I met another 30 strangers

Victoria Hunt and Aria If not more. Everyday interactions in a recreated setting. Yesterday's guests left marks on me but they are all blending into one. The pearls of wisdom were fast and furious, I imbibed them all at the time and swallowing them whole, moved on to the next. To be present in the moment, thinking of Marina Ambromovich and her 3 months of gazes. The mynahs and rosellas love the tree near the entrance of the park, with red and orange flowers. They nibble and squeak and cluster on it's branches in waves. I have seen 2 mynahs catch insects which they devour on the ground next to me. Leaves blow through my open structure and yesterday the ground was covered by beautiful golden leaves which look like ginkgo but I'm not sure. Must ask someone. Yesterday' eyes, voices and presences penetrated me. I wanted to go home with some of the people. Quantum mechanics was discussed. A physics professor, an engineer, and architect, a lawyer, someone who worked with water, four nurses, an Englishman, 2 Scots with thick accents, a couple who brewed their own beer and were quite drunk and one woman who I said nothing that made any sense to. A couple asked me if I did fortune telling. And a sad lady who was here on a working holiday but hadn't made any friends yet. I felt myself moving into my role as Lucy, the psychiatrist once or twice, but having to re-negotiate my place and transit back to this time, this place, this hope for a tidy exit. One fellow refused the tea so I drank it, but he made quite an impression on me, with his Reject shop bags and sandals. He gave me 2 minutes, which I was grateful for and imparted wisdoms I can't recall. Some people gave, some received, every one of them connected with me on some elementary level. I loved how different people chose to sit and invariably when a couple came in the woman would sit on the tatami while the man sat on the milk crate. Many of the guests had visited Song Dong's installation at Carriageworks prior, and some wanted to discuss this work. I thought about it and how we were creating a memory, a fleeting one that may stay somewhere in the residue of each participant. I was glad that it wasn't an object that I was conveying, rather, an experience. Those clear open gazes loiter in my thoughts, how beautiful are their eyes, these gems of our bodies, a myriad different colours and spastically beautiful striations. I wish I could take photos of their eyes, record them all into a wallpaper. Today I will endeavour to photograph the scenario from my vantage point.

I met thirty strangers yesterday

And wonder how many I will meet today. I am performing a Wabi-Sabi Afternoon Tea as part of Sydney Festival in one of the Micro-Parks in my area, there are 3 other parks with actions involved and for 3 days we are occupying the parks. I am serving Australian tea in a Japanese fashion, involving a slight artistic fusion between the two ceremonies, traditional English tea ceremony and the Japanese chanoyu (茶の湯?). The work was curated by Jeff Kahn from the Performance Space. Most strikingly, in recollection I recall the eyes of my guests, the clear quality of their gaze as we interacted in this unusual get-together and meeting point I had designed. One aspect of both rituals, other than to provide rest, refreshment and contemplation of beauty, is a conversation, which I am thrilled to partake in, even at such a basic level. It is a pleasure to interact with strangers and offer a gift and have an exchange which I am so fortunate to participate in and be the receptacle of knowledge about. It was not something I had conceived of, when planning the performance, but is the main outcome which I am aware of, and which I wanted to share as there were so many kind and beautiful words exchanged, of which I was privvy. Which is why I'm writing this today. The seven seasons of weather in the North of Australia. The tattoes from around the globe, most notably a bear in the woods from Canada. That tea parties aren't played as children in China. The pinky finger, whence drinking English tea should be curved, rather than pointed and comes as a result of drinking from cups, rather than mugs. That you don't need to travel in order to enjoy what you have here. Not sure about that. That art and philosophy enrich our lives and minds so that all else is possible. I would include rituals. I met a few couples who were newly in love, and ones that didn't know they were in love with each other, and some that were together but lived far from one another. The honesty and integrity of the participants being recalled fills me with hope for today.

The answer my friends is blowing in the wind

This week I had the fortune of installing my show at Margo Lewer's house in Penrith, for a solo exhibition titled Plastici. This show has been a long time in the making and was a delight to complete in this wonderful house, bequeathed by the wondrous Margo in 1978. The exhibition entails the works I'd made at Tokyp Wonder Site last year, on my Asialink scholarship, and further developed in Yokohama with Bec Dean as part of Life 3 by Bank Art at Shin-Minatomira. And finally completed here. I found the resolution of the works relatively easy, as the Gallery's resources provided exactly what I needed; re-inforcing my precepts concerning synchronicity. In fact, once again, during install I was comforted by the magic of things fitting together and trusting my intuition to a deep level. I would sit out in the garden, and a leaf would fall. Nature always delivers if you wait for long enough. Suffice to say, this was the best show I've ever done and the most amazing venue to install in. I felt a deep connection with all the other artists I've ever seen exhibit here or anywhere for that matter, as their work informs mine and we all do what we have to do. Art is wonderful, creating is wondrous, and being an artist sometimes makes me feel like the luckiest person alive. Plastici comes from a journal, I think by the same title that Georgio Morandi worked on in the early 20th Century.

