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Lines that Define series (exhibition), 2016

 

17 June – 3 July 2016

Paper Mountain ARI, Perth

 

Lines that Define: the exploration of subjectivity and perspective by artists Olga Cironis and Mel Dare.

Inspired by their personal narratives and migrant cultural contexts, Cironis and Dare produce socially-charged yet personal 3D and flatline works respectively. While their difference in form and personal narrative result in distinct, contrasting pieces, Lines That Define produces a synergic dialogue that encompasses contemporary social issues including cultural identity and globalisation, gender politics, and environmental change.

 

The result is an exhibition that encourages viewers to be aware of their own personal narratives and immerse themselves in the conversation on the social issues around us.

 

 

Catalogue Essay:

 

How long is a line? 

By Ric Spencer

 

A piece of string is twice as long as it is from one end to the middle – the equation reads as such: 2 (L/2) where L = length. Theoretically then a line is also twice as long as it’s half, a string being a physical manifestation of a line.  

 

A life then, as another manifestation of a line between two marked points, is also twice as long as it’s half – but things start to get more complicated when we try to locate points along that line called life and then try to measure between these. This will to negotiate backwards through various points of our lives is something we define as memory – a skill which at once isolates, congeals and elucidates on these points, thereby measuring not through length but through experience. Experiences are a measure of any life, experiences create memories and memories build lives, build families, societies and cultures; memories are stories told from which others gain insight into our lives.  

 

From these stories values, ethics, law and principles of reason are born. When I look at Olga and Mel’s work I am reminded that experiences and their measure through memory are not universal but rather shift and shape through context. The stories they tell in their work respond to their own lives, and all that comes from this in terms of identity, displacement and belonging.  The shifting, lucid nature of their use of material to me offers a reliable reflection on the unreliability of memory as a collective measure. 

 

If memories (personal and cultural) create identity they also over time become less and less linear and more and more wave like, washing over our lives and descending into haze. I was reading, almost as a reflection of this, that the universe of space-time that we all live in is created in gravitational waves. Last year scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), who had been looking for it for forty years, measured a gravitational wave that washed over the earth at the speed of light.  The wave of gravity was created by two black holes colliding, two individual entities whose existence intersected to create matter, energy and ultimately us. Gravity is the curvature of space and time, gravitational waves are imprinted with information about their source – our source – the source which creates the space time fabric. I recently read a column in The Straits Times (Singapore) by Justin Ker which I think puts the relationship between this wave, us and memory beautifully: “The gravitational wave made all the masses on earth…(it is) perhaps an astrophysical form of memory, carrying information about the history of its formation, as it ripples across the universe. The gravitational waves prove that Einstein was right, and we live in a fabric known as space-time that is malleable and unreliable, like walking in a mist where the faces of wives, lovers and children fade in and out. The solidity of our existence, and the forward arrow of time that we experience, are false.”   

 

In light of Ker’s article it’s interesting to think about the complications of identity in a PGW (Post Gravitational Wave) world. Again when I look at Olga and Mel’s work, together, not only am I reminded of the collision and collaboration of two entities but also of the fractious nature of identity over time, particularly in terms of the subjective nature of experience, and again particularly as it relates to memory. The sandblasted, reacquainted nature of Olga’s sculpture and the floating spatial linear forms of Mel’s paintings for me list toward understanding ourselves not in terms of social media, facebook, family or even world history  – but rather how we might exist in a constantly shifting universe with non-linear memory.  

 

If the gravitational wave moves reality as it moves across us, leaving behind a material memory somehow disjointed, then likewise Mel and Olga’s work leaves a wake of fluid identity, their works shift as waves of new materialism wash over them. If in effect we are living in a dream then things like creation and recreation become cyclical as a constant renewal, and I think this is beautifully approached in Lines That Define. Olga and Mel’s work is embedded with the tension of erasure and rebuilding, where memory becomes pivotal to understanding identity in a constantly shifting physical and material existence. It seems to me in a PGW world that memory begins to mean more to us then a pleasant daydream – rather we become attached to it because it gives us a sense of self and cultural longevity in the face of a wave that constantly reprograms the source and creates an ebb and flow of reality. Perhaps we always knew this wave was there and so we have over evolution embedded memory in our cells to withstand its presence. Cultural memory is memetic and we rely on its knowledge to pass on learning and to keep building lives. When we lose memory, when our stories disappear, we mourn as a species – the loss that gets us most is the loss of data.  

 

In this sense how long is a line?  

 

In Lines That Define the most important lines are the lines that connect, the ones we throw into cultural history, into time, when memory becomes an anchor. Olga and Mel’s work reminds me that the lines that are long enough reach out over time and space to connect cultures, people and stories of place – they become the crucibles of memory and the measure of our existence.  

 

 

Justin Ker The Memory Biopsy, The Straits Times, Saturday May 28, 2016: Opinion, A49  

On 11 February 2016, the LIGO and Virgo collaborations announced the first observation of a gravitational wave. The signal was named GW150914. It matched the predictions of general relativity for the inward spiral and merger of a pair of black holes and subsequent ‘ringdown’ of the resulting single black hole. http://en.wikepedia.org/wiki/First observation of gravitational waves  

 

Dr Ric Spencer is an artist and writer and currently Curator at Fremantle Arts Centre.

 

 

Review_Cultural fabric laid bare _ The West Australian_2016_Lines that Define exhibition

Lines that Define-catalogue

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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