Another Interactive Portrait: of Myself

So I made this under the influence of some fad back in '07ish and just last week I was listening to a podcast on Radio Lab about machines and humans, which reminded me of two things:  Everything, and my cybertwin that I made ages ago.

So they interview the cybertwin guy and a few people who have had some interesting interactions with robots and chatbots, and I couldn't resist the temptation to see what my cybertwin could come up with.  It has a very sassy and sometimes sarcastic tone about it (which I'm trying to train it out of), and the way it speaks reflects alot about myself in 2007, but I've started giving it a bit of an overhaul and teaching it about my practice, (incase anyone asks about it).  A few people have tried talking to it and have found it difficult.  Part of that might be because they want to confuse it because it's a robot and the experience is weird, and partly because the robot can get confusing over the conversation and seems to forget things that have occurred in the conversation so far.

Some pro-tips for those who want to engage my cybertwin are don't say one word things because although trying to confuse can be fun and a bit of a power trip, after you do it twice it becomes super boring.  But the good news is it doesn't hold a grudge and will jump on the next idea you throw at it.

If you say anything to it it's helpful to me because (and this is a disclaimer) I read the transcript of the conversations people have with it to work about better responses it could have to things and teach it more about manners etc.

This Little Teapot Exhibition: Pic's and Video

This Little Teapot was exhibited at Paper Plane Gallery in Rozelle and opened on April 13.

Above is an installation shot of the exhibition of one part of the show which features my work Impression, 2011 appearing on the right side of the photo.  The work is made from tea on canvas.

Impression, 2011.  Loose-leaf black tea on unprimed canvas.

By Tony Curran

Reading tea leaves has been a source for uncovering untold fortunes of the future.  Whether it's reading tea leaves, coffee, star constellations, knowledge and inspiration have been developed from uncertain accidental or coincidental appearances.  This is why Da Vinci encouraged young artists to find inspiration in bits of dirt on a wall or patches of damp.  The process of finding an image in something vague like a cloud can be considered divine intervention, an omen or a message from the heavens.  Or they could just be psychological constructions which we project onto the form to make it meaningful.

Impression is a self portrait of a teapot in loose leaf tea painted by the teapot, assisted by the artist.  It's a visually vague tea painting, left open to interpretation much like how we see the world, art and ourselves, how we tell stories about phenomena, and how difficult it can be to say anything meaningful about our own selves.  Its visual vagueries are a result of a lack of ability on behalf of the teapot to perform an action it was not designed to do - depict itself, nevertheless once the teapot is seen, it cannot be hidden.

What is the difference between what we see depicted in nature and what we see depicted in art?  In this work the artist's has worked with the the object of the drawing while using it as the drawing tool to intentionally depict a teapot.  Attempting to articulate the form of the teapot the cumbersome nature of the teapot was an obstacle for rendering a descriptive picture of the teapot.  As a result the picture is a stain which slightly resembles teapotness.  The sepia colour makes this impression aged, like an old photographic print.  It visually reminds one of a relic such as Shroud of Turin which is itself a vague impression and its vagueness makes it more authentic as a sacred artifact.  The face of Christ in toast or on a public wall seems to pop up every now and again sometimes making front page news.

Intentionality sets it apart from accidental phenomena, fluke or mistake.  Intentionality alone makes the work a representation of the teapot whether or not it looks like one.  The context of the exhibition further helps the viewer to see the teapot in the image, and it is through these associations and the intentionality of the artist (teapot) that an engagement with the work is possible.  

You might be looking at it upside down.

this little teapot @ paper plane gallery from qwux on Vimeo.

Gestating

I've been playing around with watercolours since I've been out of Fraser Studios.  I've been painting under the concept of Individual as I develop the first issue of the Quarterly Collection, which is a fine art by subscription package.  Although I am still working through these images I find it interesting to save them at different stages of the process.  I always have a fear of ruining an image when I continue working on it and so I want to keep a logue of the stages for my own reflection.  It also provides any readers the opportunity to make any early comments and to see my artistic process.

As you can see with these images they each have very different processes, intents, and themes.  I will post updated images as I make significant additions to each.  Please forgive any "dirt" type noise in the images as I've been having difficulty getting acrylic paint off the glass.  I'd love to know if you have any favourites from these.

