On the Grid draws favourable parallels

Pickle Gallery September 15 - 20 2011

Nicola Scott

On the Grid is an example of how a student/emerging art exhibition (while it can be discussed in myriad ways beyond this reductive description) can give commercial galleries and museums a run for their money. This is not always the aim of such shows, and obviously there are other ways of presenting art, however in the case of On the Grid and many other ‘amateur’ shows, the exhibition was presented according to the overarching format – grid – of the art gallery/museum institution and its associated conventions.

In many  emerging artist exhibitions the attempt to replicate a more professional gallery setting focuses attention on just how far they fall from the mark (somewhat understandably due to space, time and money constraints): the space is cramped; works are carelessly and haphazardly installed; there is no indication how the works speak to a central theme or concept, or to each other; catalogues are black and white stapled affairs or missing altogether, rarely if ever with substantial supporting text or an ISBN number. While this may sound like an overly harsh assessment of the efforts that routinely come out of QCA and other tertiary institutions, it is not an attempt to insult or discourage. I have taken part in such shows and they are, for all their shortcomings, necessary, inspiring and affordable ways to get your work shown, discuss ideas, receive feedback and to network. However, in the attempt to replicate the gallery setting, in which those involved generally aspire to one day show their work, some key roles and rules are usually left out. On The Grid shows what can be achieved when the structures and job descriptions of the gallery are adopted from start to finish –beginning with a passionate curator with a coherent idea of what the exhibition is about, when artists are carefully selected according to this criteria, when works are innovatively arranged in the chosen space, precisely installed and shown to their best advantage, when the space is well-lit, the catalogue is professionally produced, when a talented writer enlisted to research and write an accompanying essay, and when every space is utilised to maximum effect.

On this last point, such banal things as a fresh double-coat of white wall paint, an unobtrusive refreshment table, spotlights on works and thought-out floor plan can have a surprisingly powerful effect on the overall experience of the show.  Curator Lisa Bryan Brown’s savvy placement of works in a diagonal zigzagging formation, managed to use a limited and difficult area of space (two long narrow corridors and a small square room) to maximum affect, giving visitors room to step back from work. Similarly, the importance of including a well-researched essay, accompanied by colour photographs of each artist’s work, should not be overlooked in the chaos of planning a show. As the primary documentation of the exhibition, Kylie Spear’s discussion of the ideas underlying the exhibition title and the selection of art works demonstrates the merit and contemporary significance of the show and those involved. By placing these ideas into the larger framework of art historical and theoretical discourse, and suggesting the grid’s ongoing significance in contemporary life and artistic practice, the published catalogue essay opens a discussion around the works that then exists to be engaged with by others after the show has ended.

By putting into play the key conventions and designation of roles central to the fsuccess of the gallery institutions they choose to replicate - more closely than many other shows featuring emerging Brisbane artists -  it is less of an imaginative feat to envisage those involved in On the Grid appearing on the wider grid encompassing commercial galleries and art institutions in the near future.