Unglamorous

“It’s essentially just putting objects in a frame, and hanging it on a wall. And by hanging it on a wall, I mean plugging it in.” (Eric Demetriou, phone conversation 11 August 2020).

What happens when we look inside the process of making art? When we see its guts and bones, and the aura is not only dispelled, but revealed to be a misdirection, a mirage, a glamour?

Unglamorous is a curated exhibition at Moana examining how the work of art works. Artists Anna Dunnill (WA), Eric Demetriou (VIC), Taree Mackenzie (VIC) and Kate Mitchell (NSW) each tackle the work of art as an honest question, showing you their working and their process – not as a sideshow, but as an integral aspect of the artwork itself.

These artists share an approach of transparency in their production. The apparatus, mechanisms and methods are not concealed under clever editing or polish, but integrated as part of the artwork. Unglamorous looks inside the making and machinery of the artwork, bringing together artworks which not just reveal, but revel in the process by which they come about.

As a provocation and response to the object-based work of art, Unglamorous looks at the process of making art; through the intimate stick and poke tattoos of Anna Dunnill’s Needlepoint Club; Taree Mackenzie’s visual adaptation of sudoku; Kate Mitchell’s efforts to hypnotise herself into becoming various works and objects of art; and Eric Demetriou’s audio subversion of two-dimensional art. Unglamorous is curated by Elizabeth Pedler (WA).

Exhibition opening Friday 6pm 9 September 2020