Colin Rhodes: Shibboleth

The exhibition, Shibboleth, is a kind of mind-map. It mixes books from my own library, artworks by others that I (with one exception) own, and artworks made or identified as such by me. The books, in particular, are chosen partly by chance, but guided by a kind of game of associations that play on my ideas about my own identity – psychological as well as defined by my artistic and intellectual interests – as well as, it must be said, by a dollop of acknowledging and (re)constructing something of my personal background.

Shibboleth is a touchstone, but it is also that word, custom, or behavior that identifies us as belonging to something else. It is about class. It is about being an alien. It is about tramping about in those areas of un(re)claimed hinterland; though perhaps being unknowingly observed. This exhibition denotes a territory of sorts, but it is what in French is ‘lisère’. The frayed-edge space between limits is where I do my creative and intellectual wandering.

This is also the place of ‘trickster’, then. Ted Hughes’ Crow is trickster par excellence: glorious, awful, proud, giving, destructive, loyal, treacherous, radiant, target. Throughout these poems he is Promethean. He is Milton’s Satan. He is Loki. Trickster always loses ultimately, though he often delivers a precious gift to others on the way. Thus, my Freud is the Freud of the Psychopathology of Everyday Life and Totem and Taboo. My historical novelist and biographer par excellence is the Peter Ackroyd of Milton in America and Blake.

The works by me included here are just a glimpse of part of a protean practice, driven by a romantic-surrealist aesthetic and the size and capacity of these three vitrines. So, a core characteristic of modernism ramifies this assembled Wunderkammer of material culture; underpinned by encounters with the self, the unconscious and, perhaps the metaphysical that we are still all more or less wrestling with today. I think.

So, by way of a guide, I offer visionary perception, mediumism, automatism and other pathways to the interior, or the vast exterior. There was a time when Paul Klee and Hans Arp were my guides, and they are represented here by artworks they gave me, one way or another. In other ways there are André Breton, Robert Walser, Alfred Jarry and Guy Debord. All of this enriched by Angela Carter’s Dr Hoffman, the other novels here included, and of course the examples that are Unica Zürn and Daniel Paul Schreber.

Each vitrine pursues a particular nuance. Level 4 I have called ‘Surface’. It deals in paint and all the dangerous stuff that flickers and glistens out there and in here. It is the unconscious and the conscious crashing together. It is all image. And this includes Paul Hoban’s little Contradiction – a painting/object that is obverse back and front – and Dan Miller’s Lumber Pine – a painting that breaks all the rules of the genre in its physicality as glazed ceramic. The rest is surrealism; knowing or unknowing. Level 3, appropriately for the ground floor of a library is devoted to the book. Artists’ books, both as handmade, unique object and small-run, printed edition dominate the installation. And it is the image, rather than the word that speaks most eloquently here. Indeed, in the cases of Anne Marie Grgich’s Braille Book 4 and Emile Henry’s exquisite little ink and gouache drawing, the word is nearly obliterated by image. Words are so very strong and magical in the few mass printed works included in this vitrine, especially in the cases of Walser, Carter and, of course, Ackroyd.

Level 2, by now below ground, is perhaps the most personal vitrine, though I have called it, rather innocently, ‘The Presence in Space’. It reveals more than anything the presence of the bricoleur, of a kind of habit of picking up, of rescuing. It speaks to collecting – the unusual, the unwanted, the overlooked – and to transformation and manifestation (as against painting’s drive to representation). So much of what is going on in the sculpture space in particular is a dialogue between the automatic process, my interest in tribal objects, my specialist interest in western modernism – especially in visual art – and discourses on primitivism. Many of the objects are chosen according to the laws of chance and through a process of seeing-as. I am a figurative artist, and anthropomorphism is strong. Stones and wooden fragments are women and men and what I understand to be chthonic presences revealing themselves to me through these materials that also arise from place, or have been abandoned in place. Sometimes pieces are appropriated and represented as found. Often, drawn or painted lines assist the sharing of my initial vision/response. Beneath it all is vision and commitment to humanity.

