This Art Stead - Rachael Bartram

Strong Female Protagnists via Almodovar - All About My Mother

2012-01-27T21:32:00.004+10:00

A new favorite
All About My Mother - on the sombre side, but it is one for the "bruised". You'll feel as if you've been dipped in gold. Ah Spain!

Studio project development - making of stop-motion sequences

2012-01-27T21:20:00.003+10:00

Miniature Lady in Noir Light/Setting

A breath of fresh Collage

2012-01-22T16:11:00.004+10:00

Silken Signatures

2012

Collage of found images

I was recently reading a well known text written by a well known, if not controversial and somewhat batty feminist. A reference the author made to the subject of work in both a domestic and employed/paid context, made me think about creative commissions going back hundreds of years. We all know so much about the grandiose work of the male Artists propositioned to paint chapel ceilings and sculpt gargantuan monuments. However, while these Artists and highly skilled Craftsmen certainly made their mark on the evolution of Art and aesthetics (across all cultures/continents - not just referring to to the gilded West here) - why do we not hear so much about the similar work done by the hands of women? There is an interesting connection between Art and gender roles that is bleeding evident yet sometimes subtle. Fashion and 'wearable art' through history presents an apt example.

Fashion has a complex and multi-layered history branching off into categories encompassing identity (individual/social/national), everyday customs/practices, specific purpose/function, decoration and sex. An expert could go on and on and on ...my brief segue here borrows from an elective class I took in my 2nd year at Q.C.A 'Fashion and Art'. This collage work was made from a collection of images accumulated at different times, but they seemed to fall together. A lot of the images I collect have some sort of representation or reference to Women...or even the visual ideas of both feminism and femininity . In Silken Signatures you see three women crouched and hunched down making a rug. They were not in a domestic setting in the original image, they were working in a Bulgarian rug...workhouse ('factory' just doesn't fit this context somehow). The women appear to overlap onto an exquisitely embroidered Men's coat (of a French royal wardrobe I believe). The colourful and luxuriant silken thread in the coat frames the modestly working women in the centre. An opening at the top where a crisp, ruffled colour should be, grey Cygnets poke out over blue water that seemingly filters down into the clothes worn by the woman in the centre. The baby Swans allude to the 'nest' or home and the role of the mother in rearing offspring. At the same time there is an irony in the pronunciation of the 'Sig'prefix/origin and Cyg-net. This piece refers to the anonymous female authors, artists and creators that held no title and inscribed no signature in their craft work through the ages. That is not to say elements of this issue do not exist today - think about the 35 year old career woman on the childless-egg-freeze guilt trip.

2012 project - early studio experiments

2012-01-15T20:59:00.001+10:00

Me in 2007

2011-11-30T20:28:00.002+10:00

As captured by my man (still only chumps back then)

The University Years - 2009 (Honours) Part II

2011-11-30T20:11:00.003+10:00

The University Years - 2009 (Honours)

2011-11-30T19:13:00.004+10:00

In 2009 I undertook my Honours project. It was an intense year as the BVA Honours program commanded major written assessment pieces (one of which was a 10 000 word thesis no less) and cohesive/resolved studio based outcomes. My practical work split into two planes. One side of my practice was based around stop-motion, the shadowy silhouette figure and storytelling. On the other hand I also focused on the visual/conceptual possibilities of the two-dimensional format through the combination of collage and drawing. The result was two bodies of work that in retrospect, taught me a lot about trial and error in the studio - especially when employing a medium that is part low-tech/handmade and part digital (stop-motion animation).
The Dream Sequences video has been shown at a number of different shows/events and I have the parts and props ready to produce a sequel. It is just a matter of having an extra pair of hands! As for the two-dimensional works, my Honours project was the catalyst to an ongoing engagement with collage/assemblage methodology. It is a medium that is not restricted to the flat plane (see Christian Marclay for instance) and in the future I hope to push these ideas into new disciplines.

