john barbour

11.11 – 11.12.10

john barbour: work for now

 

I’m aiming for intense visual sensation and emotional affect—as well as new thinking. I want everything! But I want you to work for it…

– the artist in an interview with Ken Bolton in 2008

 

'In contrast to the de-materialisation evident in much contemporary art, mine is a thoroughly – perhaps even excessively – material practice. That’s to say I aim to explore and exploit the inherent qualities and propensities of materials - such as texture, weight, scale, mass, and opacity - as well as their psychological (or psychic) associations, for example of salvage, care, toxicity, and inwardness.

Generally I want the materials and processes to lead me somewhere I haven’t been (or even better, to lead me astray!). I want them to exist independently of my intentions. An artist always has intentions, but there is also the secret life things have in themselves. I want my works to speak to and about ‘my’ world, and in my register – but I also want them to have their own identities and destinies. I think of this as my ‘Republic of Things’. This mysterious dualism is beautifully expressed by poet Arthur Rimbaud’s words: ‘The bugle wakes as brass’ (as noted by Professor Ian North in his recent article on my work in Art & Australia, Feb. 2010).

My artistic processes and methods predominantly employ open-ended experimentation. I’m drawn through and by the materials themselves, whether using cardboard, fabric, steel or lead. The word ‘material’ also extends in my mind to include images – whether found or produced.

My influences are eclectic. I draw on literature, art, philosophy, architecture, cultural ethnography and anthropology. Music is a strong influence, though often it’s important to be silent. Sometimes when I’m working I imagine I’m listening to sounds coming from another room (like children playing). Often I don’t have to pretend. It’s less important to be in that room than to know of its existence.

Sometimes things happen miraculously fast – sometimes I’m forever waiting. In reality it’s the slow, patient thinking, looking, and making, remaking and unmaking of a work that results in something capable of sustaining the viewer’s prolonged intelligent, and sensitive engagement.

But I hope my works manifest a spirit of resistance. I don’t want them to reveal themselves immediately. What are they resistant to? Perhaps to our compulsive urge to ‘understand’ everything; or perhaps to the relentless spirit of commercial consumerism that pervades art as much as the rest of culture - the imperative for novelty.' John Barbour July 2010

The AEAF and Yuill/Crowley are delighted to be able to present the work of John Barbour in this major exhibition which will coincide with a significant catalogue publication that surveys the artist's practice. The publication will be edited by Ewen McDonald, designed by Teri Hoskin and include essays by Russell Smith, Linda Marie Walker, Michael Newell and Teri Hoskin.

John Barbour is represented by Yuill/Crowley, Sydney

artists website artists's website

jb interview interview with John Barbour by Ken Bolton, EAFiles#4, 2008

bio: john barbour

John Barbour is a significant Australian artist who has been exhibiting his work since the 1980's.

 

Selected solo exhibitions:

Yuill/Crowley, Sydney, 2008; RMIT Project Space, Melbourne, 2007; Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, 2006, 1999; Yuill/Crowley, Sydney, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1989, 1988; Apartment, Melbourne, 2005, 2004; Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, 2003, 2002; Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 2000.

 

Selected group exhibitions: 'Before & After Science', the 2010 Adelaide Biennial of Contemporary Art; Art Gallery of South Australia. 'The Green Candle', collaboration with Paul Hoban, South Australian School of Art Gallery, 2008. 'Uneasy', Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, 2008. 'Full Frontal', Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart, 2007. 'New Acquisitions', Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2007. 'Interesting Times: focus on contemporary art', Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2005. 'Store 5 is...', Anna Schwarz Gallery, Melbourne, 2005. '2004: Australian Culture Now', National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. 'A Matter of Time', 2004 Tamworth National Textile Biennial. 'Public/Private, Tumatanui/Tumataiti', II Auckland International Triennial, New Zealand, 2004. 'Organisation for Cultural Exchange and Disagreement', The Western Front, Vancouver, West Space, Melbourne, 2004. 'Foxed', Yuill/Crowley, Sydney, 2003. XXV Internationale Bienal de Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2002. 'Chemistry', Art Gallery of South Australia, 2001. 'Warm Filters', Adelaide Festival, 2000; 'Blind', Yuill/Crowley Gallery, Sydney, 2000. Publications: 'Uneasy' exhibition catalogue; Samstag Museum, University of South Australia, 2008. 'Interesting Times', exhibition catalogue, Museum of contemporary Art, 2005; '2004: Australian Culture Now' exhibition catalogue; 'Tumatanui/Tumataiti', exhibition catalogue, 2004; 'The Un-made Man', exhibition catalogue, Experimental Art Foundation, 2003. 'Metropolitanas Iconographicas', XXV Bienal de Sao Paulo, exhibition catalogue, Brazil, 2002. 'Joy', exhibition catalogue, Yuill/Crowley, Sydney, 2002. 'White Flag', exhibition catalogue, Yuill/Crowley, 2000. 'Warm Filters' Adelaide Festival 2000 exhibition catalogue. 'Accrued Losses' exhibition catalogue, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide, 1999.

 

Collections: National Gallery of Australia; City of Port Phillip; Allen, Allen & Hemsley; Museum of Contemporary Art; Griffith University; Queensland Art Gallery; Art Gallery of South Australia; Art Gallery of New South Wales

 

Distinguished Research Award, Australian Council of University Art & Design Schools, 2004. Mid-career Researcher Award, Division of Education, Arts & Social Sciences, 2008 Australia Council Milan Studio, 2007-2008. New Work grant: 2008, 2003, 1999, Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council. Project Grant: 2007, 2005, 2001, 1999, ArtsSA. Overseas studio residency, London, 1997-98, Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council. Visiting artist, Australian Institute for the Arts, Australian National University, 2004. Visiting artist, Duncan of Jordanstone School of Fine Art, Dundee, Scotland, 2001.

 

Associate Head of Art, Architecture & Design and Director, South Australian School of Art. Doctor of Philosophy, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Master of Arts (Fine Art), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art), Philip Institute of Technology Bachelor of Arts, LaTrobe University.