Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 days agoI've Got the Post-Duchamp Blues
Marcel Duchamp's work challenges traditional art norms, prompting reflections on authorship and the nature of art in contemporary society.
On the second floor of Hany Armanious's exhibition at Buxton Contemporary in Melbourne, a curl of tangerine peel lies on a shelf, its yellowing, pithy insides facing upwards. It feels like it should be cleaned up, but it won't be. The rind is not rubbish discarded by a careless visitor: it's a perfect resin cast made by Armanious. Placed carefully around the gallery are resin recreations of other items more commonly seen in bins: a group of melted candles, blobs of Blu-Tack, crumbly chunks of polystyrene.
As a photographer I am interested in people, places, and things. These interests did not change with the pandemic and sequestration, but the opportunity to pursue them did. The people I was sequestered with were not all that eager to be photographed over and over again, and the places I was sequestered in tended to be private rather than public. As a photographer trying to stay photographically fit, I was obliged to rely almost exclusively on "things" as subjects - on still lifes.