The University Years - 2008

2011-11-29T21:54:00.006+10:00

Pencil Bandit (Southern Belle) - #2 in the She Renegades series
2008
Paint pen on canvas

This series played on the idea of turning the 'innocent girl' character archetype (inherent across numerous fictional texts) on its head. My research covered everything from folklore and fairy tales through to unsung real life heroines, criminals and martyrs. The series consisted of four large canvas banners, each profiling a different Renegade character. The Pencil Bandit (Southern Belle) was partly appropriated from a turn of the century photograph (sourced from National Geographic) of a child dressed up in costume, masked and armed for the New Orleans Mardi Gras. I'm not sure what child in the photograph was meant to be dressed as, but I changed the weapon from spike to a spear sized pencil. Thus her 'weapon' that the character holds became more of a 'tool as weapon' or 'weapon as tool'. Although the pencil is a writing tool and object synonymous with early education and written literacy...it is also sharp to a point and a little bit dangerous. Then again in another light, in regards to free speech, inscribing your signature or posting a message in public space - any writing tool could be considered a weapon of knowledge.

The University Years - 2007

2011-11-25T21:06:00.011+10:00

St Kilda Pier
Collage
2007
*Sadly I lost this piece or dismantled it. Probably because I stole Scrabble tiles out of the family Scrabble set...sacrilege (pffft never play Scrabble anyway). A lesson learnt in keeping up a good standard of creative record and image based documentation.

Title unknown (one off installation of silhouetted black cotton cut-outs)
Installation
2007

Studio experiment (projecting over silhouette wall cut-outs)
Installation
2007

Continuing process work for 2012 project

2011-11-25T20:34:00.004+10:00

From top:

Lost But Relaxed
2011
Collage

A Friend to the Sailor's Wife
2011
Collage

A Beautician's Political Statement
2011
Collage

Hitchcock retrospective at GOMA >>> VERTIGO

2011-11-23T16:39:00.007+10:00

A lesser known but bang on the money Hitchcock film. Vertigo has some beautiful, timeless shots of the San Francisco bay area and also delivers a script whereby the key female characters induce heaving gaffaws in the audience. By that I mean that it was a product of it's era, especially in regard to the social norms of 'the romantic pursuit' in 1950s America. Vertigo is also hailed as Hitchcock's most poetic work according to some sources. It was also the last instance in which James Stewart acted under his direction. Check how orange he is in it errrr!

RESEARCH continued: Miss Bacall when she was still 'Betty' and the divine Frida Kahlo

2011-11-23T16:35:00.002+10:00

RESEARCH: look at her

2011-11-23T16:02:00.004+10:00

Collage cluster series: Lost Girls/Strong Girls (for future project)

2011-11-01T17:58:00.006+10:00

From top:
She Spoke of Exotic Fruits
Collage
2011
Wolf Eyes
Collage
2011
Diamond Eyes
Collage
2011

The Curious Thing

2011-10-27T14:13:00.005+10:00

Ever come across an image or photograph that documents a seemingly intangible perspective of the real world? An event, natural occurrence, a chance moment...an image captured from real life can say so much. But at the same time this visual evidence can say nothing at all or baffle further. Where it might be cliched to call something of this nature 'surreal', I prefer the idea of fictional and non-fictional elements mashing together before the eyes of the witness (or camera) creating a strange transient visual story. The above collage The Curious Thing demonstrates this combination. The boy with glasses was extracted and drawn from a classroom photograph I found in National Geographic. In the original image, the boy is reaching out to touch a snake being handled by his Teacher. My appropriation transfers the boy's tactile curiosity to an aerial aspect as he extends his arm to touch an enormous sea water spout. In a uncanny way, the water spout shares the long sinuous form of the snake's body. The image of the water spout was also from National Geographic.

Journal sketches and research

2011-10-27T13:55:00.002+10:00

Have a break have a kit ka..I mean collage

2011-10-05T13:00:00.009+10:00

Over the last 2 months I have been channeling a lot of my studio time into writing a new project proposal. Having bulked up my artist C.V to a sturdy degree and after winding down from the Assembling Worlds exhibition, I felt it was probably time to pop the grant application cherry. Sorry maybe that euphemism isn't quite appropriate. I am therefore preparing to submit an application for a mentor program overseen by the Australia Council and YAQ. Regardless of whether my baby makes it through, the whole experience will be (and has been already) a huge learning curve. If JUMP does not happen I will be setting my sights on the career development grant (Queensland Government initiative). This one...listen up all emerging artists...is open for application all year round and decisions are advised all year round. Aright innit? Anyway, the writing process has forced me to dedicate many hours revising my own ideas and the countless ways in which they could be realised and expressed. It's been going fine, but over the weekend I had a break from it with a little two-dimensional assemblage interlude.

