The Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize is upon us once more. The unique premise of this annual award is that participating artists are permitted to invite an emerging artist to exhibit with them. The aim is to foster mentoring relationships, open up new spaces for dialogue and enhance the connectedness of Australia’s art scene.
Curated by distinguished painter Tim Johnson, there are plenty of exciting and unlikely combinations on the cards. For instance, emerging artist Tim Moore has been paired with Archibald winner Fiona Lowry. At first glance, it’s hard to pick a link between their two practices. In contrast to Lowry’s airbrushed Romanticism, Moore’s approach is less ethereal and more playful.
Moore is primarily known for his whimsical embroidery. The kind of characters he stitches into linen are nudists going about their daily business, figure skaters and SpongeBob SquarePants. Many of them are oblivious to their comically placed penises. A self-described dick doodler, Moore’s art is often a celebration of puns and silliness.
“I’m not from a huge art background, so I’ve never really known it to be serious,” he says. “I’ve only ever really seen it as something quite fun. I mean, it’s still a profession. But everything I’m drawn to has a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour. As soon as I walk into a space, I’d rather it make me chuckle than ponder.”
As the exhibition approaches, Moore is flattered to be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Shaun Gladwell, Hiromi Tango and Mikala Dwyer. “I’ve seen the other artists that Fiona and I are up against and they’re incredible,” says Moore. “I was just really touched that someone of Fiona’s calibre believes in what I’m doing. The prize is going to have a big audience so it’ll be nice to see people’s reactions to things they don’t usually get to see.”
Moore has been experimenting with a variety of materials for some time now. “About three years ago I started dabbling in little paintings and painting on photographs. And this year I’ve starting doing photography with live animals,” he says.
As to what sparked his latest idea, Moore explains: “There’s lots of ants in the studio and I started playing around with trying to get the ants to write a swear word. I started writing things with parmesan cheese but they kept taking it away. And then I thought, ‘Honey – ants love honey!’”
The result is a swastika with the caption Anty Fascist – a cheeky play on words. “But it’s a Hindu swastika, not a Nazi swastika,” Moore reassures. “There’s no way I’d post one of those on the wall in Sydney. It’s the peace one, which is really anti-fascist. The work isn’t political in any way. It’s just a fun thing. I hope people get a little smile out of it.”
Given the philosophy driving the Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize is about each generation of artists passing on something new to the next, Moore’s ideas around chance and collaboration are sure to resonate throughout the entire show.
Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize 2015 runsThursday March 26 – Saturday May 23 atNational Art School Gallery.
