Victorian College of the Arts - Research Publications

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Author: Desmond, Narelle × End date: 2024 × Start date: 2020 ×

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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Significs
    Desmond, N (https://www.connersconnersgallery.com/significs-february, 2023)
    This exhibition explores the intricate interplay between language, signs, and meaning through a collection of artworks by eight contemporary Australian artists who employ text-based modes of production to convey ideas and concepts. By delving into the concepts of signs, semiotics, and perception, the exhibition sheds light on the relationship between signs and their referents and its impact on the interpretation of text. Using a semiotic approach, this study investigates the significance of the relationship between language and meaning, as well as the complex intertextual relationships between the text-based artworks selected. Through an analysis of the works by Darcey Bella Arnold, Emily Floyd, Fiona Foley, Rose Nolan, Liv Moriarty, Mike Parr, Reko Rennie, and Peter Tyndall, this project aims to deepen our understanding of the intricacies of textual interpretation and the role of semiotics in the construction of meaning in contemporary art.
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    Canopy
    Desmond, N (Station Gallery, 2021)
    This artwork was included in the exhibition Ten Year Show at Station Gallery Melbourne and was a constructed object of 2 interlocking components referencing modernist form through an ambiguous suggestion towards function.
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    Hot Autumn
    Desmond, N (Gertrude Contemporary, 2021)
    Hot Autumn was exhibited as part of a group exhibition Gertrude Studios 2021: If Not At Arm's Length at Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne. This work consisted of a found acrylic panel that identified the Auto Gas bowser at the Liberty petrol station in Fitzroy. In an incident that occurred in 2021 where a fire was started at the petrol station, this panel was warped and melted into an abstract dripping organic form. Later Desmond salvaged this panel from the site and housed it in a custom-made wooden support. The work's name Hot Autumn, refers to a series of worker strikes in Italy in the 1960s.
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    It's About Time
    Desmond, N (Conners Conners Gallery, 2022)
    Set within a room painted to reference the building's origins, It's About Time, featured oversized bootlegged dust jackets and book covers related to 60's counterculture, historical mash-ups, speculation, and science fiction Created to emphasize the containment of ideas, culture, and historical precedents the elements were dynamically staged in a sculptural installation. Taking cues from Tony Fry's "A New Design Philosophy," the exhibition addressed specific research on time through the themes and subjects addressed in the books identified by the oversized dust jackets that are splayed over one another in the installation. This innovative strategy to communicate complex relationships between ideas provides new ways of bridging modes of thinking and offers unique perspectives by physically unpacking research methods supported by overarching concepts relating to time. The exhibition was held at Conners Conners Gallery, a gallery renowned for its curatorial rigour that showcases leading contemporary artist practices in Australia. This exhibition makes a valuable contribution to the fields of art and design by reimagining the intersection between time, history, and ideas.
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    overtime
    Desmond, N (Gertrude Contemporary, 2022)
    This artwork investigates the function of the studio as a physical space for reframing ideas through the process of collection and reshaping. The artwork recontextualizes the studio as a hand-painted large-scale basket, containing a monitor playing a video loop of a scarab beetle found on-site. Drawing on Ursula K. LeGuin's Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, which reimagines the story of human origins as a practice of collecting and bringing things home, this structure explores how physical spaces can function as containers for ideas and how contemporary art strategies can provide new perspectives on this process. Through an analysis of the artwork's use of painting, installation, scale, juxtaposition, and animation, this research seeks to amplify architectural space and provide unique perspectives on the collection and analysis of ideas and historical precedents. By examining the exhibition's contribution to contemporary re-contextualization and foundational concepts related to the development of critical thinking, this study offers insights into the role of the studio as a space for experimental approaches. This artwork's inclusion in the Gertrude Studios 2021 exhibition, which showcases leading Australian contemporary artists, demonstrates the significance of this research within the Australian art community.
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    The wind and more & Who’s a better lifter?
    Desmond, N (Station Gallery, 2021)
    These two related yet separate artworks were included in the exhibition The Yellow Wallpaper curated by Laura Couttie at Station Gallery Melbourne. First published in 1892, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is a short story illustratating 19th century attitudes towards women’s physical and mental health, and the oppressive nature of gender roles. Each work uses a ready-made and naturally weathered old wooden ladder to hold two different styled doors fabricated in miniature between a section of the ladder’s rungs. These works explored scale and architectural form through sculptures that, with their size and positioning, also engage directly with the prescribed text.