ArtsHub, September 08, 2009
Inside, the industrial rawness of the heritage listed walls of the tanks contrast beautifully with pristine white walls that benefit from the natural ceiling height, and allow the art, whether the striking unique shields by Atherton artist Michael Boiyool Anning, the elaborate, strong printwork of TSI artists including the famous Dennis Nona, Alick Tipoti and Billy Missi, or the wonderfully relevant and confrontational work of proppaNOW artist Vernon Ah Kee, through the Institute of Modern Art, to breathe and draw the viewer in.
Held over three days from August 21-23, attendance figures at CIAF reached 10,000, far above expectations. Jonah Jones, the founder of the Melbourne Art Fair, who was employed by Arts Queensland as consultant for CIAF, reported that on the first day the organisers had at least 4 times more people through than expected.
Something very important has been happening in Queensland over the past few years. The Queensland Government has injected serious money into supporting indigenous art. Pioneering artists such as the Lockhart River Art Gang, as I still like to call them (by their original wonderful name), forged the way for young indigenous artists, fusing their traditional stories and designs with contemporary influences. They are no longer alone; there is now enough interesting art from this region to warrant a fair of this size.
Whilst the original plan for the fair was to locate it in a purpose built environment on the renovated Wharfs, the recession led to the organisers keying down their approach. Designed as both an art fair and an ‘exhibition’, it consisted of three tanks, with one just for the opening night’s festivities, which continued into the second night, a celebration to launch the Cairns Festival itself, of which CIAF is a part. Even while busy, visitors were all able to see the art properly, a feat even our major state galleries have been unable to achieve at busy exhibitions. Perhaps it was due to the circular space of the art fair combined with the organisation of the stands, which did not feel like awkward booths but were often open, more akin to a gallery space, so the viewer could wander at leisure, enjoying the art without feeling pressure to purchase.
But purchase they did, with an estimated sales figure of $500, 000. Young and new artists were also being picked up by representatives, including the Bama textile makers of the Kuku Yalanji from Mossman Gorge who look like teaming up with Brisbane fashion label Easton Pearson.
Torres Strait Islanders work abounded, with at least five stands exhibiting it. The way in which these artists have handled the demand for their work, with three or so artists working with each company, as well as their two art centres, is admirable. Their art thus remains at a high standard, and because they produce prints and limited edition sculptural sets, there is enough to go round without quality ever being compromised.
The diversity included the proppaNOW collective, based in Brisbane (Richard Bell, Gordon Hookey, Laurie Nilsen, Bianca Beetson, Jennifer Herd, Andrea Fischer, Tony Albert and Vernon Ah Kee), whose artists share a combined interest in history. Tony Albert had one of the most impressive stands at the fair with his representative Jan Manton Gallery. Combining his larger pieces was an extensive series of beautifully executed small drawings and watercolours, many of which also included collage; they were an affordable way for the visiting public to buy the work of a major artist. Albert’s collection of Aboriginal kitsch memorabilia from his studio was also an enjoyable feature of the fair.
One knows a good art fair not just from the beautifully displayed work of the familiar (and as a writer/publisher, the inclusion of many good quality publication stands, magazines and books are, as Fire-Works Gallery director Michael Eather told me, ‘so important; the glue that binds the art world’), but also the revelation of a new, promising artist or group of artists. The Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre, who hail from the Cardwell region about 2 hours south of Cairns, were one such exciting new discovery. Queensland has long been famous for its ceramicist Thanakupi, a patron of the Fair, and Girringun artists also work in ceramics. They created an installation of ceramic figures and fire sticks, which quickly sold out with orders for more. It was fantastic also to see these artists practicing the tradition of the famous Queensland bi-cornual baskets, normally only seen in museums and Sotheby’s catalogues. They have the invaluable support of their relative, the aforementioned artist Tony Albert, who does regular free workshops with the artists.
What was also exciting was an engagement with locality, despite some local Cairns artists complaining to me of their exclusion from the fair, perhaps because of the quality of their work, for this was a ‘high-end’ art fair. CIAF director Michael Snelling made no secret of this, he was quoted in The Australian as saying “It’s not open slather…There are people who make tourist art and we didn’t want that there. There are also a lot of people in community contexts learning to make art, and I’ve tried to push as hard as I can that there should be exclusions…It’s meant to look schmick.” (Sales aside, Cairns puts fun into the fair, The Australian, Rosemary Sorensen, August 18, 2009).
I particularly enjoyed the local art spaces, such as KickArts Contemporary Arts and CANOPY ARTS FNQ, who both opened exhibitions on the same weekend and had presences at the fair. KickArts has long been of interest, combining as they do gallery, shop, printmaking studio and many other arts services. CANOPY ARTS FNQ is similarly impressive, a fusion of Coo-ee Gallery from Sydney, Fire-Works Gallery’s NEWflames Foundation from Brisbane, legendary printmaker Theo Tremblay and the Australian Art Print Network. The expansive space includes a gallery, printmaking studio and climate-controlled print gallery; a wonderful much needed resource for artists from the TSI and far north Queensland.
The Mornington Island artists, whose sublime prints opened at Charles Darwin University’s Northern Editions the previous week, were of course present at CIAF, with stunning paintings by established and emerging artists including Paula Paul, Emily Evans, Reggie Robertson, Karen Chong, Dorita Escott and Sally Gabori. They took the unusual and I think, effective, step of exhibiting with their main gallery, Alcaston Gallery from Melbourne. Thus gallerist and art centre manager were available in the one space for the viewer to meet and speak with.
Gabori, whose exhibitions, including a current show at Raft in Darwin that opened last week, have led to collectors rejoicing that finally a ‘new Emily’, a reference to Emily Kame Kngwarreye, has emerged. And this time, this claim, unsubstantiated so many times about other, lesser artists previously, seems to hold water. She is certainly pushing her inherited landscape depictions into an intriguing abstraction of form and colour experimentation, not always succeeding, but masterful when she does, just like Kngwarreye.
If so, then Queensland surely is the new NT, with CIAF set to help expose and develop all these many hidden gems. And additionally with the announcement today by the Queensland Government of their first Indigenous Arts Strategy, it appears as though Queensland’s flourishing indigenous art is here to stay.