Lost in Translation

Pictured above: Tattooed Texts, 2012, pencil, 35 x 25 cm. Photograph by Tim Gresham

Pictured above is a recently completed work that will shortly be heading for London. It is one of approximately 70 drawings by Australian artists that have been included in the forthcoming exhibition Contemporary Australian Drawing 2: Drawing as notation, text and discovery. The show will run from 23 March – 5 April. It is timed to coincide with the Drawing Out conference at the University of the Arts, London, on 28-30 March 2012.

Curator Dr. Irene Barberis invited artists to respond to either (or both) of these assertions from writers Michel Butor and Serge Tisseron: 

All writing is drawing; and

The space of writing: what does this mean?

My drawing is a response to the first quote.

The image evolved in part from the tattooed women who debuted in my work in the mid 1990s, and have recently made a comeback in the current fairground imagery. An equally significant point of departure for the composition was Man Ray’s iconic Rayograph Le Violin d’Ingres, 1924 (see photograph below, right hand side).

Individual texts are inscribed on the subject’s back in a multitude of languages, including German, Chinese, Welsh, Celtic, Russian, Urdu, Arabic and Japanese. They each denote a common tattoo motif, for example, a rose, a dragonfly, a spider in a web, an eagle, a tiger, barbed wire, an anchor and a sailing ship. In their original pictorial form they would have encompassed a collection of graphic, instantly recognizable images that could be universally read. Now, unless the viewer is prodigiously multi-lingual, most, if not all, are lost in translation.

Pictured above: finished work surrounded by assorted reference materials 

and preparatory drawings

Freak of Nature in Colorado

Freak of Nature exhibition curator and coordinator Rona Green recently forwarded the following installation views, taken in January at the King Family Space, University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. The photographs are courtesy of Melanie Yazzie, Associate Professor of Art, University of Colorado. Freak of Nature was launched last September at Switchback Gallery, Monash University, Gippsland, as part of IMPACT 7, Monash University’s International Print Symposium. (See Blog Post May 11 2011 HERE.)

Participating artists were:

Daniel Allegrucci, Neal Ambrose-Smith, Ampersand Duck (Caren Florance), Rosalind Atkins, Sam Broad, Heather Bryant, Jazmina Cininas, Elizabeth Cole, Paul Compton, Filomena Coppola, Marian Crawford, Kyla Cresswell, Robert Dente, Vincent Drane, Di Ellis, Rodney Forbes, Stephen A Fredericks, Kaitlyn Gibson, Rona Green, Richard Harding, Gregory Harrison, John Ingleton, Simon Kaan, Deborah Klein, Elizabeth Klimek, Kelvin Mann, Michelle Martin, Ron McBurnie, Joshua Norton, George Pados, Janet Parker-Smith, Susan Purdy, John Ryrie, Jane Sampson, Annelise Scott, Matthew Searle, Heather Shimmen, Margaret Silverwood, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Neale Stratford, R.L. Tillman, Clayton Tremlett, Sheyne Tuffery, Deborah Williams, Fleur Williams, Melanie Yazzie and Kate Zizys.

 Associate Professor Melanie Yazzie pictured with Freak of Nature 

exhibition, University of Colorado, January 2012

Installation view (detail)

To discover more about individual artists and artworks, view the online exhibition catalogue on Rona Green’s website HERE.

Pictured top left: Red Bodied Swallowtail Winged Woman, 2011, linocut, hand coloured

The Spider Woman

The suite of linocuts based on sideshow identities is an ongoing labour of love, with no end as yet in sight, mainly because I'm constantly juggling it with other projects. But encouraged by some positive response to the first Sideshows and Funfairs feature (see Blog Post February 11) I’ve decided to preview another work in progress from the series.

Step right up, folks, and meet The Spider Woman:

The Spider Woman, 2012, lino block

The Spider Girl has long been a permanent sideshow fixture, eventually becoming better known as ‘Spidora’. By 1917 several greedy showmen were offering to disclose the secret of the illusion for an extra 25 cents, despite a letter of complaint to Billboard magazine from showman James A. ‘Fingers’ Wallace demanding that the practice be stopped.

