Australia, Aug 2006 no.192 p23). Crawford looks at two exhibitions curated by Natalie King that took place earlier this year. Firstly Silenzi which was held in Venice and secondly Supernatural artificial: Australian Photography Today, an exhibition which toured around Asia. It was the artwork that was banned from Silenzi that interested me most. The piece was by Tony Garifalakis who was selected along with two other Australian artists to 'immerse themselves in Venetian culture' during a five week residency and to create new work to be exhibited with three Italian artists. The three artists were each given a working Venetian church as a studio which gave them great insight into the immensely important aspect of religion in Venetian culture. This was especially reflected in Garifalakis piece Nothings song.
(I'd already written this before I had access to a computer with internet and so couldn't look up to see if there was a picture of the artwork I wrote about, there wasn't.. but I have chosen a similar one of Garifalakis' pieces to give you an idea of his style.... and now it's not loading it even though it's saying it has. argh. so. fail. I'll just put in a link- http://www.physicsroom.org.nz/gallery/2006/family/6Tony-Garifalakis.jpg)
Garifalakis researched representations of death and funerary act in the Venetian churches and was intrigued by the obscure rituals and monuments etc that were involved. He combined the ideas these gloomy ideas with that of the idea of the celebration known as the Day of the Dead in Mexico which, while it deals with similar things, is a joyous occasion. The article quoted him saying 'Horror and its representations in art history and popular culture are the central themes of my work'. His piece that was to be exhibited is an installation which, while challenging, to my fairly unchristian eye seemed reasonably inoffensive. The installation features a fabric, death metal clad, corpse and several panels decorated with skulls, skeletons and other rather odd and morbid pictures. However like the example of his work I have included the images he includes are backed with bright colours in a very pop art-esque style. Other inclusions were red candles burning in a red box (apparently suggesting a satanic ritual) and a noose.
The installation was deemed inappropriate for the exhibition the day before the opening however I found this work interesting from it’s origins and themes right down to simply, it’s aesthetics.
Ashley Crawford looks at Australian artwork that has been banned from recent international exhibitions in the article "Lost in translation" (Art Monthly Australia, Aug 2006 no.192 p23). Crawford looks at two exhibitions curated by Natalie King that took place earlier this year. Firstly Silenzi which was held in Venice and secondly Supernatural artificial: Australian Photography Today, an exhibition which toured around Asia. It was the artwork that was banned from Silenzi that interested me most. The piece was by Tony Garifalakis who was selected along with two other Australian artists to 'immerse themselves in Venetian culture' during a five week residency and to create new work to be exhibited with three Italian artists. The three artists were each given a working Venetian church as a studio which gave them great insight into the immensely important aspect of religion in Venetian culture. This was especially reflected in Garifalakis piece Nothings song.
(I'd already written this before I had access to a computer with internet and so couldn't look up to see if there was a picture of the artwork I wrote about, there wasn't.. but I have chosen a similar one of Garifalakis' pieces to give you an idea of his style.... and now it's not loading it even though it's saying it has. argh. so. fail. I'll just put in a link- http://www.physicsroom.org.nz/gallery/2006/family/6Tony-Garifalakis.jpg)
Garifalakis researched representations of death and funerary act in the Venetian churches and was intrigued by the obscure rituals and monuments etc that were involved. He combined the ideas these gloomy ideas with that of the idea of the celebration known as the Day of the Dead in Mexico which, while it deals with similar things, is a joyous occasion. The article quoted him saying 'Horror and its representations in art history and popular culture are the central themes of my work'. His piece that was to be exhibited is an installation which, while challenging, to my fairly unchristian eye seemed reasonably inoffensive. The installation features a fabric, death metal clad, corpse and several panels decorated with skulls, skeletons and other rather odd and morbid pictures. However like the example of his work I have included the images he includes are backed with bright colours in a very pop art-esque style. Other inclusions were red candles burning in a red box (apparently suggesting a satanic ritual) and a noose.
The installation was deemed inappropriate for the exhibition the day before the opening however I found this work interesting from it’s origins and themes right down to simply, it’s aesthetics.
posted by Polly Dance at 7:39 AM
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