Art for Food

I seem to have generated some interest by mentioning my proposed chutney for poetry exchange. Really I am only honouring a long tradition of trading art for food. I believe the bards and minstrels of old would exchange their epics, stories and songs for food and lodging and there are plenty of examples including more recent ones. Many down-on-their-luck artists (and I imagine poets and writers) have exchanged their art for a crust. This Venice Beach cafe showcases “art from numerous Venice artists such as Ed Ruscha, Dennis Hopper and Robert Graham (trading art for food is a Venice tradition)” and landscape painter Jim Mott did a whole 10,000 mile road trip (which he called the Itinerant Artist Project) by exchanging paintings for room and board.

Our Daily Bread by Elizabeth Harris-Nichols

Payment in kind makes a lot of sense to me and in Mexico “in 1957, painter David Alfaro Siqueiros proposed that artists in Mexico be allowed to pay taxes with their work. Half a century later, this idea has given rise to one of the world’s most important collections of contemporary art.” Mind you I guess you’d have to be earning enough to need to pay tax in the first place!

And here in New Zealand when the Mangamahu Possum painting was listed for sale on Trademe, there was discussion in the comments about a tradition of leaving artwork in payment for lodgings (although a bit of a stretch in that case I think). I am certain there are many examples.

Tuna Can - Dick Frizzell

This talk of exchange and barter might be a sign of things to come, you know with peak oil and all. In the meantime I am calculating how many jars of preserves I will need to swap for a modest McCahon. And I promise that this will be the last of domestica for a bit.

NOTE: I have removed Sam Hunt from my linky list because I heard him (or a good mimic) doing an ad for Cobb and Co. today on TV - though maybe he got paid in steak and beer?

A bad influence

Some days I wonder if I unduly influence my kids - especially now my 5-year-old only draws lights in a Clairmont fashion.

3rd Panel of Staircase Triptych- Philip Clairmont

However the following “takes the cake” so to speak.  “[the party - for a 5 year old] had a gallery opening theme, at her insistence — each guest had to bring a work of art they’d made to put on the wall, and the cake was decorated to look like a Jackson Pollock canvas in progress“. I have to say I am impressed by the cake but I simply can’t imagine a kid asking for a Pollock cake (although maybe that’s where I am going wrong).

The Pollock Birthday cake (sure beats my Dora one)

I have to note that the whole context of art thing has taken on a life over at ArtBash. I like this simple little line “ART = context+art+viewer”. And I’d also reccommend “Privatising Culture” although its quite a tome.

Art and Politics

I heard somewhere this week that the peace symbol was having its 50th birthday. I was surprised that its not some organic hippy creation but designed in 1958 by Gerald Holtom, a professional designer and artist.

 So what about political or protest art here. I read recently that “political art is so last century” which seems a little odd as there still seems a lot to protest about. And if you take this view then all art is political “It may well be that an artist can realize aesthetic triumphs while ignoring society, but willful unconcern regarding social matters is also a political position.”

Maybe protest is just a little passe, so I looked back to some major political events ‘last century’, inspired by seeing the Hotere Land of the Wrong White Crowd piece at Te Manawa recently, in protest against the 1981 Springbok tour. Hotere also did his Aramoana works in protest of the proposed smelter being built there, Black Rainbow for the Rainbow Warriror sinking and some more recent ‘Jerusalem‘ works in reaction to events in the Middle East.

Black Union Jack, Ralph Hotere

I guess my era was that of the the end of the Vietnam war, the Land March, Bastion Point and the Springbok Tour and that seemed a fertile ground for artists. I was looking for images from Clairmont’s “No Tour” exhibition, as he was heavily involved in the protests but can’t seem to find any - although his Vietnam pictures are about. Ans Westra, Marti Friedlander and Gill Hanly’s photography is particularly strong of the 1981 tour.

So I am thinking…is this a 20th century phenomena? Where is today’s political/protest art or is it just more subtle?  I get the BIG obvious stuff (like Parekowhai) and I did take note of Aniwaniwa by Brett Graham and Rachael Rakena, so perhaps I am just missing it.

Also, was there ever an exhibition of 1981 Sprinbok tour protest art? - there’s a lot about. Would have thought it might have been done in 2006?

 

Rudi and Rita

I’ve just finished reading Chris Roynane’s biography of Rudi Gopas. It was a good book in that it was ‘enlightening’ but oddly written. Gopas was a painting tutor/lecturer at Ilam for years and so influenced many key NZ artists and creative people - I didn’t really realise just how many. It was kind of a sad story too in some ways - an outsider story. Maybe I am reading it wrong but did he identify with and encourage other ‘outsiders’ - e.g. Fomison and Clairmont? And of course there were the themes of art and madness and the usual association with alcohol and drugs. I am in the midst of writing a whole essay on that topic though.

The book mentioned his constant return to his memories of the Baltic sea of his youth shown in his paintings of fishing boats.

The Trawlers (1959) Rudi Gopas

This picture reminds me of fishing boats at Riverton when I was a child, a typical New Zealand scene but obviously it has European echoes as well. I guess its just the era/style but there seems to be parallels with Angus’ Island Bay boats too and that painting has a similar effect on me.

Boats, Island Bay (1961-62) Rita Angus

Speaking of Angus, Jill Trevelyans’ book “Rita Angus an Artist’s LIfe” seems to be available now. It looks like it will be a good one (I’m hoping my library will get a copy). Trevelyan is also co-curator of the “Rita Angus: Life & Vision” exhibition that will be at Te Papa 5 July – 5 October 2008. With nearly 200 works it will be a pretty major outing. I am starting to sound like an advert, but really I am just excited to see some of these works ‘in the flesh’. My interest was also pricked by a story I heard recently about a whole lot of Angus’ works in disarray in the vaults of the old National Gallery in Buckle Street in the mid-1970’s.

And in other news  - More artists who have worked as posties
Philip Trusttum
Nigel Brown
Peter Carson