I am still sifting through the many National Geographic magazines that my mum unearthed from under a pile of silver fish shit at my Grandparents' farm house. Over the weekend I cut up articles on Algeria and Parisian lifestyle in 1960. The advertisements for Cameras, Motor Vehicles, Coca-Cola, Airlines, Telephones and domestic appliances seem to be the most common I've come across in the editions pre-dating 1980. In a visual sense, when cut-up and re-contextualized with other contrasting materials - the dramatic documentary photography melds naturally and colourfully with the advertisement imagery. Strange, dreamlike and alien scenes can also come of this process as other outside and more subtle visual concepts come into play. Two of the pieces I made on the weekend:

Exotic Fruit

and

Poolside Voyeurs

Closer artwork

2011-08-18T11:51:00.005+10:00

An Accomplished Woman (Apparently)

2011
Collage
6 x 8cm (approx)

Look closer...

2011-08-18T11:32:00.003+10:00

Earlier this month, I had a teeny tiny two-dimensional art piece exhibited in a group show put on by Brisbane gallery/art space the Wandering Room. The exhibition aptly titled 'Closer' presented viewers with a diverse array of works all made and produced within the scale requirements of 8 x 8 x 8 cm. What I like about the concept behind this exhibition is that it does not attempt to be loud and obnoxious. Sometimes proposing 'large scale' projects can take you away more from the glowing, nucleic idea in the centre. The accentuation of scale at the tiny end of the spectrum spurs on a kind of 'stopped in your tracks' or 'did I just see that?'moment. Which is what I love about Slinkachu's work for example. In 'Closer' my artwork titled An Accomplished Woman (Apparently) was installed in what appears to be the down stairs living room perhaps...lovely! See for yourself right here

New assemblage pieces

2011-08-10T16:43:00.007+10:00

Some of these may change or have things layered on top. But my assemblage making process has slowed a little post 'Assembling Worlds' exhibition to allow for extra proposal writing/planning time. Enjoy

Semi Permanent sidelinin' - ETCC

2011-08-06T13:59:00.003+10:00

Hey there,

Heard of Semi-Permanent? With the annual art/design convention extravaganza now spurring on various sideline events, this year I've made the bill for one of the Brisbane sideshows. Run through ETCC and funded by Creative Commons and the Australia Council for the Arts, this show is all about the creative remix. We know a remix in the context of music, but what if that idea was translated to artwork and other cross disciplinary creative mediums? Well if you want to see some fresh and funky outcomes of this progressive and experimental idea, head to the Shooting Gallery

The ETTC show installed at the Shooting Gallery, is up and running for three weeks before the works are subsequently passed on to the selected Melbourne artists for remixing. So if you're swanning about the CBD looking for some visual stimulation and cultural refreshing, walk 10mins up from Central Station (up Creek St into Spring Hill) and turn left into Bowen Street.

Enjoy!

Oh Sally

2011-07-14T12:14:00.007+10:00

I've been researching Sally Smart a lot recently and love, love, love her work and approach to making art. Silhouettes, cut-outs, feminine identity, pirates....mmmm. I reckon she is a little bit unsung in the Australian art scene, maybe that is testament to the observation that painters might still be leading the charge? Well anywho, if you haven't seen her work before check it out here

I've got an itch for a triptych

2011-07-14T11:13:00.004+10:00

Having a jab at the era of political incorrectness present of children's fiction. The 'Adventure' or 'Budget for Girls...' (circa 1930s-1960s) type books as they were often called, were most likely produced for quiet, sensible summer holiday reading. The stories often focused on well behaved teenage protagonists who fluttered around solving mysteries, stumbling across smuggled narcotics and winning table tennis tournaments. I've collected a number of these stories and use them in the collage cut/extract processes. But it was only recently that I became interested in the dust covers. I had previously thought of this part of the book as untouchable and that if I was going to be cutting up and shredding old even rare books, that I should at least 'leave the shell' as a kind of legacy to the object. Then I thought that the covers were the real 'selling point' of the books. Bright, cheerful illustrations emblazon the colours and many appear undiminished despite their old age. Some are also still marked with the signature of a previous owner.

