#tbh on the context of she making herself appear less threatening to the protagonist on purpose (like hxh biscuit) her design is fine

[furinana]

Doi design opinions

[whitecuberd-blog]

Press Release: In a bloodsoaked historical context where the simmering tension of an unacknowledged holocaust threatens to burst the flesh of its ivory benefactors, what can one do but dream of a past less fraught; or so says the work of Melbourne artist Minna Gilligan. ‘The 60’s’ as imagined by Gilligan seem to be a time of  technicolour fantasm, of naiive reverie and snappy outfits. Gilligan openly admits to her construction of a falsified epoch , having herself been born in the 90’s and subsequently coming of age in the early to mid 00’s. The presentation of ‘Feeble Minded Gifted Kind of’ is the result of a fortuitous oversight on behalf of the artist. A large cache of works from Gilligan’s formative years (2009-11) lay dormant in a document drawer deep at  the Victorian College of the Arts; where Gilligan studied under the artist John Campbel over this period. Ignoring calls from concerned gallerists and the artist alike, White Cuberd and Melbournefineartgossipblog have excavated, and now present a selection from this early period of Gilligan’s practise in the hope of illuminating new readings of the artist’s oeuvre. Here we see the underpinnings of Gilligan’s artistic world. Inhabitable realities give way to uncoagulated forms suspended in mathematical planes and dimensions. The artists Narrates these scenes with a wry nihilism, as with the shows titular work ‘feeble minded gifted kind of’. Cringeworthy execution and materiality evoke what can only be an irony akin to german painting of the later part of the 20th century. Or maybe this is just garbage that should have been incinerated instead of dragged from the bin and into the gallery? Gilligan currently lives and works in Melbourne, Australia and is represented by Daine Singer gallery. Press Release by: Zabludowicz. JR. * * * Review: Minna Gilligan: Coping Mechanisms. Minna Now Escapism. “Art and the current climate”1. Art as commodity (beyond art as ‘Art’ (i.e. striving for some moral value?)). Art as fashion… art as fashion with Artist as product. Minna herself is/ is also the interest point. “A figure who is not simply a figure of moral autonomy (self-governing and self-crafting), but a figure who seeks to enhance its competitive positioning in every sphere of life.”2 ‘let me address why I don’t make political art and won’t make political art…. while simultaneously platforming myself in a politically active narrative’ (Gilligan in February 2017 blog post). A Minna on a Fitzroy living room wall, the homeowner is sipping a glass of red after a long day in the office working on the next Future Estate development. “The subject as pleasure maximizer and pain minimizer, a utilitarian calculator.”3 Disco, flower markets, corduroy, macaroons…. “A subject who is concerned with its present and future value, not simply maximizing its deal-making capacity and not even simply entrepreneurializing itself, but investing in itself in order to enhance its present and future value and in order to attract investors.”4 …. I see this in Minna (Gorman, commercial outcomes, commercial gallery, she has value as a brand herself). I see this in myself. I see myself in Minna. Fun pop colours, textas, spray paint!, fashion collage. Here for a good time, not for a long time. (“But credit my work if you are RG’ing”). What would happen if Minna’s work was suddenly really scary and fucked up? Politically what does it mean to be visible and popular in the arena of Australian art today and refuse to engage with the present, or speak to the present through your obsession with an inauthentic past and telescoping into life's niceties? Make cool art; be cool (funky); be hot (and cute (not threatening)); ignore the present (through ‘the past’); be a feminist (unthreatening, seemingly not very critical?); make money; fashion, art, design; lend your art to a clothing brand that only makes clothes for thin people. Fun, colourful, easy, uncomplicated, messy, ugly spray painted abstractions. Honestly a Minna5 was my iPhone screensaver for most of 2016. The feeling I get when I look at it is the same as when I am watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills or The Kardashians. Escapism. Escaping into “reality”. A reprieve. What is the link between the enjoyment of her work and how that functions in the world today that I am finding troublesome? Something to do with the popularity, niceness, fun…. The world is the opposite….. What responsibility do Artists have to engage with reality (if they are popular, nice)? Maybe that isn’t her reality (she maybe can not/ does not see the world as fucked/ part of it?). Why am i so compelled to want to reveal her work as perpetuating this fucked-ness, like why do i care? Minna is Pepsi Kendall. I am Pepsi Kendall. Minna is just trying to cope, like the rest of us. Gorman made clothes to fit dogs before they made clothes that fit me. But I would sell out too. Sign me up. How does Minna’s popularity as an Artist speak to the fears of the current consumer? (i.e. if her work is a coping mechanism, and it’s popular…. Does that mean everyone is fucking terrified and also desperate for reprieve?) Consuming/ consumption as medicine. Semi-left ‘floating in space’ crowd…. If only they could face the terror?