Level 4: The Surface

1.  Colin Rhodes, Reflection from the Fragment, 2010-2012, acrylic, compact disk, photograph on canvas
2.  Paul Hoban, Contradiction, acrylic on canvas
3.  Jungle Phillips, Raskar Bay, 2011, acrylic over anonymous amateur painting of Seal Rocks on canvas board. Jungle is an artist living in Adelaide. His home is a living work of art inside and out. He had a solo exhibition at the Callan Park Gallery in 2012. See: http://sydney.edu.au/sca/pdfs/research/jungle_roomsheet_and_list_no_prices.pdf
4.  Robert Wright, Eyes, c.2001, gouache on wood
5.  Robert Wright, Bird and Landscape, c.2001, gouache on wood
6.  Colin Rhodes, Primal Visceral, 2012, oil on canvas
7.  Colin Rhodes, Swinging London, 2012-2013, acrylic, oil, sticking plaster and blood on canvas print
8.  Dan Miller, Lumber Pine, 2013, glazed ceramic (STOARC, The University of Sydney)
9.  Jungle Phillips, Ned Kelly, 2009, acrylic on canvas
10.  Jungle Phillips, Puckpukk, 2003, oil on wood
11.  Andreas Mavromatis, Hypnagogia. Copy in Fisher library https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1415408~S4
12.  André Breton, Nadja. Copy in SCA Rozelle library https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b2318653~S4
13.  André Breton, Mad Love. Copy in Fisher library http://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=2207951
14.  Unica Zürn, The House of Illnesses. Not in University Library
15.  Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle. Copy in Fisher Library https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b2074366~S4
16.  Alfred Jarry, The Ubu Plays. Copy in Fisher Library https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1035524~S4
17.  Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse 5. Copy in Con Music library https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b4277550~S4
18.  J. G. Ballard, Crash. Copy in Fisher Library https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b3510195~S4
19.  Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of Mystery and Imagination (with wood engravings by Douglas Percy Bliss). Copy (with illustrations by Arthur Rackham) in University Library https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1332545~S4
20.  Franz Kafka, The Castle. Copy in Fisher Library https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1989212~S4
21.  Patrick White, The Vivisector. Copy in Fisher Library https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b4351003~S4
22.  Fyodor Dostoyesvsky, Crime and Punishment. Electronic copy available https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b4445469~S4
23.  Daniel Paul Schreber, Memoirs of my Nervous Illness. Copy in Fisher Library https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1491180~S4
24.  Max Nordau, Degeneration. Copy in University Library storage https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b4405923~S4
25.  Edith Runge, Primitivism and Related Ideas in Sturm und Drang Literature. Copy in Fisher https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1892176~S4

Level 3: The Book

26.  Anne Marie Grgich, Braille Book 4, 2000-2004. Mixed media on book in Braille. Grgich (b.1961) lives in Portland, Oregon. She had an exhibition, “Anne Marie Grgich: Archaeologies of the Everyday”, at the Sydney University Art Gallery, 4 October – 13 December 2009. The catalogue can be seen at: http://sydney.edu.au/sca/pdfs/research/anne_marie_grgich_room_sheet.pdf

27.  Anne Marie Grgich, Hysophia, 2001. Mixed media handmade book.

28.  Anne Marie Grgich, The Golden Arrow. 2005-2007. Mixed media on wallpaper sample book

29.  Anne Marie Grgich, Rooster Book, 2003. Mixed media handmade book.

30.  Anonymous. Mixed media handmade book

31.  Emilie Henry, Untitled (two figures), c.2007, ink and gouache on dictionary page

32.  Jungle Phillips, Couple in Front of a Window. Acrylic on fibreboard

33.  Roland Penrose, The Road is Wider than Long. A poignant moment between holocausts. Penrose also means Lee Miller here; a beautiful, awful, doomed collision. (not in library)

34.  Colin Rhodes, Small Square, Blurb Books, 2013. A vernacular photo essay of Australian experience over the period of one month. Small Square takes the surrealist mechanisms of chance, accident and the captured glimpse of the everyday and casts images into a more meditative realm. The book is available to buy in hard copy or for free as an ebook at http://au.blurb.com/b/3961428-small-square

35.  Nick Blinko, Visions of Pope Adrian 37^th(deluxe edition), Coptic Cat. From the publishers website: “Visions of Pope Adrian 37^th … consists of 87 drawings, a brief introduction by Blinko, and a short piece on Blinko from the acclaimed writer, and specialist, on outsider art Professor Colin Rhodes. The drawings are reproduced in their original A5 size.” A number of reproductions of images from the book can be found here: http://www.copticcat.com/news/259/56/Nick-Blinko-Visions-of-Pope-Adrian-37th-now-available-for-order