Valori plastici was established in Rome by the painter and art collector Mario Broglio (1891-1948) in 1918.[1][2] He also edited the magazine which focused on aesthetic ideals and metaphysical artwork. It supported the art movement Return to order so as to create a change of direction from the extreme avant-garde art of the years up to 1918, taking its inspiration from traditional art instead.[3] The term "return to order" to describe this renewed interest in tradition is said to derive from Le rappel a l'ordre, a book of essays by the poet and artist Jean Cocteau published in 1926. The movement itself was a reaction to the War. Cubism was abandoned even by its creators, Braque and Picasso, and Futurism, which had praised machinery, violence and war, was rejected by most of its followers. The return to order was associated with a revival of classicism and realistic painting. The magazine theorised the retrieval of national and Italic values, as promoted by the cultural policies of fascism, but also looking at wider horizons within Europe and using a vivid artistic dialectics with a return to a classic figurative source. Alberto Savinio,[4] in the 1st issue of Valori plastici on 15 November 1918, announced a programme of total individualistic, anti-futurist and anti-Bolshevik restoration. In his first article of April–May 1919, entitled Anadioménon, Savinio expounds the intellective and enigmatically atemporal intuition which animates the world of this new "metaphysical classicism".[5] The Savinian principles on mataphisical poetics are applied to painting by Giorgio de Chirico, by Carlo Carrà and Giorgio Morandi.

Everything Falls Apart

Occupy Sydney Artspace 2012 following on from Cross Art earlier this year, I continued copying placards from the Wall Street movement.

images courtesy Silversalt

Art Bar

At the MCA, with Justene Williams. We made a karaoke room, it was called Karaoke Queenz.

Extra

Money

Other people's money Photo Jamie North

FIRE! FIRE!

I had a Frasers studio from Jan-June this year. It was quite cold and dark, so I built a fire. This was then installed at the Appin Motel, in Appin Labyrinth a site specific exhibition curated by Lisa Andrew and Bronia Iwanczak in April. There was lots of fun to be had with all the other artists.

The work in Room 20 was called Meth Lab crime scene, as I created a small simulation of a meth lab.

Occupy Sydney

In 2011 the Wall Street protests in New York inspired me to go to Martin Place and commemorate the great placards that people were producing. I sat in on the Occupy Sydney's protest for the day and copied a whole bunch of slogans.

Cross Art Projects February 2012

Kyoto Copy

This was reproduced in 2012 for the Panorama show at Casula Powerhouse curated by Toni Bailey. I made it in 2010 for Trashcan Dreams at The Performance Space. I don't usually exhibit the same works twice, but felt it was deserving of another airing. I included a slideshow of images of Lina Ritchie and Morita Yasuaki performing with the work in-situ.

Box Brownie

Early in January I felt a strong urge to make a Box Brownie camera. My friend, the great Vanessa Berry had given me a copy of her zine; I am a camera, which was exquisite. In return I wanted to give her a paper camera and was compelled to make one. Only weeks later, Kodak went into receivership.

It's only paper and has no capacity to even make a pinhole photo, I just thought it would be a cool gift for her.

Intercourse

Intercourse at Peloton 24 November 2011
A dinner party using Japanese re-cycled collected food containers, with amazing Vegan curries by Bec Dean and the most beautiful cake in the world by Mishka Borowski. Drinks served, Takara shochu; courtesy of the artist.
The installation consisted of:
1. Stolen photographs of Nishiko: 地震を直すプロジェクト Repairing earthquake project www.nishiko55.com/eq and Takuma Nakahira, a famous photographer, whose works were presented along with mine in Yokohama earlier this year.
2. Photograph of Vicky's garden in Enmore; 63 Llewellyn Street




3. Reactions, connections and collections involving Japan and Sydney's Inner West.
4. Australiana plastic maki-e laquerware series.
5. Four videos documenting wind in bamboo forests, rice fields and lotus ponds.

I called the show Intercourse because I wanted people to relate to each other, over food; thus internalising an external and externalising an internal, through relations.

Massage Artist

On my return from Japan I did a night of performance as part of 20/20 at Damien Minton's Annexe space in Surry Hills, curated by Robert Lake. I had purchased a very nice hat in Japan to wear, plus my yukata and a bottle of Takara Shochu, I made lots of friends that night and got to squeeze quite a few bums.

Bank Art's Life at Shinko Pier, Shin Minatomira Yokohama Sept-Oct 2011

Work continuing from residency at Tokyo Wonder Site, Aoyama from June-August
1. Tatami drawing, pen on cardboard with video of Izumi's tea ceremony playing, kimonos, apples and blue shochu bottle.

2. Maki-e works, gold pen on PET products, with paint

Showtunes

Izumi Murata hard at work within the walls of Shinko Pier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYPwFc19I4I&feature=youtu.be