Neil Roberts
BA na na BA na na MAN go
PHOTO CREDIT: Glass Central Canberra
http://glasscentralcanberra.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/tour-de-force-the-show/
February 2010, Megan Bottari, curator:
"It mustn’t be imagined that Tour de Force is yet another in a long line of group exhibitions purporting to showcase ‘the best of’ Australian contemporary glass practice – on the contrary, it is deliberately distanced from such superficial, though standard, hyperbole. What the show does
represent, however, is a line of demarcation between the conventional status quo that currently appears to hold the Australian studio glass scene in thrall and our (now ever so slightly flagging) expectations regarding the next wave of creative regeneration. Glass has become disappointingly same-same; and while imitation is clearly considered an acceptable, and often sincere, form of flattery – notwithstanding that appropriation is a post-modern art form in itself – it doesn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, enrich the ‘gene pool’.
In many ways Australian studio glass is a victim of its own success. A model (even pampered) child of the times, it’s been tainted like everything else by the rampant global consumerism of the past decade or so and hooked on that most fateful of homogenizing agents, bourgeois aspiration. The progressive spirit that spawned the pioneer movement in the 1960-70’s has been all but suppressed by arch conservatism and the truckling for approbation and (small-f, surely) fame. But patronage has always been a tricky business in the arts, and one suspects that creative integrity will always remain key. So how did we get to the stalemate of derivation and corporate ennui that presently characterizes mainstream contemporary glass, and is there a way back to the wonder and the joy? To the magic.
[...]
Studio glass in Australia has hit a critical watershed, particularly in view of the Global Financial Crisis. The sky has fallen in on the reliable bourse environment that supported the (seemingly invincible) buoyant art market, and the sector now faces the potential of straightened circumstances. This is not to say that the purse is empty, but the good old days of plenty, when literally anything could sell, are over. The market from here on in is likely to be a little less liberally indulgent. Artists will need to reassess their modus operandi – apart from anything else, there’s the duty of care to the planet to consider. Studio glass has a carbon footprint that, frankly, wouldn’t bear close scrutiny and in view of the looming environmental-global warming crisis, it behoves practitioners to reconsider very carefully what they make, and why. And, at the very least, make it count. Instead of banging out a succession of predictably vacuous objects, artists should start to think about engaging both empathetically and intelligently with material to produce something a little more enlightening. Something that inspires us to lofty sentiment, that alerts us to divers ethical imperatives, that expresses the very essence of our being. Because this is the role of the arts, is it not? A visual expression of the cultural currency of the day."
Botteri, M. "Tour de Force: the show..." February 28, 2010. Accessed March 7, 2010. http://glasscentralcanberra.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/tour-de-force-the-show/
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