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Le Salon Scintillant exhibition series, 2013

 

 

Ideas rarely come out of thin air. One should be so lucky. Mostly they seep from the gutter, hide in the cracks of pavement, linger around street corners, reflect in neighbours’ windows, in the space between day and night, in shadows resting on window ledges, out of seemingly mundane utterances of strangers walking by, or lie patiently and neatly in lines of a book….

 

 

These artworks are part of a series exhibited in Le Salon Scintallant at Moana Project Space – Perth, Western Australia Moana 22 February -17 March 2013 for Gotham Studios silver anniversary.

 

 

Le-Salon-Scintillant-catalogue 2013

 

 

Extract from catalogue essay by Kate Mullen.

 

The thirteen artists currently in residence at Gotham Studios have adapted their highly diverse practices for Le Salon Scintillant. Each artist responds to the condition of exhibiting within a codified group show, and of co-habiting a single creative space, with new two-dimensional pieces that remain in keeping with their independent bodies of work.

 

As a framework for artistic display, the Salon is traditionally Eurocentric, highly conservative and commoditised. Inaugurated in Paris’ opulent art world in the early 17th century–and prevailing as the largest annual art event in western culture well into the Belle Époque–the Salon began as a public art fair in which a jury handpicked artworks for inclusion. A small and exclusive party of men thus mandated the fluctuating tastes and trends of the time. While contemporary art has outgrown many of its restrictive formalities, the Salon remains, in many respects, an interesting model to revisit within a modern context.

 

The Salon was historically geared toward the public consumption of art, and remains a populist and discursive mode of display. Before the Paris Salon, there was no platform for critical art writing: each exhibition was accompanied by a publication–or gazette–a text that proved instrumental in conceiving the role of the professional art critic. Responsible for the propagation of both social and academic critical dialogues, the Salon is capable of retaining its status as a discursive site within more contemporary incarnations.

 

As a steadfast and enduring format, the Salon’s mandate of a specific style of art goaded a number of reactionary artistic practices. The avant-garde’s institutional critiques were quickly subsumed into the Salon itself –the Salon des Refusés, or ‘exhibition of rejects’, was a recurring exhibition of artwork that was rejected by the jury of the official Paris Salon. Most famously, Manet unveiled Déjeuner sur l’herbe in the Salon des Refusés of 1863 to a scandalized public, further promoting peripheral discourse and debate. The Salon has thus proven itself to be a surprisingly flexible model, with the capacity to accommodate critique of itself from within itself.

 

With the removal of fixed prizes and a jury, Le Salon Scintillant’s adaptation of this framework stands as a communicative and celebratory unification of artists, one that favours solidarity over antagonistic competition. In this instance, the conversation is not only a dialogue between artworks, but also a dialogue between artist-run spaces–fittingly, between Western Australia’s oldest and its newest.

CONTACT

Mobile: +61409937022
Email: melaniedare@hotmail.com
#repost @galleries.ecu @downloader_ __ Throwback #repost @galleries.ecu @downloader_
__

Throwback to the 2021 exhibition 'Pulling Threads' by artist Mel Dare (@meldareartist) and curated by Sue Starcken. Through Dare's solo exhibition, she seeks to convey the intricacies of personal narrative. Dare explores the fabric of our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world. The artist asks: when we discover a loose thread do we unpick, resew, cut or pull gently to see where it leads?

https://www.ecu.edu.au/schools/arts-and-humanities/ecu-galleries/past-exhibitions/exhibitions/2021/pulling-threads

#westernaustralianartist #sculpture #exhibition #perth #narrative #storytelling #2021
If you haven't seen this year's Joondalup Invitati If you haven't seen this year's Joondalup Invitation Art Prize it's closing this Sunday the 23rd at Westfield Whitford City. Showcasing 30 WA artists including Bori Benko, Holly O’Meehan, Pascale Georgi, Christopher Hummel, Kay Wood, Kirsten Hudson and Mel Dare (see images).

Exhibition closes on Sunday 23 October.
Photos by Shot by Thom.

Recommendation:  don't go last minute Sunday as you may be disappointed (the artworks may be in the process of being packed up).

#artinperth #perthartexhibition #perthart #invitationartprize #cityofjoondalup
Earlier this year I had my first podcast with the Earlier this year I had my first podcast with the wonderful Gabriella Filippi. She has been interviewing creatives in our local community. 

It was a little scary at first but ended up being a great chat. We talked about my work as an artist, artist residencies, working in prison and so much more. If you're interested - check it out! 

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Audible.

This podcast was made with the support of City of Stirling through their Community Creativity Fund.

