4. Constantine Nicholas | Endgame

In his art works Constantine Nicholas considers the European colonisation of Australia and the Asia-Pacific region from a sceptical point of view. Often cross-referencing the observations of European explorers with images drawn from the indigenous cultures of our region. 

In Endgamehe offers a cautionary vision of impending peril hiding the words "Make No Mistake” in an ancient script overlaid with the word "endgame" spelt out in brail-like dots. The warning wrapped up in the richness of his surface is rendered in layers of metal leaf and varnish inviting a caparison between the opulence of the colonial era and the material abundance of todays capitalism.

Junyee is a Filipino installation artist who is celebrated for among other things his use of indigenous materials. In his work Separate reality he took up my invitation to devise a work as images with instructions that could be transmitted as email and then realised by SLOT. His response considered the nature of “skins” that layer us with identity. Or, as in the globalised skin of jeans and T-shirts, offer us uniformity and perhaps equality.

“Looking for materials I came across a small stand of Casuarina Pine saplings that had been killed, but not burnt by a fire. They were “harvested” and used in my studio as the core for various shapes made in plywood. A great many similar elements became a work presented in an exhibition of  installations in Canberra called Domain.  Elements from that installation were re-worked for this piece, which became the subject of a painting.  Beyond the obvious subject of the work and its  material presence there is an another consideration, the space between the physical elements of the work. It is constantly shifting and re-adjusting its self in relation to our movement around the work. It gives rise to the term, incidental placement, the placement of things between more obvious things.”  

Tony Twigg   

Jake Walker is a New Zealand born resident of Redfern. His installation pairs two archetypal images, the anchor and the cube that simultaneously have contradictory and convergent readings in various cultures.

He commented that the anchor was “A symbol of hope and solidity, tranquility and fidelity. Clear thinking in a confusing world, stability in the storms of human interaction. It has a powerful role in Christian symbolism - the anchor shape is thought to have served in protecting early believers from persecution when the Anchor Cross represented hope and strength to 3rd Century Christians, while their enemies saw only a seafaring symbol.”

Of the cube resting on a sea of glittering jewels he wrote  “I was pleased to discover…that many religions revere the cube. In Mecca a cube shaped structure called the Ka'bah (meaning cube) is the supreme temporal symbol of  Islam…All Hindu temples are based on the form of a cube. In both the old Jewish tabernacle and the Jewish temple the Holy of Holies are in the shape of a cube, and there is a small room under the main dome of the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem that is also based on a cube. The cube is a perfect geometric idea and by focusing on it, we can move beyond the physical world. “

In Jake's installation however it is the cube that is the anchor to his ethereal painting of an anchor that was once a popular tattoo on the shoulder of the working man.

Soon after moving here in 2000 I began noticing objects painted with signs offering household goods for sale. When I started to look for them I saw the precision with which these objects were placed. There was a conversation between the object and its placement went beyond the simple message “sofa for sale - $100”. The idea was taken further with magazines, reading matter, neatly rolled and held with a rubber band left at the bus-stop, considerately placed for my perusal. “Architectural Digest” was a memorable example, and on a single page, near the front a bold rubber-stamped message, “For sale TV and video - $60” followed by a mobile phone number. This exhibition is a sampling of signs that have appeared over the last two months. They present an alert intervention in our environment.

The signs advertise the utilitarian objects that are the essentials of a transient urban life – a bed, a fridge, a washing machine, a TV – the basics, with no gimmicks. The detritus of the same life – an old chair, a scrap of carpet, video case or a bag becomes the canvas for these signs. They offer a pun on the discarded, the second hand and the retrieved, where nothing is without value, whether it be a bar fridge for sale or a discarded souvenir as an effective advertising tool. However, it is the placement of these objects that SLOT celebrates. This exhibition examines the conjunction of ideas that tie each sign to its place in the environment. The strategic placement of these objects offers a thoughtful consideration of scale and function that playfully draws our attention to a revised appreciation of our environment as well as the items offered for sale. These are not random notices they are signs of a clear and intelligent engagement with our environment.

Postscript

During the exhibit I woke to find an addition to the window display. The anonymous sign maker presumably had left a pile of art rubbish, faded prints of impressionist paintings, worn out stretchers, student paintings all precisely stacked along the front of SLOT’s window. I left the addition in place where, surprisingly it was removed, item-by-item, presumably by people passing SLOT.