FROM CONCEPT TO FINISHED WORK: A Visual Essay

THE NATIONAL YOUTH SELF PORTRAITURE AWARD in progress

Last year I set myself the task of entering the National Youth Self Portraiture Prize which is run out of the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. I decided submitted a giant nude self portrait which was so good the judges couldn't in good conscious humiliate all the other entrants by allowing it to hang near them. Naturally it had to be refused the prize and avoid the negative press that perhaps I was older than I say I that I am infact an established artist and not an emerging one. By using my own skill as demonstrated in my entry they would clearly be able to take down the giant that is the National Portrait Gallery and shame me in to moving to Adelaide. Thankfully neither of those happened and the competition is able to run again this year.

However, this year I am feeling a bit of pressure. As the criteria goes for this prize I am in my final year of elibility. Entrants 25 and under can submit work but next year I will be 26. This is the last chance I can submit a work for that tastey reward, or the privelaged to have my work selected as a finalist and exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery - an honour that my young but prodigious talents would blush toward.

Over the past month I have exploring styles of self portraiture as it is a genre that has earned me reputable milestones in my burgeoning career. Some of these are very sketchy self portraits, almost doodles done with whatever remainders of paint have been on my brush after a studio sesh.

Most of them are monochrome. I really like them but they tend to be studies that exist outside of my practice. I couldn't frame them and I don't want to make them a series because then I feel my submission might be a little more boring than I'd like.

So began the task of developing a new concept to how I would like to portray myself. I want something very me in my work and I want that to come through the narrative rather than a facial performance by myself. I think there is the opportunity here to be a lot less cliche-contemporary art and more of an opportunity to have a lot of fun with painting - in the way that started me drawing and painting all along.

NEW DIRECTIONS

Mean, 2010. Ink on A3 paper.

I am developing a new self portrait for my entry into this years National Youth Self Portraiture Prize. This is the final year that I am eligible to enter so I had better bloody win the damn thing. I'm working in a medium that lies somewhere between drawing, painting and print making. I am using a stamp of my own name and printing it repeatedly and in a fashion to develop a likeness of my own face. The length of my name and the clunkiness of the instrument is causing an interesting distortion which is similar to an old pixelated MS DOS system or those text built images sent around in emails. Because of the lexical information of the image used in the image it is similar to being made up from printed code. I may or may not use a smaller stamp in future, for now I think I might develop a little side practice with this. It shows that the instrument that you work with has it's own signature capabilities for making an image.

Curious, 2010. Ink on A3 paper

I'm very fascinated in the distinction of these media. I am printing repeatedly in black with the text "TONY CURRAN". The repetition of this media creates lines, the repititions of the lines creates tone, the arrangement creates shape etc. If I started using paint and colour it would approach the colour side of the practice also.

AURAL DYNAMICS UPDATE

Untitled, 2010. Acrylic on canvas.

I poured this one about a week or two ago and then waited for it to dry in my apartment. This work has come out from the fact that I'm constantly drawing ears. I'm not really sure what's going on with this one.

So far these are the ears that have been drawn. I'm still looking for more ears so contact me if you'd like to get involved otherwise keep checking my website to see the new ears as they appear in the slideshow

ANOTHER FOR THE COLLECTION

Boxed In

Boxed In, (2009). Tony Curran. Acrylic on transparent perspex.

It's been a long time. I've been spending a great deal on a bunch of things most importantly this new work which I submitted for the Australian National Youth Self Portraiture Award held at the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.

Boxed In is a representation of my research into the phenomenology of visual representation. Here the three-dimensional subject yearns to escape a two-dimensionally composed representation. As the subject's attempt to be expressed is representationally limited he is trapped. This ideological sacrifice is depicted through the visual language of christian art as it is a readily recognisable and controversial theme. This creates the opportunity for more accessible debate. I have used a crucifixion composition. The transparent surface and media is akin to the stained glass windows seen in churches, and the depiction of "saints" who serve as additional representatives of the phenomenological argument around representational form. The iridescent gold is a reference to “false idols”, ancient sculpture and Nazi “Aryan” statues as a way to subvert ideologies that enforce a limited perspective of the world we live in.

Self Portrait studies

I forgot how fun sketching could be. My housemates girlfriend told me I was being "self indulgent".

SELF PORTRAIT PREP

The annual Self Portraiture prize for emerging artists at the National Gallery of Australia is coming up and I'm working on a few approaches. This is one of them.