Negotiating this world: Contemporary Australian Art 2013
2012 - 2013
Negotiating this world: Contemporary Australian Art National Gallery of Victoria. Janenne Eaton - 101 Contemporary Australian Artists, by Kelly Gellatly Like many of the artist’s recent paintings, These people, 2004–06, is built entirely in black and white, alluding to the past and to memory (and the distortion of ‘the truth’ that can occur across time) through its connection to newspaper print, old photographs, and the fuzzy-edged images of pre-colour television. However, any possible sense of nostalgia, safety or closure in this evocation of the past is immediately undercut by the deadpan text that sits at the work’s centre; calling to mind contemporaneous issues such as illegal immigration and border security, population control and racism that continue to trouble Australia and the international community.
- exert: Janenne Eaton, Kelly Gellatly, 101 Contemporary Australian Artists, National Gallery of Victoria, 2012 [ read the essay ] |