Yet Spidora flourished and continues as a sideshow attraction to this day. At New York’s Coney Island her background was revealed by the Barker: “Step right up folks, meet ‘Spidora’, the Spider Girl. Born with the head and face of a beautiful girl and the body of an ugly spider, she survives in total misery, for no man could love her.” The Barker explained that she lived off her earnings as a sideshow freak, that she ate flies and other insects. But the Spider Girl illusion frequently backfired when even some of the most gullible spectators recognized the same girl’s head atop other exotic creatures, such as The Human Butterfly and The Snake Girl.

The Spider Girl is living testament that human beings love to be fooled - even when confronted with one of the most obvious illusions of all time.

Unlike the unhappy Spidora, however, the Red Back Spider/Woman hybrid depicted above is no fake and is definitely not to be crossed. She has more in common with the non-arachnid arch villain as portrayed by Gale Sondergaard (one of my favourite actresses) in the Sherlock Holmes movie Spider Woman, 1944, dir. Roy William Neill, whom Holmes acknowledges is as cunning as Moriarty and as venomous as a spider. So popular was Sondergaard’s portrayal, it spawned a non-Sherlock Holmes ‘sequel,’ the horror movie The Spider Woman Strikes Back.

Yes, folks, feast your eyes on the Spider Woman - but beware she doesn’t feast on you.

For your further edification, here is a short visual history of the Spider Girl Sisterhood (although The Crying Spider by Odilon Redon (second from top) is of somewhat indeterminate gender).

Arachne in Hell by Gustave Dore, engraving
(from 1861 edition of Dante's Inferno) 

The Crying Spider, 1881, by Odilon Redon, charcoal

Spidora at Copperdollar. Visit her at Copperdollar's

extraordinary website HERE.

Berlin Retrospective #2: The Berlin Wall and The East Side Gallery

Fragments of the infamous Berlin Wall are scattered throughout Berlin. A sizeable portion of the wall  has been retained by architects Kohlhoff and Kohlhoff as part of the extraordinary Berlin Wall Memorial. In reality there were two walls, one some distance behind the other. It’s no small wonder that anyone managed to escape at all. There is a permanent outdoor exhibition that gives a chilling insight into what life was like in a divided Berlin, including a memorial wall which honours those who died during attempts to escape from the east side into the west. Also on the site is the Chapel of Reconciliation. Adjacent is an Information Centre that relates the history of the wall through photographic exhibitions and a series of short films. Directly across the road is the Documentation Centre, complete with a lookout tower. A climb to the top is highly recommended. To read more about the Berlin Wall Memorial, click HERE.

Near the centre of Berlin is the longest outdoor gallery in the world. The East Side Gallery is a 1.3km long section of the Berlin Wall on which artists have also acknowledged the Wall’s dark history – but, like the Berlin Wall Memorial, more than anything their works commemorate the extraordinary courage and endurance of the human spirit.

Sideshows and Fun Fairs

Here is a sneak peak at two linocuts in progress. They are part of a long-term project, begun in 2011 at The Art Vault, that is still very much in its early stages.

 Tattooed Woman, 2012 (lino block in progress)

Bearded Lady, 2012 (lino block in progress)

References to carnivals, circuses and sideshows have sporadically appeared in my work, dating way back to childhood scribbles - although thankfully none of these are extant. Doubtless my lifelong fascination with the subject is a direct result of growing up in Blessington Street, St. Kilda, which is walking distance from Luna Park. My recollections of it include the Giggle Palace and all the mind-boggling wonders within (it has long since been destroyed by fire), the River Caves, the stomach-churning Rotor, and an extraordinary ride (dating from around 1908, if memory serves me correctly) that originated in New York’s Coney Island. The exteriors of the latter’s elegant velvet lined carriages were exquisitely hand painted – but the whiplash-inducing ride itself was definitely not for those with delicate constitutions - even by today’s standards.

Although Luna Park had already started the sad, irrevocable process of passing its prime, it still retained much of its former magic. Now, despite the best efforts of its supporters, it’s all rather generic. The magnificent Heritage Listed merry-go-round is the sole survivor from its glory days.

