Hold the pickle!
Guest writer Nadine Rubin Nathan responds to the Guardian on Matthew Griffin's 'Pickle' (2022)
This is a special feature from guest writer Nadine Rubin Nathan.
Nadine is an arts journalist, literary agent and co-founder of High Spot Literary. She has been a contributing editor and writer for Harper’s Bazaar, written for ARTNews, The New York Times and Vogue India among many others. Here in New Zealand, she is a leading voice in arts journalism.
Nadine has written this response to the Guardian piece on Matthew Griffin’s ‘Pickle’ (2022), specially for readers of the ArtCafé Blog.
A recent piece in The Guardian made much ado about nothing… well, almost nothing. A pickle, or rather one small slice of a pickle, plucked from the inside of a McDonald’s cheeseburger and flung onto the ceiling of Michael Lett Gallery in Auckland.
“Flung pickle token: artist asks $10,000 for McDonald’s burger ingredient” screamed the headline in response to Australian artist Matthew Griffin’s humorous performance piece-cum-sculpture which furnishes the buyer with instructions on how to recreate the joyous gesture on any ceiling of their choice.
And while there is no doubt about the click bait in that headline and the relevant if ubiquitous question: “But is it art?”, The Guardian piece missed the art of the matter. There were three other artists sharing the gallery space with Griffin in a show that was subtle but very cleverly curated by the Auckland born owner of Fine Arts Sydney, Ryan Moore.
Speaking of gestures, it's a fairly old-fashioned one invite another gallery to show at yours but Moore, who once worked for Michael Lett, is still a close friend. “What I wanted to do was present a show not about one artist or idea, a show that was of our time,” says Moore, who chose four artists all in the programme at his Sydney gallery who are without representation in New Zealand. “There aren’t great intersections between the four, but rather a thematic glue that connects them tangentially. Each has their own ideas driven practice.”
So what is it that connects them? The use of humble, modest materials to create works that are rich in ideas that speak to both time, distance, something we’ve all experienced over the course of the pandemic.
From another Australian, Prudence Flint, who is better known for her paintings, Moore chose a small-scale pencil on paper drawing of a woman sitting on a bed. “This is a new gesture for Prudence but there’s confidence in the line making and something powerfully expressed. There’s a statuesque presence. She is just sitting on a bed, but she’s also not just sitting on a bed.”
In a pool of light filtering through one of the skylights, sits Juliette Blightman’s sound piece, ‘Pseudopanax’ 2022 brought into physical being by a Pseudopanax pot plant and a speaker. “The work is primarily audio,” explains Moore of the ambient sounds that loop every sixty minutes start off as quiet footsteps and rising to the crescendo of a subway train’s squealing breaks. Blightman, who lives in Surrey in the English countryside recorded herself walking her daughter to school and going about her day. Marking time.
“The speaker and the plant are essential to the work, but they are not the work. The plant is bearing witness to the sound.” It’s a fascinating piece that brings the floor of the gallery into the show while contemplating time, distance, and absence.
Yona Lee, born in Busan, is the only New Zealander on the show. She also has ‘An Arrangement for 5 Rooms’ on at the Auckland Art Gallery, until August 28. Her piece for Sydney Fine Arts is a new tubular structure, also crafted from stainless steel, but with a lamp that lights up.
It’s a counterpoint to the large immersive installation at the Auckland Art Gallery. “There’s a feeling of being part of something – as if it goes through the wall and out onto Queen Street and connects to the Art Gallery,” says Moore who describes Lee as “an artist is doing something with the language of sculpture that other people are not doing in the best possible way.” And then there’s that pickle.
“A first encounter with Griffin’s work always has the air of a gag or a joke,” says Moore, adding that humour is often used to interrogate more difficult subjects like the value of materials and more broadly sculpture and performance. “I wanted to activate the whole surface of Michael Lett gallery,” explains Moore. “This gallery has an ornate ceiling and I wanted to draw attention to this incredible surface and make sure that all sides of this white box were part of the show.”
Thoughts to share?
It is a delight to be able to share the perspectives and responses to art world news from the talented writers amongst friends and readers of the ArtCafé Blog. If you are interested in writing a guest piece like this one, do send me an email: helenduring@gmail.com.
Have a great weekend,
Helen