Given that it was fairy tale-themed, the question wasn't whether I would like it but, rather, how much, and indeed there is heaps of good stuff in this exhibition at the impressively consistent Potter Museum.
Some pieces jump off quite directly from well known fairy tales, such as Lotte Reiniger's silhouette animations, from the 1920s through to 50s, of tales like Hansel and Gretel and Snow White and Rose Red, Amanda Marburg's plasticine-y oil paintings (though my favourite of them, "Juniper Tree" (2016), calling to mind both Dali and O'Keeffe, is more oblique; I also especially liked her "Hansel and Gretel" (also 2016), facing into the forest), Dina Goldstein's transpositions/juxtapositions, like "Princess Pea" (2009), and that computer game rendition of the Little Red Riding Hood story, "The Path", with which I spent some time a few years ago (referenced here).
The abject and the uncanny also loom large, strongly present in two of the strongest things on offer: Miwa Yanagi's series of black and white photos, many of which depict young women made up to appear very old, and Patricia Piccinini's "Still Life With Stem Cells" (2002), which struck me with a real jolt when I turned a corner and looked into a dark room to see its startlingly lifelike subject sitting there on the carpet, surrounded by typically Piccinini-ish organic-looking globule-y creatures (the way that succession of descriptors that I just rolled out is each not quite precise seems apt, trying to pin down something that, by nature, is elusive). Rare for art to reach out and deliver such an immediate shock - how great! It got better the longer I spent with it too. Also showing: her video "The Gathering" (2007), which I've seen before (in Canberra?), still wonderful.
And for sheer pleasurability, it'd be hard to beat Allison Schulnik's whimsical, poetic and inventive stop-motion clay animation "Mound" (2011), set to the morose tones of Scott Walker's "It's Raining Today" ... which also turns out to be freely available online.
Some pieces jump off quite directly from well known fairy tales, such as Lotte Reiniger's silhouette animations, from the 1920s through to 50s, of tales like Hansel and Gretel and Snow White and Rose Red, Amanda Marburg's plasticine-y oil paintings (though my favourite of them, "Juniper Tree" (2016), calling to mind both Dali and O'Keeffe, is more oblique; I also especially liked her "Hansel and Gretel" (also 2016), facing into the forest), Dina Goldstein's transpositions/juxtapositions, like "Princess Pea" (2009), and that computer game rendition of the Little Red Riding Hood story, "The Path", with which I spent some time a few years ago (referenced here).
The abject and the uncanny also loom large, strongly present in two of the strongest things on offer: Miwa Yanagi's series of black and white photos, many of which depict young women made up to appear very old, and Patricia Piccinini's "Still Life With Stem Cells" (2002), which struck me with a real jolt when I turned a corner and looked into a dark room to see its startlingly lifelike subject sitting there on the carpet, surrounded by typically Piccinini-ish organic-looking globule-y creatures (the way that succession of descriptors that I just rolled out is each not quite precise seems apt, trying to pin down something that, by nature, is elusive). Rare for art to reach out and deliver such an immediate shock - how great! It got better the longer I spent with it too. Also showing: her video "The Gathering" (2007), which I've seen before (in Canberra?), still wonderful.
And for sheer pleasurability, it'd be hard to beat Allison Schulnik's whimsical, poetic and inventive stop-motion clay animation "Mound" (2011), set to the morose tones of Scott Walker's "It's Raining Today" ... which also turns out to be freely available online.
