B.

Examining ideas about 'art' and 'craft', economics and aesthetics, and particularly between the 'original' and the 'reproduction', this exhibition presents a delightful jungle of juxtapositions. It offers a challenging hybridisation of opposites by thirteen contemporary Australian and New Zealand artists.

Prototypes also opens a window on our Tasmanian neighbours represented by the artists: Annalea Beattie, Andrew Simmonds, Sandra Bridie, Kate Daw, Avril Martinelli, Chris White, Linda Judge and John Martin. There is also a strong body of New Zealand artists: Richard Reddaway, Julian Holcroft, Simon Morris and Barnard Mclntyre with the Christchurch artist Grant Takle as a local representative.

Using computer graphics and transfer prints, the artistic endeavours of these artists are given new forms in these industrially manufactured tiles. In doing this the works combine an art historical value with a functional medium. The artists have responded diversely to the challenge, with Chris White developing his interest in optical illusion and Reddaway creating a photo-montage of his own body. The connections with architecture, sculptural relief, painting and decorative design locate these works within the frameworks established by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, Pop Art and the "Ready-mades."

The tiles are also something of bourgeois icons. They are designed by an individual artist as a limited edition but have the potential to be multiplied and consumed by the mass market. Are these tiles designed for bedroom floors or for gallery walls? Prototypes leaves you to decide.

('Prototypes', Bulletin, No.99, December 1995/January 1996, p.3)

This exhibition was held at the McDougall Art Annex in the Arts Centre.