From Carrie Miller…
The latest group show at Campbelltown Arts Centre The Social explores the practice and processes of artists who engage in some way with elements of popular culture. Sometimes this constitutes a critical relationship, at other times it’s just a straightforward celebration.
Josephine Skinner’s video art is work that does both. Skinner’s bank of videos contains amateur talent she sources from YouTube, where she finds individual renditions of loves songs from romantic film soundtracks sung by fans. She then painstakingly constructs a synchronized routine of the various and highly varied individual performances she has chosen in an artfully coordinated and strangely unified production.
Emma Thomson’s sometimes hilarious and disturbing twist on traditional portraiture includes elements of glamour photography and questions the power of the image in the hands of amateurs. In this commissioned series she has photographed former adolescent beauty pageant contestants from the Campbelltown area.
And the always engaged and engaging Jodie Whalen will be there to take audiences on guided tours of the diverse range of practices on display. Her artwork is to act as tour guide, providing information about the work, and interacting with the audience about the show.
Artists included are Abdul Abdullah, Liam Benson, Penelope Benton and Alexandra Clapham, Sarah Contos, Daniel McKewen, Justin Shoulder, Josephine Skinner, Christian Thompson, Emma Thomson, and Jodie Whalen.
Until March 10
Cambelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown.
Pic: Sarah Contos, Heather Mckean, 2011. Embroidered vinyl record. 2011 Courtesy of the artist.
