POLLY BORLAND TAPESTRIES

Transcription

1 POLLY BORLAND TAPESTRIES OPENING JULY 22, 2017

2 MIER Gallery is pleased to present s first solo show of work in Los Angeles opening July 22 and on view through August 19, Borland is well-known in Europe for her iconic 2001 portrait of Queen Elizabeth II as well as collaborating with musician Nick Cave and actress Gwendoline Christie. Comprising two series of works exhibited in MIER Gallery s Greenacre spaces, the show presents Borland s photographic series The Babies in its entirety for the first time in over 15 years alongside knit interpretations of her 2001 portrait of the Queen woven by prisoners in a rehabilitation program in the UK. Portraying images of raw vulnerability, pathos and a penetrating desire for comfort and care, Borland s babies explores the world of infantalists adults roleplaying as infants and cared for as such. Dressed only in diapers, often with a pacifier in their mouth, Borland s disquieting photographs portray subjects acting out of a compensatory need to be loved and nurtured. The images are made more unsettling with the absence of any sexual overtones or narrative, as Borland merges the naked, adult male body with the innocence and vulnerability of an infant. Originally shot for a body of work curated by Nick Cave in 1999, it was the subject of the 2000 book The Babies (PowerHouse) with a foreword by Susan Sontag. As Sontag writes on Borland s subjects, They invite our identification...daring us to admit that we too can imagine such feelings, even if we are astonished that some people actually go to the trouble, and assume the shame, of acting them out. As part of the exhibition, Borland has also worked with an English prisoner s arts advocacy organization, Fine Cell Work, to make woven interpretations of her portrait of Queen Elizabeth II taken on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in Working within a similar psychological realm as her babies, these tapestries interface with people on society s periphery, in this case literally as inmates of Her Majesty s Prison Service. Akin to Mike Kelley s stuffed animal works, or Marnie Weber s Monsters, the tapestries flatten ideas between high and low forms, relegating the depiction of the British Queen to those officially under her rehabilitation. Between the two bodies of work, Borland demonstrates her keen photographic lens focusing not only on her unmistakable subjects, but also fixated on the inner subjectivity of the viewer, playing upon their deepest desires, fears and fantasies. (b. 1959, Melbourne, Australia) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Borland s career as a photographer and visual artist has spanned over three decades, and she has shown internationally at institutions including National Portrait Gallery, London; University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane; National Portrait Gallery, Canberra; and Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane. Her work is in public and private collections including The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York; National Portrait Gallery, London; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Damien Hirst s Murderme Collection, London.

3 Installation view,, Tapestries, July 22 - August 19, 2017

4 The Queen (Mr. Guryther), 2017 (POB17.001)

5 The Queen (Mr. Hawkins), 2017 (POB17.002)

6 The Queen (Mr. Stewart), 2017 (POB17.003)

7 The Queen (Mr. Pink), 2017 (POB17.004)

8 The Queen (Mr. John), 2017 (POB17.005)

9 The Queen (Mr. Thomson), 2017 (POB17.006)

10 The Queen (Mr. Bryan), 2017 (POB17.007)

11 The Queen (Mr. Elmer), 2017 (POB17.008)

12 POLLY BORLAND Born 1959, Melbourne Lives and works in Los Angeles EDUCATION 1983 Dip. Photography, Prahran College, Melbourne SOLO SHOWS 2016 Not Good at Human, Sullivan & Strumpf, Sydney 2014 YOU, Murray White Room, Melbourne Wonky, The Australian Centre of Photography, Melbourne 2013 YOU, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York 2012 Pupa, Murray White Room, Melbourne Everything I want to be when I grow up, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane 2011 Smudge, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York Smudge, Other Criteria, London Smudge, Gloria Actar Birkhauser, Madrid 2010 Smudge, Murray White Room, Melbourne 2008 Bunny, Murray White Room, Melbourne Bunny, Michael Hoppen Contemporary, London 2002 The Babies, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne 2001 : Australians, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra : Australians, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne 2000 : Australians, National Portrait Gallery, London 1999 The Babies, 1999 Meltdown Festival curated by Nick Cave, Southbank, London 1984, George Paton Gallery, Melbourne GROUP SHOWS 2017 Group Show, Sullivan & Strumpf, Sydney Group Show, Murray White Room, Melbourne 2016 Human Condition, John Wolf, Los Angeles Group Show, Sullivan & Strumpf, Sydney 2015 Borland + Borland, Camberra Glass Works, Camberra 2014 Small is Beautiful, Flowers Gallery, New York City 'Pardon My French, Marcas Gallery, Anaheim California Episodes: Australian Photography Now, at the 13th Dong Gang International Photo Festival Seoul, Korea Art Basel, Hong Kong Other Criteria Flagship Store/Gallery Opening, New York City 2013 We used to talk about love, Balnaves contemporary: photomedia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

