Deep Inside shows at the Hamish McKay Gallery until the 13th of October. The poster is pretty ace, so like a book cover the show had to be pretty ace as well. The first thing I saw upon advancing up the stairs was a video work, and I was so ermagehrd excited that I walked straight past in search of more and never actually watched it. Because then I saw this…
Mikala Dwyer
Methylated Spiritual, 2012
mixed media (detail)
Mikala Dwyer’s work was my favourite, I really can’t be fucked with the big square oil monochromes by E Newman flaccid on the walls, who wants to fanny about with that when you can look at your own reflection? Dwyer’s work was everything, and I just viewed everything else through it.
I spent a lot of time looking at this work, its different elements that ranged from fecal glazed thumbed ceramic circles to terracotta fingering holes with textile pony tails and drinking straws. The sheets of creaming soda perspex created a brilliant 1970’s filter through which to view the distorting spectacle of the rest of the show.
Mikala Dwyer
Methylated Spiritual, 2012
mixed media
Documentation by Hamish McKay Gallery
Looking at the work in the photograph above, with all reference points to scale removed aside from the meths bottle (but its probably an elaborate tiny reproduction, who knows) this would make an elaborate pointy and potentially hazardous necklace. Because this work was so physically engaging, documenting it accurately is a real challenge.
Documenting a work usually begins with you standing at the opposite wall getting the whole work to fit within the frame. This seems unnecessarily formal, but I guess if you don’t take it all in then what are the limitations on how close up you take the photograph? How relevant is the holistic pano view compared to the physical viewing and interaction? What insights can you take from that distant and far removed perspective?
Mikala Dwyer
Methylated Spiritual, 2012
mixed media (less detail)
As soon as you stop viewing and start documenting, everything about your interaction with the art changes. With camera in hand I stopped thinking about the work as a whole; I was far more interested in the reflections it made, shifting focus between its surface and the images is contained reflecting the rest of the show through wavering panels of perspex.
Mikala Dwyer
Methylated Spiritual 2012
mixed media (detail)
I’ve struggled in the past to see photography as anything more than documentation as that is all I’ve used it for. That stage lasted longer than my rap music stage, I don’t know what that says about me.
amandalikesart 