The Art Life - Series 1 and 2

The Art Life: series 1 and 2 is a new DVD that has come into the Learning Centre and is now available for loan.

Episodes include:

• The Art Life: Out There - Ep 1 Of 3
  If 95% of Australians live in the suburbs, what influence do the 'burbs have on the artists who live there and the art they make?
  In episode one we examine recent examples of contemporary art made in the shadow of the most politically and philosophically contested landscape in Australia.
  We meet performance artist Rachel Scott, a young artist who makes art about making art in the suburbs; we examine the art, life and legacy of the late painter Howard Arkley, one of the best examples of everything that's good - and bad - about living in the 'burbs; we go over to the dark side with painter Adam Cullen, who shares his uncompromising yet compassionate view of the burbs, his thoughts on the men who killed Anita Cobby and why he decided to paint their portraits; we relax with the melancholy work of Noel McKenna and conclude with the shopping trolley opera photos of Matthew Sleeth.
• The Art Life: Millions Of Images - Ep 2 Of 3
  We are taking a tour through Australian contemporary art.
  In a world full of images, how do Australian artists contend with the influence of media on our lives?
  Do they try to meet the spectacle on its own terms, or do they opt for something else?
  In Millions of Images - Episode 2 of The Art Life - we examine the influence of advertising, media and art on our lives and talk to some artists who take these ideas as the background of their work.
  We talk to Merilyn Fairskye and look at her hypnotic video works of international airports; discuss the perfection of advertising with Patrina Hicks; meet the cool, ironic yet sincere Darren Sylvester; gaze in wonder at the video art of David Rosetzky and his cast of bemused, befuddled, yet philosophical post-teenagers.
  We then switch gears with artist "TV Moore" and his nightmarish video 'Deadzone' before dropping into the world of the "boarding house aesthetic" as practised by Glenn Sloggett; we take a tour of living rooms around the world via the videos of Emil Goh and end with the seaside imagery of Narelle Autio.
• The Art Life: Always Busy Dying - Ep 3 Of 3
  The final in a three part series investigating contemporary Australian art. Presented by Andrew Frost.
• The Art Life - Starry Starry Night, Series 2: Ep 1 Of 3
  What does it mean to be an artist today? What do artists do? And how do ideas about the role of the artist affect the way art is made and seen? These are the questions explored in the second series of The Art Life, an essay-style documentary series about contemporary Australian art, written and presented by Andrew Frost. Featuring interviews with leading contemporary artists and curators, The Art Life is a rich and varied look at the practice of art today.
  Episode one, Starry Starry Night examines the cliched notion of the artist: the doomed genius whose work can only be fully appreciated after his death. Why does this cliche continue to be such a potent idea? And why does expressionism seem to equal sincerity?
  To answer these questions we first meet McLean Edwards who paints hundreds of self-portraits using his life as a source of inspiration. Nell is another artist who paints and uses personal experience as a catalyst for her creativity. But where Edwards's work is steeped in the traditions of Western expressionism, Nell looks to the spirituality of Zen for her eccentric mixture of Aussie suburban rock culture and Buddhism.
  By contrast Tony Schwensen is a performance artist whose work is a politically charged take on Australian culture. While performance art might seem like it's a long way from traditional forms such as painting, Schwensen explains that there's a lot in common with the work of Nell and Edwards.
  Anastasia Klose's videos and photographs mock the role of the artist and the art world. Humorous, self-deprecating and self-aware, Klose ultimately admits that although being an artist is a career choice, it's also a deeply held conviction that making art is worthwhile.
• The Art Life - Who Made Who, Series 2: Ep 2 Of 3
  *Nudity and Coarse Language*
  What does it mean to be an artist today? What do artists do? And how do ideas about the role of the artist affect the way art is made and seen? These are the questions Andrew Frost explores in the second series of The Art Life.
  Part two, Who Made Who, looks at the idea that being an artist is a role that can be taken on like an actor playing a part.
  Featuring interviews with artists who've explored role-playing, we meet the art making group The Kingpins and artists Mark Shorter and Daniel Mudie Cunningham. They explain the intentions of their art and a history that takes in everything from Marcel Duchamp and Barry Humphries, to Norman Gunston and Renny Kodgers.
  Asking if identity has a political meaning too, we meet artists Brook Andrew and Richard Bell who, through their individual works, examine the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia and the preconceptions of audiences while questioning the very usefulness of challenging identity. Is 'identity art' really the 'white man's burden'?
• The Art Life - Lust For Life, Series 2: Ep 3 Of 3
  What does it mean to be an artist today? What do artists do? And how do ideas about the role of the artist affect the way art is made and seen? These are the questions Andrew Frost explores in the second series of The Art Life.
  The final episode in this series, Lust For Life, looks at contemporary art that engages with political issues on local and international scales. Andrew meets with artists Deborah Kelly, Zanny Begg, Mickie Quick, Nobody and Astra Howard and discovers how their work challenges the conventional barriers between the artist and audience.
  To understand how this sort of art grows from grass roots communities, we look at the history of the collaborative group SquatSpace. While some have argued that this sort of art is new we see a history of alternative art venues that stretches back to 1969 and the Sydney artist commune The Yellow House. We meet Yellow House luminary George Gittoes, an artist who's still working and pushing the boundaries of what it means to be an artist. Through Gittoes's documentaries, paintings, drawings and sketchbooks - and his love of the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh - we discover that the cliches of art have meaning after all.