Déjà Vu Dodo Show At The Counihan Gallery.
In what some are calling ‘A transparent attempt to sell out the edition.’, Max Piantoni is remounting his 2011 work ‘The Descent of the Dodo: Part One’ at the Counihan Gallery in the Brunswick Town Hall.
This is not new work. This is certainly not The Descent of the Dodo: Part Two. Which is fast shaping up to be the Duke Nukem Forever of the Melbourne art scene. The prints aren’t different sizes… (for editions sake!) and Max has resisted all urges to ‘George Lucas the crap out of them’. They are, however, shiny new prints and Max has found a great Leonardo da Vinci quote to introduce the work.
Also, unlike the last dodo show, this one couldn’t be easier to find!
The work will be presented as part of ‘First and Last’ a stunning show that ruminates on life, progress, death and other stuff featuring Max’s fellow Brunswick Arts comittee members. Jenna Corcoran, Alister Karl, Carmen Reid, Adele Smith, Ive Sorocuk, and John Stevens.
Max says: “If you missed the work last time because you were in Europe, or if you’d like some free wine - or if you’re a good friend of mine - I’ll see you there!”
First & Last
The Counihan Gallery
233 Sydney Road, Brunswick, Victoria
Opening bash (you’re invited!)
Thursday 24th May
6 - 8pm
Runs
24th May - 24th June
Wednesday to Saturday 11am - 5pm
Sunday 1 - 5pm
Closed Monday and Tuesday.
(Source: maxpiantoni.com)
A Glowing Review: Neon Salon at Dudspace
Perhaps the most exciting things are those with the greatest potential to fail. Melbourne’s newest gallery Dudspace is tucked away in a corridor formerly used only to access the Kings ARI toilets. The space may be small, but a failure it is not.
Dudspace’s inaugural exhibition ‘Neon Salon’ drew attendance - per square foot - that rivaled, perhaps even surpassed, that of the Louvre. However turnout was not all there was to love for the visiting francophile, as attendees were invited to bask in a Salon hang. And bask they did, the entirely neon show provided more than enough illumination to fill the small space.
Works by Sanja Pahoki, Kiron Robinson, Simon Zoric, Kristin Mciver, and Jose Domingues looked great and were afforded substantial extra intensity as admiring them from a distance was completely out of the question. So it was backs against the wall, neon burning beyond your field of view, and a whole lot of fun.
Dudspace, succeeds as a space and does so with class. Not only does it encourage visitors to interact with the work, but it invites them to undertake an intimate dialogue with each other that can sometimes be vacant from contemporary art spaces.
Directors Lyndal May Stewart and Madé Spencer-Castle bill the space as “Great Art, Shit Space”. Say what you like, what was once a corridor is now a legitimate venue, and Melbourne is better for it.
Neon Salon runs until April 28th at
Dudspace: Lvl 1/171 King St, Melbourne
‘Just what is Max attempting to do?’
Due to the scope and considerable scale of my current project ‘Wonder’ - and a desire not to spoil the surprise - I won’t be able to show you any specifics of what I am working on for a while. Instead I have prepared this diagram to assure you, dear reader, that the dead air by no means signifies that I have given up work, and to vaguely answer the question ‘Just what is Max attempting to do?’.
(Source: maxpiantoni.com)
Launch ‘12
Launch ‘12 opens this Friday night at Brunswick Arts. I was fortunate enough to be selected to exhibit in Launch ‘11 last year and this year I have returned to curate the show with Carmen Reid.
Each year, LAUNCH brings together a group of recent graduates from higher education institutions around Melbourne. Always a highlight of the year’s exhibition calendar, LAUNCH is a survey of some of the year’s most dynamic, diverse and insightful new work.
This is my first foray into curation.
Update: Melbourne art critic Mark Holsworth has posted a rather favourable review of the show, labelling it ‘fun to funky’. The review includes a few photographs of the exhibition. Check it out.
The Amazing Adventures of Sam Serif.
Here is something that Tim and I dreamt up on the tram. We’re equally responsible for Sam Serif - yes, we considered ‘Sherif Serif’ - but Tim deserves full credit for the quality drawings and the fantastic shade of dark aqua that fills the negative space.
Tim has been producing comics with inspiring regularity over at milky the milk face for a little while now. If you like this one you should go and have a look at the others. If you dislike this one you should send him some hate, but you’ll be starting a battle you can’t win.
Sam Serif and his serif moustache will return.
Pin The Horn on the Unicorn
‘Reluctantly he agreed to just one round of Pin the horn on the Unicorn’
Here’s a little before and after of something I whipped up for ‘Less Arty, More Party’ at Brunswick Arts. Congrats to Josh who came closest to winning.
Max Makes: ‘Pin The Horn on the Unicorn’
Peek behind the scenes at the making of ‘Pin the Horn on the Unicorn’. Produced in just 24 hours for Brunswick Arts’ ‘More Party, Less Arty’. Click ‘Read More’ to check it out…
Max’s Unicorn Story
A poem for ears more than eyes. Concerning events of the late 1990s, myself, a Unicorn, and David Attenborough. Excuse me.
Beauty and the Unknown
I was recently invited back to my old school to open the graduate art and design show, and to give a short talk. This is what I said:
I’d like to talk about the beauty in the unknown.
Four years ago I was standing where you are now, and I was beginning to get quite concerned that come the end of exams i had no idea what i was going to be doing… I knew i liked art, and that art was where i wanted to be… It’s a good start but - no matter how much i tried - I just couldn’t see into the future…
It’s very easy - especially at a juncture like this - to become intimidated by the unknown.
But there’s another side to the unknown. during my time at art school I came to believe that beauty and the unknown are inextricably linked…
I’ve often found that the most beautiful parts of a painting are those that cannot completely be seen… It’s these elusive moments that draw us further into the image, In the art world this is referred to as the sublime. It’s the beauty of the unknown in its purest form.
I think that this is a perfect time to impress upon you the great opportunity that the unknown presents. The equation is simple, what is unknown is potential.
The unknown allows you to surprise yourself, to create work far better than you believed you could and then to create work even better than that. And so on…
Last year when my time at the VCA was coming to an end I was again confronted with this problem… what do I do now?.. However this time i wasn’t concerned… I was excited.
From my year at camberwell several of us went on to pursue our passions at art school, myself and jesse as visual artists, tim as a dancer, and jack as a costume designer. To name a few.
Since finishing art school, tim has danced with a company across europe… jack has worked on hats for gaga in london, jesse is living and creating in berlin and I’m fervently working away at my first book.
If you’d asked us what we thought we’d be doing a year ago we’d have all said ‘i don’t know’
The unknown provides the opportunity to create something from nothing. Who other than artists have that power?
So my advice to you is this:
Seize the day.
Trust that your best work is ahead of you.
And: Follow your instincts. Because the only person with the ability to make you successful is you.
(Source: maxpiantoni.com)
“The Moon can fly but it has no wings!”
“The Moon can fly but it has no wings!” from the series The Descent of the Dodo
(Source: maxpiantoni.com)