…Minna’s work being a dummy to placate a child, and the audience is using it as a numbing device…. But this doesn’t have to be bad. Literally sign me up. “Her practice speaks of fleeting, personal encounters with the past and present, and manifests in a tumultuous reconciliation of both.”6 Is there actually a successful reconciliation of past and present in her work though? Plot twist: it is in fact the UNSUCCESSFUL reconciliation of the past and the present which MAKES her work so successful. The space in between what she is putting down, and what exists all around it. Vintage housewife collage on pretty pop colour texta doodle. ‘Utopia’. Head down, don’t look up. Early Works *knife* “Her works are playgrounds of colour, often inhabited by lone protagonists trapped in states of longing, sadness or exhalation. Though her paintings reference 1960s/ ‘70s psychedelia and evoke a nostalgic romanticism - with lone women floating in technicolor dreams - her work is atemporal, existing in a utopian space of imagery filtered through the digital realm.”7 Why would an artist be compelled to work through “states of longing, sadness or exhalation” in Australia today as a cis white woman who is successful and does not make political art? I am so untrusting of Utopian spaces. Utopia = red flag. Yet I work towards trying to create utopian spaces IRL all the time and am a constant cop. So why would I trust Minna’s work more if it were Dystopic (from her POV)? (NB: I do think her work is Dystopic). I feel uneasy about Minna Now because it mirrors my own complicity. It seems like Minna herself is pointing towards the dystopic in her Early Works. CAN’T TELL YOU WHAT IT REALLY IS8. Pictures of meat on pretty pop colour texta doodle. Utopia. Man with blood nose on pretty pop colour texta doodle. Utopia. STAY AWAY9. I DON’T FEEL LIKE IT ANYMORE10. Tigers; lions; snakes; horses galloping into a void. DON’T WANT TO CARE11. This world is so different from what we now of Minna Now. SIMPLICITY FUNERALS12 vs. rainbow stylin’. I just don’t see space for this emo/ goth vibes acid-trippa girly girl on Daine’s sales spreadsheet, too real (dark). Is the shift from Minna as ‘feeler’, as seen in the Early Works, a commercial tactic? Does the artist's current work function as the personal antidepressant that I use it for myself? After Thoughts “It is true that the worst thing any of us could do would be to stop making work and abandon our artistic narratives. While I will not be making overtly political work, as such, I not be silent out of fear. I will still be painting, drawing, collaging, and posting the results on Instagram, with all of the above paragraphs considered.”13 A world in which making art is better than not.... Lol. Close your eyes and press your eyeballs so hard colours start appearing, and hope so hard you can forget. Minna Gilligan’s Early Works tell me the Minna we know now is not the Minna of yesteryear. In the Early Works it appears Minna was concerning herself with a certain “reality” (grim, ugly, not exactly a wrapped up package) that is only present in her works today through its total erasure, disappearance. The world was ugly and something had to give. The machine churns on. There is money to be made, collabs to be had, and memories on the dance floor to be etched into the only future Minna seems interested in… a happy, pretty one? tbh that’s scarier to me then before but alas- who could blame a gal? *knife* 1 Minna Gilligan, “Art and the current climate” (blog post), 02/02/2017. Accessed April, 2017. http://www.minnagilligan.com/ 2 Wendy Brown, “INVEST YOURSELF! WENDY BROWN IN CONVERSATION WITH ISABELLE GRAW”. “The Individual” Issue No. 104. December, 2016., Texte Zur Kunst. Accessed April, 2017. https://www.textezurkunst.de/104/tzk104-brown-graw/ 3 Ibid., (Brown). 4 Ibid., (Brown). 5 Minna Gilligan, “All the things that we do for fun�� (2015), acrylic, spray paint and collage on canvas. 6 "Minna Gilligan", Daine Singer (website). Accessed March, 2017. http://www.dainesinger.com/minna-gilligan/ 7 Ibid., (Singer). 8 Text found on Minna Gilligan’s untitled ‘Early Works’ 9 Ibid., (Gilligan). 10 Ibid., (Gilligan). 11 Ibid., (Gilligan).12 Ibid., (Gilligan).13 Ibid., (Gilligan, blog post). Review by: i-D.vice