Australia, art, sheep: but of course! Sheep at the Royal Academy.

Wool Week in UK take their campaign to the Royal Academy:

'To celebrate the final weekend of the UK's Wool Week, a flock of Australian/English Bowmont Merino sheep made a special appearance in the Royal Academy's courtyard over the weekend.'
Article here

And why not? Robert Hughes, in 1970, connected agriculture and Australian art, so its been done before . . .

‘An ebullient bourgeois society which loves culture as a badge, but lacks discrimination, has developed a desire for homogenous and self-contained – that is, purely Australian – art. It gets what it wants; but to speak of an Australian cultural explosion, for no reason but that a lot of Australians are painting, is meaningless. Australia also has a knitting explosion and a cooking explosion, equally to be accounted for in terms of the abundance of Australian wool and steak.’ ( Hughes, The Art of Australia, Penguin Books, 1970, p315)

Capon on Australia

Matthew Westwood reviews Edmund Capon's  The Art of Australia series now screening on BBC in UK and ABC1 in Australia and the RA Australia exhibition

Sandy Nairne responds to Germaine Greer, a little

Just a couple of paragraphs that the Evening Standard has published
'Following Germaine Greer’s attack on the Royal Academy for its Australia exhibition, Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery, has sprung, kangaroo-like, to its defence'

Nairne, director of National Portrait Gallery, reiterates that the show has an educational role for the UK audience.

Germaine Greer on that RA show

Evening Standard reports on Germaine Greer's review of Australia at the RA here

Greer reviews the exhibition in the Prospect magazine: Depths of ignorance: The Royal Academy’s new exhibition shows how little Brits know about Australian art

Brit crits

Paola Totaro in the Australian A worthy display covering 200 years or another cringe festival, insightful summary of reviews along with short history of Australia in exhibition in the UK.

Canada

Steve Loft on indigenous art history and Ghost Dance: Activism. Resistance. Art. 


Ghost Dance examines the role of the artist as activist, as chronicler and as provocateur in the ongoing struggle for Indigenous rights and self-empowerment.
Now at the Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto until 15 December 2013.

More mentions of Australia at the RA

Telegraph Luxury online says the exhibition at the RA shows 'how a nation broke free from British and European traditions to find its own artistic identity.'

FT report on Christies Australian art auction last week:Australian art gets thumbs-down

Brisbane Times, Nicolle Flint Pictures of ewe are not the whole picture of us

More crits

The ABC's summary of crits of Australia at the RA here

Marianne Templeton in Artslant Blinded by the light: Myths and Visions of the Australian Landscape says: There's something vaguely unsettling about a once-mighty colonial power filling gallery after gallery with visions of its captured lands, without engaging in any sustained dialogue about the controversial and traumatic history that has shaped this body of work.

Ed Noel in Spiked online

Finally saw the Januszczak review (p 8&9) in the Culture magazine of The Sunday Times in real life at the Hackney Library (the review is online behind a pay wall, since its published by Murdoch). His dismissive review of 'Australia' is placed within an issue of the magazine that is almost celebratory about Australian performance and music showing in the UK.
    The cover of the Culture magazine, 22 Sept 2013, has a full page photograph of Barry Humphries and Dame Edna Everage - famous Australian(s) in Britain. Inside is an interview (of sorts) with Barry Humphries on the occasion of his upcoming farewell UK tour Eat Pray Laugh . In the article Adieu Possums, the author Tanya Gold is frustrated by Humphries ducking and diving in response to her questions. The opening page of the interview is opposite a full page ad for Woody Allen's 'Blue Jasmine' consisting of text and a large photograph of Australian actor Cate Blanchett - old and new possums in a 'face-off'. Further on in this same magazine is a short article, 'Bands Down Under', by Gareth Cartwright about two popular bands (p.31). Cartwright says: 'Here they come, with their strangled vowels and year-round tans and endless good cheer - the Antipodeans are about to land'. He's writing about The Cat Empire from Melbourne and Fat Freddy's Drop from Wellington NZ and notes that they are '... unlike any British or American outfits' ..' fiercely independent- running their own record labels, rather than hoping for a recording deal here.'
    This last comment makes me wonder if that's part of the problem with the Australia show: that it's been brought here looking for the artworld equivalent to a 'recording deal'. The RA curator, Kathleen Soriano, commented that she hoped that Australian artists would have a larger audience in the UK as a result of the exhibition. Largely the local UK critics are negative about the exhibition, although Januszczak also noted that it was a 'useful and pertinent show' (pertinent to what?) and noted Namatjira's work as : 'Full of insider knowledge, they are the most sensitive works in the entire show.' Despite this  'crassness characterises these repetitive responses to Australian landscape.' Fiona Hall's work 'exquisitely crafted'; a reproduction of Robert Campbell Jnr painting Abo History(Facts) 1988 was lazily attributed to Robert Campbell. These things matter, they say something about what's not being said as well. Marianne Templeton has summed it up well ( see above). For an Australian viewer there is something uncomfortable about being represented by such a lot of colonial oil painting and so little contemporary work in comparison. Given that art history is under scrutiny here, why not use the 'Australia' show to review and complicate teleological histories driven by Euro/western canon and views of time.