So, I became interested in taking the mick out of the air-headed/white girl/private school saturated stories by layering contrasting text phrases and titles over the top of the covers. It didn't matter to me anymore that I was tearing the covers off some of these books. In 'The Other Side of Storyland', the titles and figurative conditions of the covers are altered to evoke a different side to the 'beautiful good girl' protagonists in the stories. On a personal level, the best books I read as a young girl and teenager were the ones that I could relate to on an emotional level or (not to sound wanky) that empowered me...even if was in a small way. So this triptych pokes fun but also reveals the vulnerability of the fictional characters in the aforementioned old Adventure/Girls books. While these characters were independent and wholesome, they were also falling into the arms of pilots and boys from grammar schools. So I can see the little ways in which the old stories sought to set a good example to the young female readers, they were also conditioning them subtly. The underlying aspirations towards gender specific jobs (secretaries, typists, nurses), romance and domestic life were definitely evident between the lines. The triptych therefore attempts to contrast romantic pre-60s bedroom dreams with the 'Adventure' and 'Storyland' titles (romance and girly giggles overriding independence), whilst also deconstructing and rehashing snippets of text to present a short description that alludes to a naughty, perhaps even sexually experimentive side to the protagonist's personality.

New collaborative and individual works: count down to ASSEMBLING WORLDS

2011-07-04T19:04:00.007+10:00

From top:

'Kidnapped'
2011
Collage.

'Faz and the Revolution'
2011
Collage.

'From Tokyo with Love'
2011
Collage
Collaboration with Warren Handley.

'Call Me When You Get In'
2011
Collage
Collaboration with Warren Handley.

ASSEMBLING WORLDS - Rachael Bartram and Warren Handley

2011-06-27T19:30:00.004+10:00

In profile - getting back on my drawing legs again

2011-06-09T21:22:00.005+10:00

Entry for the Marie Ellis OAM drawing prize (Jugglers Art Space Inc). Originally I was using the Gwen in the roadster image as my subject, but I changed my mind at the last minute. This is only about a5 size, but you never know. The title 'The Searching Profile {and the unmoving cloud}' refers to the lost feelings experienced through personal frustration and anxiety. There is comfort in the image inside the profile self portrait. The two figures poised atop a blustery hill, represent the positive burning perseverance and the inner assurance that nothing has to be endured alone.

Stuck in orbit

2011-05-02T15:33:00.003+10:00

Lost Girls (outer space)

2011
Graphite and Ink on found image (sourced from National Geographic)

Collage with book covers/sleeves

2011-04-29T22:24:00.005+10:00

From top:
A Brush with a Charming Stranger

and

Maribel's Dirty Tricks

Developing 2D works - intersecting lanscapes and scenes

2011-04-29T22:11:00.004+10:00

Wolves/Suburbs

A mother and her pups torn against a sprawling, dusty suburbia. The blueish mountains in both images could be the same, as if the family of wolves could be skulking around the very edges of the brown roofed and blue pooled houses. I recently acquired another huge stack of old National Geographics, collectively dating from as far back as 1960. Both of these images were found in different editions and I joined together on this new plane. They seem to encroach on each other. I like fusing dual images using the assemblage process. The joining of contrasting and/or clashing situations, settings and objects enables a rewriting of the visual stories and contexts from which they derive. In further studio experimentation, these collage bases or dual scenes could provide the visual base for a third drawn layer etc etc

Lost Girls

2011-04-29T22:09:00.002+10:00

Lost Girls (Tiger's Eye Sunrise)

Dream study #1 (Elevator)

2011-04-29T21:49:00.003+10:00

This study is the result of a thirst to get back into some proper drawing. Having been working in two-dimensional assemblage (using essentially just found images and a cutting knife) for an extended period, I felt the need to change tools and get back into drawing and mark making processes. This small scale study is based on a dream about Staircases and Elevators. As not to resemble a naff Escher homage (don't even dig his stuff anyway), I decided to use the Elevator motif. The plait like border kind of appropriates the prettiness of old novel dust sleeves or the covers of fairytale stories, fables and the like. It is just a study and could be realised in a fresher and less wonky way with different materials/tools definitely. But the restrictive style is intended to leave a greater portion of detail and visual information to the imagination. Especially given that the dream itself was a bit frantic and wacky, I would want only the artwork's title to modestly elude to the derivative context of the Elevator image.