#meldare @meldareartist @bassogal @citystirlingwa #artistpodcast #perthartist #australianartist
Exhibiting in the Joondalup Invitation Art Prize 2 Exhibiting in the Joondalup Invitation Art Prize 2022 at Westfield Whitford City, Hillarys, WA until the 23rd of October.

Artist statement:  The threads of our experiences create the fabric of our personal narratives. They inform us who we are, how we relate to the world and how it relates to us. Mel Dare is interested in how the self is constructed, threaded together by divergent strands of culture as well as the moments of time and place in which we exist. Patterns of conditioning are formed: our need to survive and our desire for comfort. Personal experience has become an entry point of the artist’s ongoing research. Recently she hiked the gorges of Karijini. The layers of rock, compressed and twisted, writhing and breaking apart over billions of years. The capillaries formed, skin particles and skin layers with pores. 

This experience and her meditation practice gave Dare the space to reflect on the last few years of her struggles with mortality – the passing of her father, overcoming her own health problems as well as the perspective gained from middle age. This propelled the artist to investigate her own patterns, which began in childhood, and the nature of identity itself. “...trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body. This imprint has ongoing consequences for how the human organism manages to survive in the present.” Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score.

Artwork details: Mel Dare, The Past Lingers, Acrylic paint and ink plus graphite on Caravaggio linen, 152 x 152cm, 2022

#meldare #joondalupinvitationartprize2022 #contemporaryart #painting #perthartist #artprize #australianartist
If you're interested in seeing a showcase of conte If you're interested in seeing a showcase of contemporary WA art check out the 2022 Joondalup Invitation Art Prize. On display are the artworks of this year's 30 selected visual artists (including myself) for this annual award. Curated by Matthew McAlpine. Open to the public from today until Sunday 23th October 2022 at Westfield Whitford City, Hillarys (ANZ entrance). 

#australianartists #waartists #meldare #groupexhibition #artprize2022 #contemporaryart
Work in progress for the Joondalup Invitation Art Work in progress for the Joondalup Invitation Art Prize 2022.

Inspired by hiking in Karijini gorges, meditating and contemplating mortality. 

#workinprogess #meldare #iap2022 #painting #australianartist #artistinstudio
SOLASTALGIA fundraising art exhibition officially SOLASTALGIA fundraising art exhibition officially opening tonight 6pm @ Lost Eden Creative, Dwellingup. Open: 3 Dec - 6 Feb. 

Over 80 artists have contributed artwork to this good cause. Proceeds of the fundraiser will go to 'Save Dwellingup Discovery Forest' and WA Forest Alliance. More info can be found at
www.dwellingupdiscoveryforest.org

#solastalgiaexhibition #groupexhibition #fundraiserevent @lostedencreative #dwellingup
Exhibiting at the SOLASTALGIA fundraising art exhi Exhibiting at the SOLASTALGIA fundraising art exhibition. Opening tonight 6pm @ Lost Eden Creative, Dwellingup. Finishing 6 February. 

Over 80 artists have contributed artwork to this good cause. Proceeds of the fundraiser will go to 'Save Dwellingup Discovery Forest' and WA Forest Alliance. More info can be found at
www.dwellingupdiscoveryforest.org

Artwork details: Mel Dare, Don't Be Such a Girl 8, acrylic paint and ink on canvas, 30.9 x 30.9cm, 2021. 

#meldare #solastalgiaexhibition #groupexhibition #fundraiserevent @lostedencreative #dwellingup
Last week of Gotham Gets Pickled at Holmes à Cour Last week of Gotham Gets Pickled at Holmes à Court Gallery @ no.10. Finishes this Saturday the 4th December at 5pm. Open Tues - Sat 11am - 5pm. 10 Douglas Street, West Perth

Artist Statement: 

Green. Paddocks of wheat in early Spring. The Avon River in Winter. My favourite turtleneck skivvy when I was five. The sweet moist smell of forest undergrowth.

For the last 20 years I have been interested in personal narrative. Particularly how it is constructed within individual subjectivity. The process of why and how people choose certain events and experiences from their culture, families and day-to-day living to build stories by which they navigate, view and understand their lives.

As a child green was my favourite colour. Peaceful, soothing, full of hope and renewal. Now as an adult the colour green has other meanings. Political, environmental and personal. This body of work investigates a few of these divergent aspects of my relationship with the colour green. Particularly the changes in comprehension, understanding and knowledge which come with the passage of time.

ARTWORK DETAILS:

Mel Dare, Green 1, 2 and 3, acrylic paint and ink on Caravaggio linen, 2021

Image by the artist. 

#meldareartist #gothamgetspickled #groupexhibition @gallery.hac #australianartist #gothamstudios #contemporaryartist #painting
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