Failing, falling, flying by Rebecca Ann Hobbs

On Tuesday, my whole class were told to meet up at St Paul’s Street Gallery at AUT to view Rebecca Ann Hobbs Exhibition called failing, falling, flying. The first thing we all did that day was that, we all had to watch a short film video that Rebecca filmed called Ah-round (2008), where she collaborates with her ex-lover Maodu. In her short-film, it shows us how the camera circles around Madu (actor) while Maodu was just standing their hosing down the plants and also listening to some music in the greenhouse. To be honest I didn’t like her that short film video that she made, to me it just looked very boring to be brutally honest, because I couldn’t relate to it in anyway what so ever, I didn’t get the whole meaning behind it.

But later on that day when we were informed to go around and observe Rebecca’s displayed works up on the walls. While I was looking around and also trying to take down notes, I started to take a real interest in her photography work. I really liked how her pictures had a weird, awkward, surreal look to it. I like to think of Rebecca's work, represents 'absurd'. Because behind most of her work I see it all as humor, funny in way that makes me laugh in how the man falling down the stairs etc. I also like one of the photo she had called ‘photoshoot’ where there’s this guy falling on a bed in the middle of a grassy, hill type of area, What would a bed be doing in the middle of no where.

What I still buzz out on, is that how she manages to capture an animated thing in mid-air, as if it was paused with a remote on a high-definition t.v of some sort. Such as the man falling down the stairs for instance called ‘Spin’. I love that photo that she took, it got me already thinking of how painful it most of felt for that guy, and I started asking myself if that image was even real or not. Later on that day she mentioned that guy in her photo didn’t get hurt because lucky enough he was a trained stuntman. When she said that, I amazed in how she hired a stuntman, for her work of art and how she captures things in mid-air, it still flips me out.

For the Walters Prize award, I pick Fiona Connor, because her work is simply just amazing I loved it and how she used up the whole space of the floor, and how she copied the whole top of roof and made like an exact replica of the top roof.

Mary Curtis

Mary Curtis is a contemporary artist who currently has an exhibition at object space in titled “Metadecorative”. There is something unusual that I find about her style or rather her approach to making her works. For me I view her setting and stuff as traditional jewellery, like jewellery that your grandparents wear- that it kind of has that ancient or from another century look. But what really stands out for me about her work is that she combines these old school designs with more contemporary, more modern materials. The type of materials that she uses are wallpaper, acrylic, soldiering and bits of fabric that looks like they come from the 1950s.

Its kind of unusual to see that kind of material used to make jewellery, I mean they have tradition use of silver in some of the pieces that were on display but she took it further by making jewellery that I've never seen anyone wear before. I mean she has created works of art, so I don’t really know if they can be classified as jewellery or rather as works of art themselves.

So in relation to function and decorative, the way I understand it, is that Mary Curtis combines old school design techniques (like traditional jewellery smithing and settings) and combines it. Or rather uses it as a foundation to create pieces of jewellery that are combines bits of the past and bits of the future (contemporary) together. I guess what makes them functional is that they have a tradition design with modern flair. That maybe the title Metadecorative could be interpreted as a statement about Mary herself. That apart of her is the function and the decorative side of her have met halfway and regenerated together to for her exhibition. So there is function in the ability of the public to want to wear and be able to wear the pieces but at the same time they are kind of art that I don’t think I’d wear or adorn myself with.