36.  Peter Ackroyd, Blake. Copy in Fisher Library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b2072237~S4

37.  Colin Rhodes, Ian Breakwell: Textworks, 1966-1999. Copy in SCA Rozelle https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b3006155~S4  Book produced to accompany an exhibition of the same name at Loughborough University School of Art and Design. The book was designed with Nickie Sault to produce something of the feel of a Breakwell installation. Breakwell (1943-2005) was a contemporary artist at the centre of whose practice was the diary. Perhaps perversely, and in spite of my love of Ian’s work, I didn’t include any of his books in this vitrine. The website of Ian’s dealer, Anthony Reynolds is a good resource, though: http://www.anthonyreynolds.com/breakwell/diary/home. The following other published works by Breakwell can be found in the University Library collections: Colin Rhodes and Ian Breakwell: Ian Breakwell: vocals. (4 CDs.) 2003; Breakwell, An Actor’s Revenge: Yukinojō Henge. London: British Film Institute, 1995; Breakwell, Dialogues. London: Audio Arts, 1981; Breakwell, Diary Extracts, 1968-1976. Nottingham: Midland Group Nottingham, 1977; Breakwell, Continuous Diary and Related Works, 1965-1978, Edinburgh: 3rd Eye Centre, 1978; Breakwell and Paul Hammond, Seeing in the Dark: A Compendium of Cinemagoing. London: Serpent’s Tail, 1990.

38.  Karel Appel, Psychopathological Notebook: Drawings and Gouaches 1948-1950, Springer, 2000. Not in library. The book consists mostly of facsimile pages of works by Appel, made over images and text in a catalogue for the 1950 “Psychopathological Art” exhibition held at the Sainte-Anne Hospital, Paris, coinciding with the First World Congress on Psychiatry.

39.  Aloïse Corbaz, Facsimile Sketchbook. Not in library. Corbaz (1886-1964) was a Swiss artist collected by Jean Dubuffet and included in his famous Collection de l’Art Brut. See: http://www.artbrut.ch/en/21004/1000/aloise

40.  Aloïse Corbaz, Facsimile Sketchbook. Not in library.

41.  Robert Walser, The Walk. Ian Breakwell introduced me to Walser. He was Franz Kafka and Thomas Mann’s favourite writer. The Walk is available in the University Library as an electronic resource.

42.  Robert Walser, Masquerade and Other Stories. Not in library

43.  Robert Walser, Institute Benjamenta. Not in library

44.  Nick Blinko, Primal Screamer. Digital edition available in the University Library.

45.  Christine Wicker, Lily Dale: the true story of the town that talks to the dead. HarperOne, 2004. Not in library. See: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/227324.Lily_Dale

46.  Angela Carter, The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman: a Novel. Copy in Fisher Library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1081111~S4

47.  Alfred Kubin, The Other Side. Copy in Fisher Library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b3639595~S4

Level 2: The Presence in Space

48.  Colin Rhodes, Australian Spirit I. Found wood and bark.

49.  Colin Rhodes, Australian Spirit II. Found wood and bark.

50.  Colin Rhodes, Australian Spirit III. Found wood and bark.

51.  Colin Rhodes, Australian Spirit IV. Found wood and bark.

52.  Colin Rhodes, Nude Woman with Raised Hands. Bark and enamel paint.

53.  Nek Chand, element from Rock Garden. 2008. Wood, concrete, mirror. Given to me by Nek Chand in the 50^th Anniversary Year of the beginning of Rock Garden and the 60^th Anniversary of Indian Partition, this is a tiny fragment (never to be installed) of the amazing Rock Garden project in Chandigarh, India: an organic, folkish fantasy that grew at the edge of Corbusier’s modernist new capital city for Indian Punjab.

54.  Oceanic figure. Wood.

55.  West African figure. Painted wood.

56.  Colin Rhodes, Half-length Nude Woman. Pebble from France and enamel paint

57.  Colin Rhodes, Woman hugging towel. Pebble from France and enamel paint

58.  Colin Rhodes, Head (after Paul Klee). Found, unaltered pebble from Forster, NSW

59.  Colin Rhodes, Australian Personnage I. Found pebble, NSW.

60.  Colin Rhodes, Australian Personnage II. Found pebble, NSW.

61.  Colin Rhodes, Australian Personnage III. Found pebble, NSW.

62.  Colin Rhodes, Eagle. Found, unaltered pebble from Red Rock, NSW

63.  Colin Rhodes, Grotesque Head. Found, unaltered object from NSW

64.  Colin Rhodes, Reclining Woman. Found, unaltered stone from Kingscliff, NSW. This object gave rise to a number of drawings, then finally a small painting, as I attempted to seek out, somehow, the form within it.

65.  Colin Rhodes, Maquette for a Public Sculpture (Woman with Pram), 2010, mixed media. An agglomeration of found pieces. The animal in the pram – a plastic MacDonald’s toy – is a completely accidental insertion by someone in the family when tidying up the house at some point; in a household that hardly ever visits MacDonald’s. The woman’s head plays on light and its metaphoric associations and vaguely resembles the form of an old-fashioned headscarf. Her body is a jar full of the things that flow in and out of our lives; and most often the overlooked and highly ephemeral. Also, a slight nod to the old nursery rhyme, ‘What are little boys made of’.