Objects/items re-found - photograph of my Grandma Gwen

2011-04-29T21:32:00.008+10:00

Gwen's name and image pops up often in my work and studio practice. Before she married my Gramps and assumed the last name 'Bartram', her maiden name was 'Fox'. The literal, animal representation of this title is a recurring feature in many of my drawings and two-dimensional based works and stands as a kind of familial metaphor. This photograph was probably taken in the late 1940s, whilst Gwen and Ron still lived in Yorkshire (they later emigrated by boat to Brisbane). A couple of years ago I had photocopied and enlarged a number of old family photographs for a uni based assignment, I rediscovered this one hiding in the book shelf.

'Tis a lovely shot

and more...

2011-03-23T09:41:00.007+10:00

From top: Sealed with a Cowgirl's Kiss, The Railroad Observers, Lucie Yawning by the Seine and Lost Girls (very lost).

More from the 2D assemblage line. Lost girls, dreaming girls, skating girls etc

2011-03-23T09:29:00.008+10:00

From the top: Hawaii Cliff Face and Tourist , Fun and Frivolity on the Glacier, Double Sunset Dreamers and Beading Birds.

Test shots for new moving image/stop-motion project (coming soon)

2011-03-18T10:17:00.001+10:00

2011-03-18T10:13:00.000+10:00

2011-03-18T10:08:00.004+10:00

2011-03-09T15:05:00.004+10:00

From top:

View of the Ranch Tragedy, Vessel Intersection, This is How We Fight (in the woods) and The Rustlers Sprung by the Butterfly.

The 2D assemblage-assembly line

2011-03-09T14:51:00.006+10:00

From top:

The Climbers and the Fallen, Jungle and Alpine Adventures, Girls, Buoys and Light House and A Very Unlady-like Way to Tie Your Laces

GoMA re-opens

2011-02-16T18:29:00.005+10:00

Discovered today that the Gallery of Modern Art at South Bank (Brisbane) has re-opened after flooding downstairs closed their doors. Check....it...ooooout, if you haven't already! Want an amazing day out packed with jaw dropping moments, hands on fun and yes...learning!? Visit GoMA to see the 21st Century: Art in the First Decade exhibition. The show features loads of heavy weights from all over the world including the likes of Kara Walker, Tracey Emin, Olafur Eliasson, Ai WeiWei, Tracey Moffatt, Julian Opie, Damien Hirst, Shaun Gladwell and the late Louise Bourgeois. For those still unsure or scratching their heads, let these keywords/phrases entice you:

- Flooded McDonald's
- Giant table of lego
- Room of Birds
- Super fun happy slide

2011-02-16T18:10:00.003+10:00

Tom's Triangle and Heroine in the Woods

2011-02-16T18:08:00.001+10:00

The Book of Cowboys and Jungle Damsels and The School Play/The Skating Competition

New assemblage pieces

2011-02-16T18:05:00.002+10:00

A Gorilla in the Room III and Belle Starr (with flowers)

Tai Snaith's awesome assemblage work

2011-02-15T15:35:00.002+10:00

Researchin' - 'STREET/STUDIO'

2011-02-15T15:23:00.002+10:00

Found this book down at local library. Yes sometimes sandwiched between the multiple Picasso and Monet books, you can come across a gem. Street/Studio - The Place of Street Art in Melbourne (by Alison Young, Ghostpatrol, Miso and Timba) captures the tasty crop of new talent emerging from the lane ways of Melbourne. I was already familiar with the beautiful work of Ghostpatrol and Miso, but another artist in the book that made me swoon was Tai Snaith. Her illustration, collage and street based work draw on the absurd and sweet. One of my favourite combos...check her work!

