Convergence - Blindside
Image: Xinshou Zhuo
Convergence: A Spatial Negotiation at Blindside brings together 23 masters students from RMIT across Arts Management, Fine Art, and Photography. It certainly is a spatial negotiation to fit the work of 15 artists into one room of the gallery, and even more of a spatial negotiation to fit their friends and family in for the opening I attended last night.
There are a few pieces that I really love in this show such as Holly Goodridge’s crochet piece Loops that Hold. Hanging from the ceiling and draped over a plinth and onto the floor, the fluid form acts a vehicle for other artworks to play and interact with it. Such as Yiming Wang’s ceramic DROPS that sit atop the crochet tail, or Noah Bridger’s wax sculptures Dipped that hang from the back. I also am completely enamoured with Jiayi Liu’s Rattle Drum. Which sits nestled between two windows. The soft felt tendrils reaching and almost growing over the wall, claiming it back with a gentleness. Liu turns the traditional children’s rattle drum toy into a face that would get hit with every rotation, holding the object at a point of tension between joyful fun and painful punishment. The corner of the room holds the next treat, Yelin Lee’s Mental Traces in Space Hard Fragility. This spiderweb of clear plastic, made as a 3D pen drawing, sits suspended behind Goodridge’s hanging work, adding to the feeling that it’s a corner with a forgotten cobweb. Held in the web is a cast silver heart, nestled amongst the tendrils it’s in a balanced state of fragility. I think part of the reason I’m so drawn to Goodridge, Liu, and Lee’s work is because these are three pieces in the room that work together and speak to one another. They create a narrative of softness, of things held in flux, of connection.
There are two other works that feel like they’re in their own show that just happens to be in the same room, and these are Maryam Attar’s Entwined Identity and Kay Are’s Sight Visit. Attar’s installation sees a portrait emerge from the wire, which shifts with the light and as you move about the room. This impermanence is reflected in Are’s installation, which is activated through interaction, inviting viewers to look through the mirrored metal tubes to see the other work in the room in a new light. I like Are’s description of the work as finding a ‘solution to the limitations of space by engaging viewers in the event of producing more space.’
Look, I really wanted to like this show - these guys are students, I’m a student - I think student work has merit and value, and we need to support that and give it space outside of the institution. But this show is what you get when you bring together artists who have nothing in common except the desire to get 12 credit points towards their degree and a show at Blindside on their resume. Don’t get me wrong, the show isn’t bad at all, it’s just that most of the work doesn’t have anything in common with one another and it doesn’t have anything to say as a collective. The producers have done a great job at trying to link the work together through the curation of the show and the notion of convergence, but they were definitely put in a hard position without much wriggle room. Also, having seven producers feels like perhaps there were too many cooks in this kitchen. Overall, the show has some great work and has obviously been a labour of love for all those involved. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense as a whole, even under the guise of being a convergence.
The exhbition also features works by Asha Sym, Taofeng Yu; a photographic collaboration between Amol Madhu and Xinshuo Zhuo; a collaborative mural by Woo Hyun Kang, Leigh Woodburgess and Olivia Lin; and a collage project by JoyJia and Sharon Lesley. You can check out the catalogue here and the show at Blindside until June 14th.