This year’s essentially sponsored LSB exhibition was its sixth, titled “Landfall”
(d: water or storm damage to land; land first sighted..). The curator, Lara Nichols (who commuted all the way from NGA Canberra) not only selected all 43 artists but also the Landfall theme ‘nature, humanity and art’ - “to bring together brilliant local and international artists who would delve into the dilemma of our endangered world by not being afraid of expressing their thoughts, with emphasis on their environmental awareness & responsibility!”
However, did they get that across? In my opinion most did not! WHERE were all the big meaningful ’Landfall’ sculptures? I felt very disappointed with the real lack of daring or ideal big statement, the lack of innovation and awesomeness - including the usually stunning Small LSB Exhibition; the déja vu-ism bordered on banality, if not boring!! There was a pyramid of old TVs with foil-covered screens; there was a giant shotgun, pointing out to sea of course; a giant-sized bench at the edge of the water; Sonya Payes’ giant-sized black & white facial impressions of her daughter eerily embedded in the sand which kids played all over! There was a story of starkly hideous obelisks with a few plastic flowers on the ground; not to mention the two house frontages, one built out of huge stone blocks & the other out of annoyingly very, very evenly chopped firewood all staked & wired together by a NZer!....
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| Marcus Tatton 'The Equation" |
I was so longing for the three little pigs and a big bad wolf to jump out and start some entertainment!