Luna Park, St. Kilda,  circa 1960s

In cinema circuses, carnivals and sideshows are frequently sites of chaos and evil, particularly in Film Noir and the Mystery, Thriller and Horror genres. Some notable examples (and some of my personal favourites) include The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, (dir. Robert Wiene, 1919) Freaks (dir. Tod Browning, 1932) Nightmare Alley (dir. Edmund Goulding, 1947) The Lady from Shanghai (dir. Orson Welles, 1947) and Strangers in a Train (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1951.)

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (dir. Robert Wiene, 1919)

In direct contrast is the touching scene in Hitchcock’s picaresque Saboteur (1942) in which a troupe of circus ‘freaks’ are portrayed with warmth and compassion. It was partly, if not entirely, written by Dorothy Parker. Reportedly Hitchcock was delighted with her contributions to this segment, but believed that at the time of the film’s release its subtleties were lost on most audiences.

Saboteur (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1942)

Here are selected examples of carnival and sideshow related images that have featured in my past work. Some may be more familiar than others. The woodcuts from the Alice in the Cities series of the late 1980s have had relatively little exposure. They are the first five images directly below. For those who are familiar with The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, its influence on these works will be more than evident.

1. Thumbing a Lift, 1989, woodcut

 2. Dum and Dee, the Incredible Siamese Twins, 1989, woodcut

3.  Playing with Fire, 1989, woodcut

4.  The Dogs Bark, and the Caravan Moves On, 1989, woodcut

5. The Curtain Descends, Everything Ends, Too Soon, Too Soon, 1989, 

woodcut, hand coloured

6. Zelda Fitzgerald and her Psychiatrist, 1991, woodcut

7. See the Lady Sawn in Half! 1996, 

linocut (diptych)

8.  Lydia the Tattooed Lady, 1995, linocut

9. Kewpie Dolls, 1996, linocut

Berlin Retrospective 1: The Filmmuseum Berlin

Before my recent Berlin sojourn (in November 2011) becomes naught but a distant memory - at least until the next visit - here is the first of a short series of selected highlights. I’m starting with this fabulous museum, as it has helped rekindle my interest in silent cinema, which in turn appears to be infiltrating some of my current work.

Part of the Filmhaus, which also includes a film school and the Cinematheque-like Arsenal cinemas, Filmmuseum Berlin provides an immersive, hugely entertaining and exceptionally instructive journey through the history of German Cinema.  I felt very much like Lewis Carroll’s Alice, particularly when walking the Caligari-like path that snakes through its dizzying mirrored multi-screened entrance hall - although for film buffs, Wonderland and Looking Glass World combined have nothing on this place.

From Berlin-born Marlene Dietrich’s estate the museum has inherited a vast holding that includes photographs, letters, items of personal clothing and, most notably, costumes from her films. These are regularly rotated. The installation view immediately following includes photographs of Dietrich and her mentor Josef von Sternberg, along with the top hat and other accessories and artifacts from her first Hollywood film Morocco (1930, dir. Josef von Sternberg). Pictured second below is the costume Dietrich wore as dance hall girl Frenchie in the comedy western Destry Rides Again (1939, dir. George Marshall). Cast completely against type, her droll, earthy performance (opposite James Stewart) is considered to be responsible for bailing out her sinking film career.

The exhibits that focused on German silent film and early talkies were especially captivating. These included posters, costumes, stills, film clips, and superbly crafted scale models of film sets, including (first and second directly below) The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1919, dir. Robert Wiene) and The Blue Angel (1930, dir. Josef von Sternberg). Among the costumes was a touchingly evocative facsimile of the doorman’s coat worn by Emil Jannings in the silent classic The Last Laugh (1924, dir. F. W. Murnau). But best of all were a series of film clips of silent movie actress Asta Nielsen, whose acting range (unlike that of the far better known Dietrich) appeared to be limitless.  I knew little of her work, and have the Filmmuseum Berlin to thank for introducing me to it.

Our lengthy visit to this extraordinary place ended in the bar on the ground floor, named for legendary director Billy Wilder, whose own dazzling career began in Berlin. We drank a toast to him.