Shimmer
ArtTM ART
BY
RANNATM
'TOTAL
ART' AT TOWNSVILLE. Townsville's
new gallery director Ross Searle has shown the flag with his
first home-curated show of works by young artist Ranna Hale
[artist's
former last name]. Though
the public may have a bit to chew on with this
uncompromising kind of art, the choice was a lucky one: it
combines a consistent and demanding concept with excellent
graphic draftsmanship. The show
was officially opened by Senator Margaret Reynolds, who, as
former chairman of the Townsville City Council's Community
and Cultural Development Committee, expressed her personal
relationship to the venue, as well as to the artist. This
goes back to the time when artist Ranna Hale [artist's
former last name] worked as the town's community arts
officer, in between her studies at the Queensland College of
Art and Townsville College of TAFE. PHOTOGRAPH
FROM REVIEW, Colin Analogue
to the composition principle in atonal music, these
intersections form the equivalent of a visual scale, thus
providing the building material for future
work. The
paintings explore the body feeling of the different body
parts in the experience of the artist. A cosmological
dimension is suggested by relating the body feelings to the
moods of the four seasons of the year (each subdivided into
three), the fours elements, and the 12 signs of the
zodiac. The
drawings are based on images taken from an anatomical atlas,
and on life studies, but are also abstracted and
monumentalised to achieve an epic quality. Though the images
also determine the forms in the paintings, the colours,
textures, and (controlled) gestural movement show expressive
heaviness, as if seeking a counterpart to the lofty
concept. ... The
visual display is accompanied by a tape of (12) natural
sounds, which are set in atonal arrangements.
The
integration of music and vision both in the presentation and
the underlying concept follow the European tradition of
Total Art, which appeared in many guises from Wagner to
Beuys, currently experiencing a (frightening?) revival in
young urban art practice, stimulated by new French
philosophy. It is of
interest in this context that Anton Schoenberg, the inventor
of Dodekaphonie, and Wassily Kandinsky corresponded over a
Total Art colour system. Schoenberg himself was a hauntingly
expressive painter. The
exhibit will be on display until June 14. Anna
Bock, in Courier Mail, Saturday May 31, 1986,
Brisbane, Australia. [ABRIDGED] REVIEW
OF SHIMMER INSTALLATION Extended
list of reviews, publications,
exhibitions
Campbell, Townsville Bulletin, The Arts,
May 17, 1986, p. 18.
Photo: Ranna with Shoulders, Arms, Lungs
(1985) from Myth, Woman, Song
1985-86
The exhibition consists of 12 large drawings in charcoal,
ink, pastels and paint on paper, and a corresponding set of
12 paintings in polytex, acrylic and metallic paint on heavy
jute, as well as a smaller quartet of studies to the
paintings. Common theme of all works is the female body,
intersected into twelve parts, so to speak from toe to
tip.
_________
RANNA ARTS INCORPORATED (LLC)
C/- 121 Development Lane,
Winchester, VA 22602, U.S.A.
Winchester Art Management,
PO Box 971, Stephens City,
VA 22655, U.S.A.
WAM@winarts.net
www.ranna.com