13 2012 Theatre of the World, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart Royal Melbourne, City Gallery, Melbourne 2011 GROUP04, Murray White Room, Melbourne The University of Queensland National Artists Self-Portrait Prize, The University of Queensland, Brisbane Let the Healing Begin, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane Monanism, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, opening exhibition 2010 Shoebox Art Exhibition and Auction, The Haunch of Venison, London PREVIEW 10, Murray White Room, Melbourne 2009 Wild Things, Stricola Contemporary, New York William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne 2008 GROUP 01, Murray White Room, Melbourne 2007 Nick Cave: The Exhibition, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne nd Auckland Triennial, Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand 2003 Play, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Melbourne 2002 Golden Jubilee Portraits, National Portrait Gallery and Windsor Castle, London Contemporary Australian Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra Ten Year Anniversary John Kobal Photographic Award Show, National Portrait Gallery, London Nick Cave: The good son, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington About Face: an exhibition of contemporary Australian photo-media, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney Psycho: Art and Anatomy, Anne Faggionato Gallery, London Play, Plimsoll Art Gallery, University of Tasmania, Hobart 2001 Young British Artists, National Portrait Gallery, London 1999 Glossy: Faces Magazines Now, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra COLLECTIONS The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Murderme Ltd., London Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne National Portrait Gallery, London National Portrait Gallery, Canberra Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne Queensland University Art Museum, Brisbane City of Melbourne, Melbourne Lyon Housemuseum, Melbourne Hayman Collection, Melbourne AWARDS & COMMISSIONS 2001 Photographed Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her Golden Jubilee 1994 John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award 1994

14 FILM Polymorphous, Screening and Artist Talk with Directed by Alex Chomicz Other Criteria Gallery, New York City, Polymorphous, a documentary on and her work Directed by Alex Chomicz ABC Television, Australia, March IO Echo Berlin it s All a Mess. Directed by: & John Hillcoat MOCA TV, commissioned by: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Art Nation, ABC TV, Australia Aired 5 September LINKS SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY YOU, Perimeter Editions, Australia, 2013 SMUDGE, Actar, Madrid, 2010 BUNNY, Other Criteria, London, 2008 The Babies, essay by Susan Sontag, PowerHouse Books, New York, 2001 Australians, National Portrait Gallery London and National Portrait Gallery Canberra, 2000 Jane O Sullivan, Curator s Take, Australian Art Collector, Issue 62, 2012 Tracey Clement, The twisted portraiture of, Art Guide Australia, September/October 2012 Dan Rule, Traveller in a strange land, The Saturday Age, Art & Design, August 18, 2012 Robert Nelson, Review in Visual Arts, The Age, September 12, 2012 Everything I want to be when I grow up, Catalogue, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, 2012 Face Off, Annemarie Kiely, Vogue Living Australia, January/February 2011 ABCTV Art Nation, Sunday 5 September 2010, Oyster Magazine online, September 2010, Dan Rule, Around the Galleries, The Age, Saturday 21 August 2010 Dan Rule, Melbourne Broadsheet, 27 August

15 BUNNY, Other Criteria, London, 2008 The Babies, essay by Susan Sontag, powerhouse Books, New York, 2001 Australians, National Portrait Gallery London and National Portrait Gallery Canberra, 2000 : Portfolio, Photofile #65, May 2002 Natalie King, Art round up: Melbourne, Art Monthly Australia, No. 157, March 2003 How We Met: Gwendolynne Christie and, The Independent, Sunday Review, UK, 29 June 2008 Sheer Polly: Will Self salutes, The Independent, UK, 24 July 2008 s Best Shot, by Leo Benedictus, The Guardian, UK, 15 May 2008 Turning Playboy image on its head, Richard Willingham, The Age, 26 November 2008 ABC TV, Sunday Arts, screened 27 July 2008 Private Worlds, BUNNY review by Ashley Crawford, The Weekend Australian, August 2 3, 2008 Points of View: BUNNY, Photofile #84, Summer 2008 Getting to the heart of the matter: by Ruth Learner, Poster Magazine, Issue 18, Summer 2008/2009