Artspace

the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane

Boris Achour, Jack Ball, Louise Bourgeois, Ellen Cantor, Carla Cescon, Laurent Grasso, Louise Haselton, Dylan Mira, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Rachel Rose, Fannie Sosa and Jelena Telecki

Curated by Talia Linz

Opening
Thursday 29 April, 6pm

Exhibition Dates
30 April – 11 July

Overview

Delving into personal belief systems as well as broader social frameworks, the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane explores the fabric of our relationships, from the interpersonal to the interplanetary. Here are private rituals, games between lovers, existential thought forms, historical mistruths, perennial riddles.

The artists represented cover wide ground but all engage with art as a means of embodied discovery or revelation. They present themselves as many and morphing in a web of relational identities: child, parent, lover, other. Past and future selves meet and diverge. Knowledge and faith come in and out of focus.

The works move between comedy and sincerity, irony and honesty, fiction and truth. Many draw on diaristic tendencies or something of the confessional, revealing quirky, personal and complex worlds. Poetry and symbolism dominate. As do forms of marking of the self – individual and collective – through time.

In this moment of global introspection and deceleration, the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane draws on love and loss, then and now, aligning intergenerational practices that engage with truth seeking and confidence tricking in the games of art and life.

Carla Cescon, 'Sequence on Sequence', 2021–21, water-based paint on marine ply, 39 double-sided panels, each 168 x 78 cm. Installation view, the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane, Artspace, Sydney, 2021. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Zan Wimberley
Installation view, 'the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane', Artspace, Sydney, 2021. Photo: Zan Wimberley
Installation view, 'the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane', Artspace, Sydney, 2021. Photo: Zan Wimberley
Installation view, 'the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane', Artspace, Sydney, 2021. Photo: Zan Wimberley
Wura-Natasha Ogunji, 'I saw a man falling', 2020, thread, ink, acrylic and collage on tracing paper, 5 panels, each 203 x 61 cm. Installation view, 'the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane', Artspace, Sydney, 2021. Courtesy the artist and Fridman Gallery, New York. Photo: Zan Wimberley
Installation view, 'the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane', Artspace, Sydney, 2021. Photo: Zan Wimberley
Jack Ball, 'PDA', 2019–21, site-specific installation with inkjet prints on gloss and rag, and powder-coated aluminium pipe, dimensions variable. Installation view, 'the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane', Artspace, Sydney, 2021. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Zan Wimberley
Louise Haselton, (foreground) 'Asymmetric Engagement' #3, #5 and #1, 2016, concrete, acrylic perspex and wool, each 42 x 20 x 7 cm. Installation view, 'the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane', Artspace, Sydney, 2021. Courtesy the artist and GAGPROJECTS, Adelaide. Photo: Zan Wimberley
Jelena Telecki, 'Attached', 2021, oil on linen, 61.5 x 61.5 cm, Love Collection, Sydney/New York. Installation view, 'the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane', Artspace, Sydney, 2021. Courtesy the artist and Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney. Photo: Zan Wimberley
Rachel Rose, 'Everything and More', 2015, HD video, 10 mins 31 secs. Installation view, the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane, Artspace, Sydney, 2021. Courtesy the artist, Pilar Corrias Gallery, London and Gladstone Gallery, New York/Brussels. Photo: Zan Wimberley
Jelena Telecki, (from left) 'Cowgirl', 2021, oil on linen, 180 x 103 cm; 'Ready', 2021, oil on linen, 112 x 112 cm; 'Mushrooms 2', 2020 oil on linen, 139 x 112 cm. Installation view, 'the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane', Artspace, Sydney, 2021. Courtesy the artist and Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney. Photo: Zan Wimberley

Artists in conversation

Curator Talia Linz speaks with artists Dylan Mira, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Jelena Telecki, Rachel Rose, Carla Cescon, Jack Ball and Louise Haselton. Listen to their personal reflections on pleasure, magical intervention, mushrooms, motherhood and approaching the unknown.