Addition to the 'Flying Art' series announced

"Tell 'em their dreamin'.."  (The Castle)
What's the purpose of this exercise? Wrapping an aeroplane in an indigenous pattern doesn't give the pattern-maker ownership of transport, but gives Qantas 'ownership' of indigenous patterning/ exotic cultures. This flattens out indigenous knowledges and lifeworlds into a single, knowable and acceptable gloss for the non-indigenous.

 New Flying Art indigenous-themed aircraft to fly for Qantas in November reported in The Australian 30 Sept 2013
A well-known West Australian artist's work will decorate the Boeing 737-800,  but it's a secret just now as to who it is and what the imagery will be.

1994 Boeing 747-400 Wunala Dreaming
1995 Boeing 747-300 Nalanji Dreaming
2002 Boeing 737-800 Yananyi Dreaming,  Rene Kilitja, Pitjitjantjarra/ Mutitjulu. Here below.

1994 to paint a Boeing 747-400, Wunala Dreaming

1994 to paint a Boeing 747-400, Wunala Dreaming

Australia: interviews, reviews, market

Adrian Hamilton in The Independent writes 3 paragraphs on 'Australia' under the title 'Exhibition of the week'

Shaun Gladwell interview with Nicholas Forest in Blouin Art Info Australia

Interview with Kathleen Soriano Blouin ArtInfo video here
This is telling the story of Australian Art History and Australian History...

Condé Naste Traveller writer Melanie Abrams refers to Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Rolf Harris in her short review online 'Can you tell what it is yet'

John McDonald again in the Brisbane Times
What is really sad and infuriating is that the NGA has blown the opportunity to make Australian art look fabulous in a big international venue.
So beware those trumpet blasts extolling our triumphs in London. Rather than wallowing in stupid, nationalistic hype, we should be prepared to be critical about this show's shortcomings and learn from our mistakes. It will be a long time before we get another chance.

Fred Williams stars but Christie's Australian art auction flat, Michaela Boland for The Australian

Will Gompertz for the BBC 'two distinct art histories', interview with Franchesca Cubillo and Christian Thompson.

Hotting up at Australia in London

Clumsy, parochial, amateur, inadequate, tokenistic... see it all at the Royal Academy in London under the banner of 'Australia'.

• Helen Davidson summarises the reviews here
• Martin Gayford, Bloomberg Ned Kelly joins Aborigines, Beach Art at Royal Academy
  
   'While there are beautiful and interesting things on display, there’s far too much nondescript and mediocre stuff in between.'
• Peter Farquhar Business Insider repeated in Auckland Now "Brit critic calls Aussie art 'cascade of diarrhoea'"
• Zach Schonfeld in The Atlantic Wire:  The Brits Really Hate the New Exhibition of Australian Art '... the reviews are so bad, they're almost good. Almost.'
• Waldemar Januszczak The Sunday Times Culture 22.09.2013 'A desert of new ideas: The Royal Academy's beaut idea to explore Australia is let down by lots of art, which is weedy, provincial and all too European. But there are some might sights on the ride.' ( pay wall on this article)