
JUZ KITSON, MATT HUPPATZ,
OWEN LEONG, DREW PETTIFIER
INSTINCT
2012
EXHIBITION TEXTS
“The most common form of despair is not being who you are.” —Kierkegaard
Is art instinctual, or is it the desire to announce and find ourselves, and art a catalyst for this drive? Certainly the need to question seems instinctive to most artists, and the links between Drew Pettifer, Owen Leong, Matt Huppatz and Juz Kitson are obvious; each of them uses the human body to explore and question aspects of sensuality, intimacy and identity; they all turn the perceived body into apperception, they use the human body as the necessary object-bridge to see themselves from outside, perhaps not for an absolute truth but for further views and perspectives, all of which are truthful and offer probity of intent.
It is intriguing that while the human body is mostly water and some smaller percentage of solid matter, on it’s own it is a harmless organism apart from the part inside the skull –the cerebral cortex, which plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, wherein consciousness kicks in, giving rise to complex, perplexing and even problematic relations between individuals and groups, no more so than when it comes to sexuality. Scores of texts delve into arguments about nature versus nurture: intimacy, sensuality, identity and desire from social, cultural, religious and political perspectives.
“The flesh is sad, alas, and I have read all the books.” —Stéphane Mallarmé
What our genetic coding may offer in term of our capacity to develop our actions falls short of the decomposition of this information into the realm of the symbolic, Zizek states that in order to cope with the trauma of living, we symbolise, this is not “in our genes.” Is then the instinctual ultimately a necessary construct of identity as a way of reacting to this trauma? This recognition and empowering of the ‘self-owned’ against the ‘self-belonging-to-the-collective’, is perhaps a form of sublimating the id to the world of consciousness. The personal narrative derived from this drive of awareness is a formula of identification in the Lacanian sense – the desire to recognise or be recognised, to market our differences, to amplify the presupposed individual freedom to the extent of the individual perceived limitations, and to do so before our time expires. Maybe this is the impetus that empowers these four artists.
Kant made explicit the role of the mind in the structuring of experience, no longer were humans seen as slaves of Nature's Laws, for the human mind was capable of creating and moulding the individual's experiences. This assumption didn’t just offer free will, but also burdened us with the realisation of our possible superiority to nature itself, giving way to the eternal Hegelian master-slave problem - who we are and what we want to be is now in the realm of our own propaganda against our own fears of consumption. Much of Kierkegaard’s philosophical work deals with the issues of how one lives as a “single individual”, giving priority to concrete human reality over abstract thinking, and highlighting the importance of personal choice and commitment.
Wilhelm Wundt first used the term “instinct” in psychology in the 1870s. By the close of the 19th century, most repeated behaviour was considered instinctual. Instinct as a concept fell out of favor in the 1920s with the rise in the study of ‘behaviourism’, but this also proved to be too simplistic to account for the complex emotional and social behaviour of human beings.
Sigmund Freud used the term instinct to refer to human drives such as sex and aggression, sometimes represented as Eros-life instinct and Thanatos-death instinct. Freud suggested the id is the unorganised part of the personality structure that contains a human’s basic, instinctual drives. The id contains the libido, which acts according to the ‘pleasure principle’, while seeking to avoid pain or displeasure aroused by increases in instinctual tension. Jacques Lacan, declared that courtly love “is an altogether refined way of making up for the absence of sexual relationship by pretending that it is we who put up an obstacle to it… It’s impossible to find love through sexuality. It’s impossible to use your body to hide your emotional pain.”
Recently scientists working on the Human Genome Project have identified 90% of specific chromosomes in our DNA, genes that identify criminality, alcoholism, the ‘gay gene’ and countless others. Does this help us understand the fact that biology interacts with both the cultural context and the personal choices that people make about how they want to live their lives and does it put to rest the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate concerning the relative importance of an individual’s innate qualities in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits?
“What was invented with civilization was the ability of some to deny sensuality to others.”