2011-01-22T14:25:00.000+10:00

2011-01-22T14:21:00.000+10:00

New works

2011-01-22T14:17:00.001+10:00

2010-11-18T14:47:00.000+10:00

Hidden True Identity

2010-11-18T14:45:00.000+10:00

Small Town Gals

2010-11-18T14:43:00.000+10:00

Watchers, Protectors, Raiders and Observers

2010-11-18T14:42:00.000+10:00

A Gorilla in the Room II

2010-11-18T14:40:00.000+10:00

A Gorilla in the Room

2010-10-25T17:21:00.001+10:00

The Pride and Joy Thief and Man's World

2D assemblage (found images, tape, gouache & water colour paper)

Commission: An interview with Winston Woodage

2010-10-18T15:43:00.002+10:00

A sticker phase - using extracted book illustrations + images

2010-10-18T15:41:00.001+10:00

2010-10-18T15:38:00.000+10:00

'Girl Mounting Rocket'

New 2D assemblage pieces

2010-10-18T15:20:00.004+10:00

Look closer:'Girl Meets Buoy'

Skilled and Accomplished ...progress/experimentation

2010-09-05T19:58:00.003+10:00

The 'Skilled and Accomplished' project. Coming soon...

2010-08-04T19:37:00.004+10:00

This collage piece 'Skilled {even by lamp light}' is representative of a project I'm gradually developing titled 'Skilled and Accomplished'. The project will be mainly concerned with the image and role of the female protagonist, narrator and heroine within stereotypical (in regards to gender roles) and exaggerated/dream like settings. The title of the project relates to the notion that, as politically correct and inclusive the world is today, old social formality dies hard. Especially when family is involved. At the same time, the project's conceptual theme will refer also to narrative structures, personal stories and the connection of female reader to female protagonist.

Desperate Spaces preview continued

2010-06-20T21:04:00.002+10:00

Works for the Desperate Spaces exhibition (Artworkers Alliance fundraiser)

2010-06-20T20:54:00.004+10:00

The Desperate Spaces exhibition brings together and extends the possibilities of found object (be it meaningless scrap paper, torn map or an ace of diamonds) and individual innovation/experimentation. Every participating artist was sent an envelope party pack full of found/aged 2D materials. The theme was to produce one or a series of small scale works from the 2D materials. The images posted are the result of my own experimentation.

Favorite album art 2:

2010-06-19T21:54:00.003+10:00

'Wood Face' by Crowded House ...seminal song writing and resonating album art

Recent visual research: favorite pieces of album art 1

2010-06-19T21:30:00.006+10:00

Notes from my uni class: 'Democratic Visions - American Art in the 20th Century'

2010-06-01T18:08:00.010+10:00

American social landscape photographer Lee Friedlander...a person quite before his time.

Hair-Jacked update...pieces in progress.

2010-05-25T15:34:00.002+10:00

New project for BARI festival. Series of 9, no title yet.

2010-05-25T15:21:00.003+10:00

The Encyclopedia series...

2010-05-06T20:48:00.005+10:00

Piece #1 for the HAIR-JACKED series

2010-04-13T13:04:00.000+10:00

Shadows in the urban underbelly - silhouettes, our shadowy body doubles

2010-04-07T14:27:00.002+10:00

http://www.woostercollective.com/lagands.jpg

The FOX....finished. Hair line/Blood line {the Fox}

2010-04-07T14:21:00.001+10:00

A more recent retrospective gander...from a large series based on assemblage and the 'collision of realities on a 2D plane'

2010-04-06T22:25:00.004+10:00

Susan Spying , 2009 (gouache and found image on paper) The Illustrated Chapters , 2009 (ink and found image on paper) Boys Trick Secrets , 2009 (found image, cotton thread and doily)

From the archives...bit of a Melbourne theme here

2010-04-06T22:16:00.003+10:00

Palais Theatre (ink on fabiano cotton rag paper). Another piece from 2007, this fine ink drawing hails from a stroll along the St Kilda esplanade in Melbourne. One of the best and loveliest buildings I've ever seen.

From the archives...

2010-04-06T22:03:00.003+10:00

Sifting through image files from bygone projects...found this gem. St Kilda Pier
I made this piece for a project in 2007 and then lost it (in much the same way Duchamp lost his Fountain). It stands to be replicated

2010-03-23T16:26:00.015+10:00

Something that fascinates....the work of John Stezaker.
Stezaker's work intersects between two-dimensional realities, creating multiple dreamlike planes of representation. If you're into contemporary collage, look him up

2010-03-19T20:13:00.000+10:00

2010-03-16T22:06:00.001+10:00

2010-03-16T21:33:00.001+10:00

2010-03-16T21:32:00.001+10:00

This is a blog in the works...when it's finally been seen to like a fraying hemline....it will be neat, proper and mint!