UPFRONT
NEWS AND EVENTS
S
uccess in the arts has always been a white
whale. And although education, experience,
and exposure all appear to bring us closer
to this elusive beast, none – individually
or collectively – guarantee its capture.
Nevertheless, in an effort to collapse this divide,
Auckland Art Fair 2018 includes a special sector
featuring a small number of young galleries and
artist run spaces, along with work by Masters
students from the Victorian College of the
Arts ACCESS Mentorship Program and graduates
from Elam School of Fine Arts. Featured on the
mezzanine of The Cloud, Piki Mai: Up Here ^^
offers a snapshot of artists whose work could
appear at future art fairs.
The VCA is sending five of its Masters students
to participate: Moonis Ahmad, Piers Greville,
Lorraine Heller-Nicholas, Arna Meldrum and
Janno McLaughlin. Bridging the gap between
studying and professional practice, this part
of the program will see the students showcase
alongside a spread of international artists and
galleries from Australia, South-east Asia, North
and South America and the Pacific Islands.
Much like the art fair itself, the selected
artists represent an eclectic mix of conceptual
and aesthetic proclivities. Indeed, looking across
the artists’ oeuvres, the only consistent element,
paradoxically, appears to be difference. In the VCA
works, artists jump from questions of territorial
claims and fictive archives to explorations of
sexuality and psychoanalysis. The common
ground is found in shared opportunity, rather
than any artistic likeness. Yet one gets the sense
that this is undoubtedly a positive trait.
These young talents have all found themselves
in a unique position where they are able to
produce public-facing works, while maintaining
the integrity of their practices. As artist Heller-
Nicholas points out, “This is an opportunity to
see how a new work is received in a public, quite
commercial, context, without the pressure of the
normal commercial gallery concerns”. The fair
is a testing ground of sorts, a place to be brave,
and a moment in which the white whale finally
comes within the artists’ grasp.A GLIMPSE OF THE WHITE WHALE...
Tai Mitsuji previews Auckland Art Fair’s, Piki Mai: Up Here ^^,
a fair sector that gives collectors access to undiscovered talent.1