A Question of Consent and Consequence
You have probably all heard or read something about the controversial works of Australian photographer Bill Henson that have been confiscated by police due to the use of naked underage girls in his work. I would not normally get involved in a debate that has already been commented on by everyone and anyone but since I have already written on a similar issue involving the work of Nan Goldin, and I am an Australian, I am going to say my piece.
Considering that Bill Henson has been producing similar works for more than 15 years it is unfortunate that he has basically been led to believe that what he is doing would not result in any serious negative consequences. I have no doubt that Henson has been treated unfairly and has been falsely portrayed as some sort of child abuse promoting monster. However, now that the works have come under scrutiny there is no way that action can’t be taken.
Nicholas Forrest on 05.29.08 @ 07:33 AM EST [more..] [26 Comments]
In the beginning [and working from outside the system as was my case] you don't worry much about promotion, word-of-mouth sort of does the trick. But word only travels so far. If you are serious about your work you soon realise that you have to become a bit more aggressive. As soon as you start to show, word-of-mouth slowly runs out - friends and family can only carry you a certain distance. You quickly discover that you have to send out invitations if you want people to keep coming; showing up at openings and parties broadens your data-base; phone calls help. And when you've gone down that road for a certain time there comes the day when the've all gone home and you allow yourself to dream for more. When will the critics come? When will the good galleries open up? And time goes by and they don't come, and they don't open up... or if the first one's come the second still don't open up their doors to you.
As the temperature goes up, Dubai winds down and the summer exodus begins. It is 
Journalistic cynicisms aside, there were some real highlights. My personal favourite was Desperately Seeking Paradise, a group show of contemporary Pakistani art curated especially for Art Dubai's new Pakistan Pavilion. Huma Mulji's suitcase installation addresses the lives of migrant labourers in Dubai. A suitcase of golden shoes and bread suggests the riches they seek but which they ultimately build for others. A suitcase of showers had a speaker in each shower head, one narrating dreams of employment in Dubai and the other narrating the drawbacks. Also on show were video installations of interviews projected onto cardboard boxes, disturbing clay figures laying face down in the flowerbeds and the interesting results of a photography workshop given by students of the American University of Dubai to twelve labourers. 
Every generation defines itself, to some extent, in rebellion to their elders’. The fine art world is so caught up in its high minded, illusory and often times silly ideals about what art should be that it often forgets that art is a petri dish for our culture. What eventually happens is that a new generation who feels the weight of history decides to throw it all off. The Impressionists sidestepped the Salon, in the 60’s artists formed unions to overthrow the museums and protest the war in the 60‘s (the museums are still with us thankfully), and sometime in the 80’s younger artists, partly because of the weight of history and partly because some simply knew nothing of history they simply ignored high art and embraced the art they grew up with. I suppose you can call it low or popular art. I use these terms somewhat facetiously here as my philosophy at least tries to ignore those labels in search of a more holistic understanding of art. More recently I’ve been known to rail against the democritization of art. But just so you understand the complexity of my views I am not against the next generation sidestepping the system.
A year or so ago I was made aware of a non-Aboriginal Australian artist who was passing himself off as an Aboriginal Australian artist and making quite a bit of money in the process. The artist in question was born in Sydney but spent time during his teenags years at a school in a particular area of Australia's Northern Territory that has produced many of the most well known and highly valued Aboriginal Australian artists. According to this artist's profile on the website of the gallery that represents him, during his time in the Northern Territory he was exposed to the artistic practise of the indigenous people and was later taught to paint in the traditional Aboriginal x-ray style by an Aboriginal Elder. The art gallery that was selling the work of this fraud did nothing to alert potential customers to the fact they might be purchasing works of art that looked the same as that produced by geniune Indigenous artists but were by an artist who was not an Aboriginal Australian. Because a style of painting is not protected under Copyright Law it is not illegal as such for this artist to paint in the style of Aboriginal artists, but it is illegal for the artist to promote himself and present himself as an indigenous artist when clearly he isn't. 
In the world of artists, there are some who excel to an extent that it isn’t fair to allow them to work without mention. Benone Olaru is one of them.
A satisfying feeling of validation has been bestowed to me. Ingrid Kamerbeek, art colleague on the other side of the planet, sent good news to me today by email. If not for her diligent monitoring of the infinite art cyberspace of the Internet, I would probably never have known what had occurred in February of this year. What could be so wonderful to make me feel like Clint Eastward, with someone who did “make my day?” In Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas, at the 96th annual conference of the national College Art Association, was a formal presentation of my creative process! By association and examples to illustrate the speaker’s description of my art making methodology, my art had to have been displayed through electronic projection. This would also validate the artist’s works, as no creative process would get profiled at such a prestigious event without the art being judged to be great (or at least successful and original) as product. The audience was distinguished college art instructors and professors of American universities and colleges. 
There, I’ve done it again. I said I wouldn’t but I’ve fallen for it one more time: wrapped two paintings up last week and drove them south of the river for the Montijo International biennial that is scheduled for August. You’re thinking that I’m not a man of my word and you are right – in one of my last videos [and a blog] you do hear me and fellow studio-buddy Fernando Vidal saying ‘Never Again’. He’s to blame; not so much for the ‘never again’ but for luring me into the trap when he walked in to the studio with a devious grin on his face and the application forms in his hand. The prize is too good to ignore: 15000 euros for first prize in painting – and, as Fernando keeps reminding me, the worst that can happen is for the jury to say no and we’ve both accumulated sufficient anti-bodies to rejection to come out of it with any significant bruises.
