Saturday, December 15, 2012

Ikea @ Edmund Pearce Gallery Melbourne


Janina Green, Pink vase - 1990 reprinted 2012, Silver gelatine print on fibre based paper,
hand-tinted with blue photo dye, 85 x 70 cm
A photograph of a simple mass produced vase. Its form the familiar vessel which so dominates Art history. Awe and wonder at how my camera magically transcribes its existence. The rendered colours amplify its quiet presence.


Ikea installed in Edmund Peace Gallery November 28 – December 15 2012

My photographs are always about the past.

The Barthesian slogan, “this has been”, is for me, “I was there”. This series of images of a vase from Ikea consists of silver gelatin prints tinted in different coloured photographic dyes; photographs of a simple mass produced vase – its form the familiar vessel which so dominates Art History.

“Ikea” for me is symbolic of the useful homely object and of the ideal home. The vase from Ikea no longer exists. The picture of that vase stands in for the vase that once existed. The photograph can be seen now – at this moment. It will continue to exist in the future. Its representation crosses time barriers.

My photographs are always documentations of a private performance.

Every photograph records what is in front of the camera, but my interest is in the occasion and the complex conditions of the making of the photograph – first the negative then the print. Each photograph ends up being a documentation of my state of mind during this intensely private moment as well as something for other people to look at.

Because of changing conditions, every one of these prints from that same negative is different. For me each analogue print is an unsteady thing. They are now relics from another era, as is the vase.

As a counterpoint to the repetition of the vase prints, I have selected four vintage works from my archive.

Edmund Pearce is a contemporary art space dedicated to the understanding and appreciation of photography. Located on Flinders Lane in the heart of Melbourne’s gallery district, Level 2, Nicholas Building 37 Swanston Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000


Represented by M.33