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 This weekend, the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre will be overrun with visual artists and art dealers for the ART BRISBANE 2008 fair. SEANNA VAN HELTEN chats to one of the artists involved, photographer MARTIN SMITH.
You may have seen the advertisements wrapped around Brisbane buses, or the banners flying above South Bank, and wondered what on earth a visual art show is doing in the cavernous commercial halls of the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre. Art 2008 is one of Australia’s largest art fairs and, for the first time ever, the event is heading north between stints in Melbourne and Sydney and camping out in Brisbane. On display will be works from over eighty galleries, offering both seasoned art collectors and the uninitiated art-lover the opportunity to view artists’ works in an enormous variety of styles, mediums, and content – everything from drawings to paintings, sculpture to new media installations.
Martin Smith is a Brisbane-based photographic artist who has shown his work in a number of galleries and international art fairs. Photography is the dominant medium in his practice of constructing “photographic assemblages,” exploring personal identity through the fusion of image, text, ritual, and film stills. “What I do is, I have the photograph and then I etch text into the photograph,” Smith explains. “Sometimes that text is a song lyric, and other times it’s a story from my youth or from my adulthood. Then I physically cut each letter out of the photo.” The stories, he explains, like the original photograph, act as a trigger of memory, time, and place.
Although Smith is represented at Art Brisbane by Ryan Renshaw Gallery, the fair also features two emerging and independent artist recognition programs, including one that offers ‘undiscovered’ artists or those not yet represented by a gallery the chance to display their wares. So what are the benefits for young artists in showing their work in an exhibition of such large commercial scale?
“I think a lot more people see the work,” answers Smith, “At a gallery, in some ways, you’re speaking to the converted. Because the average person might not necessarily go to a gallery on a Saturday, whereas they might go to this event where there are 60 or 70 [gallery’s] … But you also get to people who might go to a gallery like the Queensland Art Gallery once or twice a year, so it’s sending your work out to a broader audience.”
Smith is also frank in describing the way art fairs can benefit an audience of art admirers who are not necessarily collectors: “A very broad scope of art galleries will be there, so I think the public will be exposed to different styles.” Plus, he adds, the environment is far less intimidating than your average small commercial gallery. “If you are wanting to buy art, it’s the best way to do it because the gallery owners are all there and you can meet with them and have a chat…. It is much more relaxed. And, who knows, maybe next time they will go direct to the gallery?”
Smith also points out that an art fair highlights the diversity of the visual arts across styles and media (and price points), which means “hopefully there will be something for everyone’s tastes!”.
“There are very different levels in the art world, and neither one is better than the other,” he continues. “People want art to do different things for them. Some people want that real conversation with the work and the artist and the views that are being expressed. And then other people just want art to match their couch, which is fair enough!”
ART BRISBANE 2008 is at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from Thursday until Sunday. For tickets and further information visit www.artbrisbane08.com.au.
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