John Babrour lost routes to lovely

12.11 – 29.1.11

john barbour: work for now*

 

*extended until 29 Jan. 2011. Please notes aeaf opens for 2011 on 18th Jan.

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

John Barbour is 'still looking to create that 1/2 sec of something else' — that other picture one sees before the familiar settles in. Work for Now will feature a selection of Barbour's work including the architectonic/lexographic forms seen in Poor box (2001), along with more recent fabric, paper and metal works not seen before in Adelaide.

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).

[…] 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 is delighted to be able to present the work of John Barbour in this major exhibition that features selections of iconic works by his long-term gallerist Kerry Crowley of Yuill|Crowley Sydney.

hard soft: monograph

JOHN BARBOUR: HARD/SOFT

a comprehensive 148 page monograph on the work of Adelaide based artist John Barbour.

HARD/SOFT - the title of Ewen McDonald's introductory essay - traces the evolution of Barbour's practice from the late 1980s. The book includes insightful essays by Russell Smith, Michael Newall, Ian North and Linda Marie Walker on themes and projects, augmented by an interview with the artist by Anne Thompson.

Edited by Ewen McDonald, the monograph is an acknowledgement and celebration of John Barbour's significant contribution the visual arts over the past few decades. As the essays and reproductions of key works and installations reveal, Barbour is one of Australia's foremost contemporary artists.

The book will be launched 5.30pm Wednesday 23rd March at the AEAF darkhorsey bookshop.

Works courtesy Yuill/Crowley, Sydney

artists website artists's website

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

essay by Ken Bolton 2010 'Some thinking about John Barbour's Work for Now', by Ken Bolton, Dec 2010

 

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.