66.  Colin Rhodes, Cassowary. Pebble from Etty Bay, Qld, with a cassowary, painted from life in watercolour.

67.  Colin Rhodes, Abstraction (after Arp). Two found pebbles from Kingscliff, NSW

68.  Colin Rhodes, Fish/Bird’s Head. Found, unaltered pebble from Kingscliff, NSW

69.  Colin Rhodes, Paleolithic ‘Venus’. Found, unaltered stone from a British beach

70.  Kevin Meagher, Bipartite God Figure, 2011. Ceramic. Meagher had a solo show at the Callan Park Gallery in June 2010. See: http://sydney.edu.au/sca/research/projects/kevin_meagher.shtml

71.  Colin Rhodes, Winged Figure. Found wood (two pieces).

72.  Twin Figures. West Africa. 20^th Century. Wood.

73.  Colin Rhodes, Mask, 2012. Wood, plaster, paint and seeds.

74.  Wall-E. Die cast metal and plastic toy. This normally sits on my desk and continues the theme of collection and reuse of detritus and garbage, though within an overwhelmed and non-tranforming environment. Eponymous character from 2008 Pixar movie. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E. Truth be told, there’s also a level of self-identification with the character of Wall-E.

75.  Ceramic saltshaker in the form of a girl. 20^th Century. She is a piece of old-time kitsch; contained form, interior looking, and to my mind, somewhat sinister.

76.  Richard C. Smith, Figure. Carved, painted wood. Smith is represented by the Henry Boxer Gallery, London. See: http://www.outsiderart.co.uk/rsmith.html

77.  Colin Rhodes, Jar of Stuff, 2009-2012, mixed media. More stuff that has ephemeral existence in my own life and little resonance – only through placing in the jar do the objects acquire significance and perhaps a level of the numinous. I still consider this a work in progress; this object was and is intended to be inserted in the abdominal cavity of a figure sculpture.

78.  40,000 Years of Modern Art. Exhibition catalogue: Institute of Contemporary Art, London, 1948 (not in library)

79.  Forty Years of Modern Art. 1907-1947. Exhibition catalogue: Institute of Contemporary Art, London, 1947 (not in library)

80.  Robert Goldwater, Primitivism and Modern Art. Copies in University libraries: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1088820~S4

81.  Colin Wilson, The Outsider. This book is a crucial link between romanticism, existentialism and the fin-de-siècle that I lived through. It is too often wrongly assumed that my interests are contained by the field of ‘Outsider Art’. This is far from true, and this is not, in fact the subject of Wilson’s book. So I laid it on its face, spine truned away from viewers. It is our secret. Copy in the Fisher Library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1505061~S4

82.  James Baird, Ishmael : a study of the symbolic mode in primitivism. This is one of the books I was thrilled to discover was in the University Library (the other was Runge’s). I’d like to think that it is a direct link between myself and the late Bernard Smith. Copy in Storage: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1876671~S4

83.  C. G. Jung, Synchronicity: an acausal connecting principle. “It cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity…” (p.19). Copy in Fisher Library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au:443/record=b1051462~S4

84.  Ross Gibson, 26 Views of the Starburst World : William Dawes at Sydney Cove, 1788-91. A beautiful, magical text. It conjures an intensely human fullness out of sparse material remains. It confirms the immense power of echoes. Copy in Fisher Library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b4125203~S4

85.  Peter Ackroyd, Milton in America. What if…? Copy in Fisher Library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b2211099~S4

86.  Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore. First read mostly shivering in bed in my first month living in Sydney, in a cold, haunted gatehouse. Copies in Fisher Library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1412530~S4

87.  Arthur O. Lovejoy and George Boas, Primitivism and Related Ideas in Antiquity. To me, a kind of touchstone. Copies in Fisher Library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1750661~S4

88.  Ted Hughes, Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow. Stands for Yorkshire – my country – which to me is primal and dark. Copy in Fisher library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1047979~S4

89.  Ted Hughes, Tales from Ovid. Metamorphosis is at the centre of all of this. Hughes and Ovid were made for each other. Copy in Fisher Library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b2231648~S4

90.  Lewis Hyde, Trickster Makes this World. This is such an important book in understanding this exhibition. Not in the University Library.

91.  D. H. Lawrence, The Rainbow. Also stands for my history; my context. Copy in Storage https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1552706~S4

92.  Sigmund Freud, Psychopathology of Everyday Life. Copies in Fisher Library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1301195~S4

93.  Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo. Copy in Fisher Library: https://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/record=b1287896~S4