— Richard Manning, Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization
MATT HUPPATZ CV
BIOGRAPHY
1973 | Born Adelaide | |
2008 | Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) South Australian School of Art, UniSA | |
Current | Candidate, PhD (Major Project), School of Art, Architecture and Design, UniSA | |
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2012 | Instinct, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide, Australia Good Mourning, FELTspace, Adelaide Supermarket Art Fair, Stockholm Pass it on, FELTspace, Adelaide |
2011 | Dark Light, Inflight, Hobart Vague Possibilities, SASA Gallery, UniSA |
2010 | SOFT CORN, FELTspace, Adelaide SALA Moving Image Project, Queen's Theatre, Adelaide Heartlines, University of South Australia, City West Campus |
2009 | Shed Light Works, Project Space, Contemporary Art Centre of SA (solo) Exercises in Mapping the Self-1, FELTspace Felt Up, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne Hatched09 National Graduate Show, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts |
2008 | Freefall, Visual Arts Graduate and Honours Exhibition, South Australian School of Art Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition, Drill Hall, Adelaide |
GRANTS, AWARDS, and SCHOLARSHIPS
2009-12 | MF and MH Joyner Scholarship in Fine Arts, University of South Australia |
2008 | Chancellor's Letter of Commendation, University of South Australia |
Owen Leong CV
BIOGRAPHY
1979 | Born Sydney | |
2002 | Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours), College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney | |
2005 | Master of Fine Arts, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney | |
Current | Lives and works in Sydney | |
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012 | Tidal Skin, La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre, Bendigo Infiltrator, Dianne Tanzer Gallery + Projects, Melbourne Tidal Skin, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne |
2011 | Infiltrator, GrantPirrie Window, Sydney |
2010 | Birthmark, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne |
2007 | Owen Leong, Ryan Renshaw, Brisbane Owen Leong, Mori Gallery, Sydney |
2006 | Ghost Heart, Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester Owen Leong, The Prism, Westpac Corporate Art Collection, Sydney |
2005 | Autofiction, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney |
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012 | Made In China, Australia (curated by Greg Leong). Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart John Fries Memorial Prize. Gaffa Gallery, Sydney Chinese Australia (curated by Venita Poblocki). Australia China Art Foundation, Melbourne |
2011 | Magic Spaces (curated by Binghui Huangfu), Today Art Museum, Beijing The Rest is Silence. Death Be Kind, Melbourne Night Vision. 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art at Grasshopper Bar, Sydney |
2010 | Melbourne Art Fair (with Anna Pappas Gallery), Melbourne Group Show, Anna Pappas Gallery at The Depot Gallery, Sydney |
2009 | William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize. Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne NEXT Art Fair (with Über Gallery), Chicago Surveying the Field. Counihan Gallery, Melbourne |
2008 | Bridge Art Fair (with City Art Rooms), Berlin Reflecting Skin. City Art Rooms, Auckland Leading Lights. Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney |
2007 | Soft Power. Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai Asian Attitude: Transit Forces. National Museum of Poznan, Poland I’ll Be Your Mirror. Gallery Primo Alonso, London Synthetic / Aesthetic. Asia-Australia Arts Centre, Sydney Entanglement (with Shoufay Derz). Westspace, Melbourne Funeral Songs (curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham). MOP Projects, Sydney Churchie National Emerging Art Exhibition, Anglican Church Grammar School, Brisbane Blake Prize. National Art School Gallery, Sydney |
2006 | I’ll Be Your Mirror. Liverpool Biennial Independents, Liverpool Video Easy. The Hart Center For Arts, Beijing ...becoming as a hundred thousand. George Paton Gallery, Melbourne Liquid Aesthetics. 2006 Midsumma Festival. BlackBox Arts Centre, Melbourne Helen Lemprière Traveling Art Scholarship Exhibition. Artspace, Sydney |
2005 | Asian Traffic. Esplanade Jendela Visual Art Space, Singapore; Today Art Museum, Beijing; Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai; OCTA Museum of Contemporary Art, Shenzhen; Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong Contemporary Collection Benefactors Art Auction. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Text Me: an exploration of body language. Sherman Galleries, Sydney Room 35 turns 8, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney Prospectus: projections in new media. Blankspace, Sydney Helen Lemprière Traveling Art Scholarship Award Exhibition. Artspace, Sydney |
