Helen Johnson, Jonny Niesche, Joshua Petherick, Marian Tubbs
Press Release:
“Minerva’s Superfetation”
A poem on the occasion of the opening of the Minerva Gallery
Sydney, 8 February, 2014
‘The owl of Minerva only takes flight at dusk.’ — G.W.F. Hegel
Here, now, in Sydney, the Oldest West of White Australia —
Still the bastard love-child of Bentham and De Sade
(As Robert Hughes puts it in The Fatal Shore) —
At an indistinct yet absolute fault line of the city
Where the oleaginous networks of fiscal ascendancy
Lick the drug-bespattered arse of the rotten Cross,
And the junky dancers can barely be told from rich joggers,
All lycra and navel-piercings and tans-so-fake-they-must-be-real,
There stands Minerva, ‘an historically-significant inter-war building’
Bridging the hard corner of Orwell and Macleay Streets,
Named for the Roman goddess who presides over art,
Wisdom, schooling, medicine and war, arrogant, virginal,
Not born through parthenogenesis nor pollination nor sexual reproduction,
But from the first thought of Jupiter, Lord of the Gods,
When they cleft his forehead and his daughter leapt out
Screaming a war-cry so terrible the skies themselves trembled,
That one gets the derivation from Sanskrit, *men-, ‘mind,’
As the original terror of thinking entering the world
On wings as deadly as the owl her spirit companion,
Black eyes without profile at the last hinge of day and night,
Giving ten thousand works to be seen that were never before.
Justin Clemens
Text (pdf)Documentation:
“Sunny and Hilly”, installation view, Minerva, Sydney, 8 February – 15 March, 2014
“Sunny and Hilly”, installation view, Minerva, Sydney, 8 February – 15 March, 2014
Helen Johnson, “Urban Myth”, 2013, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 457 × 609 mm. Hany Armanious, “Untitled”, 2014, adhesive vinyl, 3300 × 11400 mm
Helen Johnson, “Urban Myth”, 2013, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 457 × 609 mm
Helen Johnson, “Urban Myth” (detail), 2013, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 457 × 609 mm
Andy Boot, “meliorates”, 2014, watercolour on canvas, 1600 × 1300 mm
Andy Boot, “meliorates” (detail), 2014, watercolour on canvas, 1600 × 1300 mm
Andy Boot, “meliorates” (detail), 2014, watercolour on canvas, 1600 × 1300 mm
“Sunny and Hilly”, installation view, Minerva, Sydney, 8 February – 15 March, 2014
Fayen d’Evie, “WHERE’S MY MONEY, PUNK?, Draft Prologue (p,T,)”, 2013/4, Laser copy on post-consumer recycled stock, steel tacks, 420 × 300 mm
Fayen d’Evie, “WHERE’S MY MONEY, PUNK?, Draft Prologue (P,t)”, 2013/4, acrylic aerosol paint, copper sheet, engraved dye sublimation, painting on stainless steel, 190 × 270 mm
Jonny Niesche, “Untitled”, 2014, euromir, voile, half remembering a Nauman quote, 485 × 700 mm
“Sunny and Hilly”, installation view, Minerva, Sydney, 8 February – 15 March, 2014
“Sunny and Hilly”, installation view, Minerva, Sydney, 8 February – 15 March, 2014
James Deutsher, “North West”, 2014, magnetized iron, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian foot length scaled to width × 110 mm
“Sunny and Hilly”, installation view, Minerva, Sydney, 8 February – 15 March, 2014
Joshua Petherick, “Cut-Offs (Study for Endpapers Pt.1)”, 2013, c-print, plexiglass, polyurethane, resin, wood, plastic, 760 × 380 × 50 mm. Joshua Petherick, “Cut-Offs (Study for Endpapers Pt.2)”, 2013, c-print, plexiglass, polyurethane, resin, wood, metal, 760 × 325 × 50 mm
Joshua Petherick, “Cut-Offs (Study for Endpapers Pt.1)”, 2013, c-print, plexiglass, polyurethane, resin, wood, plastic, 760 × 380 × 50 mm. Joshua Petherick, “Cut-Offs (Study for Endpapers Pt.2)”, 2013, c-print, plexiglass, polyurethane, resin, wood, metal, 760 × 325 × 50 mm
Joshua Petherick, “Cut-Offs (Study for Endpapers Pt.1)” (detail), 2013, c-print, plexiglass, polyurethane, resin, wood, plastic, 760 × 380 × 50 mm
“Sunny and Hilly”, installation view, Minerva, Sydney, 8 February – 15 March, 2014
Helen Johnson, “No Sweat”, 2013, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 457 × 609 mm
Helen Johnson, “No Sweat”, 2013, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 457 × 609 mm
Marian Tubbs, “Vulgar Latin” (detail), 2014, HD video, sound, colour, 5 minutes 39 seconds, Edition of 2 + 1 AP
Marian Tubbs, “Vulgar Latin” (detail), 2014, HD video, sound, colour, 5 minutes 39 seconds, Edition of 2 + 1 AP
Marian Tubbs, “Vulgar Latin” (detail), 2014, HD video, sound, colour, 5 minutes 39 seconds, Edition of 2 + 1 AP
Marian Tubbs, “Vulgar Latin” (detail), 2014, HD video, sound, colour, 5 minutes 39 seconds, Edition of 2 + 1 AP
Jonny Niesche, “Her Love sticking out like stars”, 2014, glitter, linen, acrylic, 1180 × 1080 mm