The 2008 Anne & Gordon Samstag
International Visual Arts Scholarships
Artist: JOSHUA WEBB
The Gift 2006
styrofoam, silicone, polyurethane
239 x 13.18 x 40 cm
© the artist
A new dawn 2006
still from digital animation
duration two minutes
View the video
© the artist
Joshua Webb has drawn on his experience of working in industrial design to
create a bricolage of imagery from available materials. A new dawn is an
apocalyptic landscape, a desolate place where the rubbish stretches as far as
the eye can see. A rising sun and portentous cloud only restore some sense of
normalcy. Then, in the DVD version, above this same landscape hovers a
distinctly unnatural and amorphous red shape. It moves, drapery floating as if
shaped by a benevolent breeze, taking attention from the wreckage.
It’s a neat conceptual fit, using a beautiful aesthetic to distract attention
from sad realities. The reverse may also be true, with destruction drawing
attention away from pursuit of beauty and ideas. Webb is driven by the
contradictions in making art – and the need to make a space where art may exist
in the world we inhabit – the rider being that in this period of late capitalism
art may be simply a trophy for the rich.
The Gift is a baroque-looking assemblage of smashed sculpture and
cultural totems. For Webb, who works across sculpture, assemblage, and painting,
the aesthetic he desires drives his choice of media.
Louise Martin-Chew
from her Samstag essay;
Alternative Realities
| Born 1981, Perth, Western Australia |
||
| 2005 | Bachelor of Arts (Art) Honours, Curtin University of Technology, Perth | |
| Awards | 2008 | Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship |
| 2006 | ArtsWA, fellowship ArtsWA, new concepts grant |
|
| 2004 | ArtsWA, Quick Response Grant | |
| 2001 | Curtin University of Technology, School of Art Prize | |
| Selected Group Exhibitions | 2006 | Salon refuse, Breadbox Gallery,
Perth 30th Anniversary Show, Galerie Düsseldorf, Perth BECKON, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth DOFA06, John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University of Technology, Perth |
| 2005 | I was just leaving, Curtin
University of Technology, Perth City of Perth Art Award, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth Post-it, Keith+Lottie Gallery , Perth Sun Shine people, Poolside collective, Mulberry Farm, Perth |
|
| 2004 | Coalesce, Collaborative installation, Breadbox Gallery, Perth POOLSIDE 500mg, Hudson Gallery, Perth JOSH'S HOMEWORK: Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth IN HAPPINESS, Poolside collective, Breadbox Gallery, Perth |
|
| 2003 | Love Tester, Poolside Manifesto, Virus Lounge, Perth | |
| 2001 | Downsize, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth | |
| Collections | Curtin University of Technology Art Collection |