2004 | Asian Traffic (curated by Binghui Huangfu). Asia-Australia Arts Centre, Sydney (Official Parallel Event of the Biennale of Sydney) Res Artis (with Song Dong and Shen Shaomin). Artspace, Sydney CCAS Contemporary Art Award, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra Nightvision video projects. Asia-Australia Arts Centre, Sydney New Q Cubed. 2004 Midsumma Festival. Counihan Gallery, Melbourne Helen Lemprière Traveling Art Scholarship Award Exhibition. Artspace, Sydney |
GRANTS, AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS, and RESIDENCIES
2009 | La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre Facade Project Asialink Visual Arts Residency Art & Australia Contemporary Art Award (Highly Commended) William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize (People's Choice Award) Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo(Residency) |
2008 | Australia Council New Work Grant Art Gallery of NSW Moya Dyring Studio Ian Potter Cultural Trust Grant 2007 Art Australia Contemporary Art Award (Highly Commended) Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (residency) |
2006 | Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester (residency) Artspace Visual Arts Centre, Sydney (residency) |
2005 | Australia Council New Work Grant |
2003 | Australian Postgraduate Award 1998 College of Fine Arts Undergraduate Scholarship |
COLLECTIONS
Stephen Grant and Bridget Pirrie, Sydney
Private collections in Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom ·
Drew Pettifer CV
BIOGRAPHY
1980 | Born Shepparton, Victoria | |
2005 | Bachelor of Laws, University of Melbourne | |
2006 | Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Cultural Studies, University of Melbourne | |
2009 | Master of Arts (Arts Management), RMIT Graduate Certificate in Visual Arts, VCA | |
Current | Postgraduate candidate in Fine Art (Photomedia), Monash University Lecturer Art History and Theory, RMIT University | |
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012 | Transmission, Craft Victoria, Melbourne |
2011 | Hand in Glove, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne Hold on to your Friends, Metro Arts and Brisbane Festival, Brisbane Hold on to your Friends, Firstdraft, Sydney The gift and the curse, RMIT School of Art Gallery, Melbourne |
2010 | Hold on to your friends, No No Gallery, Melbourne |
2009 | Hold on to your Friends, No No Gallery, Melbourne You are the light, Counihan Gallery in Brunswick, Melbourne The Decisive Moment, Kings ARI, Melbourne |
2008 | Cake boys: photographs, in two series, Blindside, Melbourne |
2005 | Autofiction, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney |
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012 | Instinct, Greenaway Art Gallery new artefacts, Sa Sa Bassac, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Westspace 2012, Westspace, Melbourne SafARI 2012, various locations, Sydney Fourtrack, RMIT Project Space, Melbourne Play with Your Food II, Bus Projects @ Meyers Place, Melbourne< |
2011 | Disappearance (in collaboration with Chris Bond), Kings ARI, Melbourne Westspace 2011, Westspace, Melboure William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, MGA, Melbourne Sturt's Boat, The Art Vault, Mildura Commodity/Fetishism, West space's The West Wing, Melbourne |
2010 | Bus@Blindside: Play with your Food, Blindside, Melbourne A4 Art, West Space, Melbourne Lost in Painting, Dianne Tanzer Gallery + Projects, Melbourne Secret Files from the Working Men’s College, RMIT Project Space, Melbourne Re/Gendered, Platform Artist Run Space, Melbourne |
2009 | Graduate Exhibition, VCA, Melbourne Fromagerie/Slime Store, Street Press Australia, Melbourne |
2008 | Don't you know who I am? Five responses to urban anonymity, Trocadero, Footscray Reflecting Skin. City Art Rooms, Auckland Iris Award 2008, Perth Centre for Photography, Perth moment monument, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Abbotsford Convent Olive Cotton Award Finalists’ Exhibition, Tweed River Art Gallery, NSW |
2007 | Beyond the Sprawl, Octopad Art Space, London, UK Sweet and Tender Hooligans, Brighton Media Centre, Brighton, UK |
GRANTS, AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS, and RESIDENCIES
2012 | Judge, Proud, Victorian College of the Arts |
2011 | NAVA Janet Holmes a Court Artist Grant Residency at The Art Vault, Mildura City of Melbourne Arts Projects Grant Australia Council for the Arts JUMP National Mentorship with Darren Sylvester |
2009 | RMIT Union Arts Grant |
COLLECTIONS
Shepparton Art Museum
Private collections in London, New York and across Australia