The Eco-Political Artist.
• Take a generous predisposition toward creative expression, and a passion for aesthetics.
• Mix in devoted engagement with social and political ideas, philosophy and awe for the natural world.
• Fold in a quest for environmental sustainability.
• Gently stir in acknowledged responsibility to challenge dichotomies.
• Fillet power structures and dice inequality.
• Briskly advocate progressive possibilities for all humanity.
• Season with experimentation
• Remove and discard false information, exploitation and deception.
• Allow for freedom of artistic and political expression.
Serve in the culture war over a liberal society.
Makes for social evolution.
P. J. Kalemba 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Resisting Suversion of Subversive Resistance. Marc De Jong
Marc de Jong.
Marc de Jong.
Also Known as ‘marcsta’, de Jong is one of Melbourne’s most notable illegal street artists, completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts. Prior to that, he studied under Howard Arkley at the Prahran College of TAFE.
For almost two decades de Jong has held over 15 solo exhibitions and was a finalist in the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and in the 2008 Fleurieu Biennale. He also featured in the April-June issue of Australian Art Collector magazine. His work is held in various collections throughout Australia, including National Gallery of Australia, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Monash University and Artbank.
De Jong’s infamous ‘mind-controller’ coke logo and ‘escape captivity’ barcode featured on the cover of Adbusters, as de Jong sat at the for-front of the 90’s resurgence of culture jamming and corporate logo subversion in Melbourne and around the world.
Conceptually, de Jong’s paintings ‘stake their oppositional claim. . .against the short-term values of what he calls “the global media flux of the instant”’. (Gollings, Kirstin. ‘Spamocracy’, Austrailian Art Collector, issue 44, June-April 2008, p 129.
Marc de Jong.
Also Known as ‘marcsta’, de Jong is one of Melbourne’s most notable illegal street artists, completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts. Prior to that, he studied under Howard Arkley at the Prahran College of TAFE.
For almost two decades de Jong has held over 15 solo exhibitions and was a finalist in the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and in the 2008 Fleurieu Biennale. He also featured in the April-June issue of Australian Art Collector magazine. His work is held in various collections throughout Australia, including National Gallery of Australia, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Monash University and Artbank.
De Jong’s infamous ‘mind-controller’ coke logo and ‘escape captivity’ barcode featured on the cover of Adbusters, as de Jong sat at the for-front of the 90’s resurgence of culture jamming and corporate logo subversion in Melbourne and around the world.
Conceptually, de Jong’s paintings ‘stake their oppositional claim. . .against the short-term values of what he calls “the global media flux of the instant”’. (Gollings, Kirstin. ‘Spamocracy’, Austrailian Art Collector, issue 44, June-April 2008, p 129.
Resisting Suversion of Subversive Resistance. Paul J. Kalemba
Paul J. Kalemba.
http://paulkalemba.blogspot.com
Paul J. Kalemba.
(AKA thinblackline) Urban edible (r)evolutionary and sustainability activist, Kalemba takes a renaissance approach to art. Working across traditional art practices such as drawing, painting and sculpture, in combination with, illustration, permaculture gardening and installation, Kalemba’s practice aggressively attacks the notions of society as economy and individualistic consumer culture, through community focused relational and applied aesthetics and (r)evolutionary propaganda.
Prior to recently completing a Masters in Visual Art at the Victorian College of the Arts, career highlights include; National print symposium at the National gallery of Australia 2004, Co Directing the Alleys Not Telleys, free, pubic space reclamation alley parties/ multi-arts festivals, 2001-2004, Eyes For Other Skies Traveling Animation Festival, ACMI / Soul Korea, and creating propaganda and projections for the tree planting/ re-veg Tranceplant festivals 2001-2005. Kalemba’s work also features in many independent publications amongst a prolific cv of community, public and white cube rah rah.
http://paulkalemba.blogspot.com
Paul J. Kalemba.
(AKA thinblackline) Urban edible (r)evolutionary and sustainability activist, Kalemba takes a renaissance approach to art. Working across traditional art practices such as drawing, painting and sculpture, in combination with, illustration, permaculture gardening and installation, Kalemba’s practice aggressively attacks the notions of society as economy and individualistic consumer culture, through community focused relational and applied aesthetics and (r)evolutionary propaganda.
Prior to recently completing a Masters in Visual Art at the Victorian College of the Arts, career highlights include; National print symposium at the National gallery of Australia 2004, Co Directing the Alleys Not Telleys, free, pubic space reclamation alley parties/ multi-arts festivals, 2001-2004, Eyes For Other Skies Traveling Animation Festival, ACMI / Soul Korea, and creating propaganda and projections for the tree planting/ re-veg Tranceplant festivals 2001-2005. Kalemba’s work also features in many independent publications amongst a prolific cv of community, public and white cube rah rah.
Resisting Suversion of Subversive Resistance. Van Rudd
Van Thanh Rudd
Van Thanh Rudd
van-thanh-rudd.net
Van Thanh Rudd has been exhibiting his art since growing up on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Moving to Melbourne in 1995 introduced him to a vibrant arts community as he took part in various group and solo exhibitions. Over the years, his work has increasingly attempted to address issues surrounding social justice. For inspiration he researched socio-economic systems and the role of art and politics by traveling to countries such as Vietnam, Cuba, Chile and France in 2005.
Rudd’s artistic practice involves painting, drawing, collage, public/street art and whatever else allows people exposure to debates about the role of art within society. One of his major projects (The Carriers Project 2004 to 2008) involved carrying his paintings on foot through public and private spaces in Australia’s major cities. This also allowed him to take part in major social actions in Melbourne such as the Anti-G20 rally (2006), The Stolenwealth Games (2006), Industrial Relations Rallies (2005) and Free the Refugees protests (2004). Current and ongoing works include the Residencies of Thought Project, taking place in The White House, Washington, USA and the Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA.
Van Thanh Rudd
van-thanh-rudd.net
Van Thanh Rudd has been exhibiting his art since growing up on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Moving to Melbourne in 1995 introduced him to a vibrant arts community as he took part in various group and solo exhibitions. Over the years, his work has increasingly attempted to address issues surrounding social justice. For inspiration he researched socio-economic systems and the role of art and politics by traveling to countries such as Vietnam, Cuba, Chile and France in 2005.
Rudd’s artistic practice involves painting, drawing, collage, public/street art and whatever else allows people exposure to debates about the role of art within society. One of his major projects (The Carriers Project 2004 to 2008) involved carrying his paintings on foot through public and private spaces in Australia’s major cities. This also allowed him to take part in major social actions in Melbourne such as the Anti-G20 rally (2006), The Stolenwealth Games (2006), Industrial Relations Rallies (2005) and Free the Refugees protests (2004). Current and ongoing works include the Residencies of Thought Project, taking place in The White House, Washington, USA and the Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA.
Resisting Suversion of Subversive Resistance. "Civiian"
TOM SEVIL. (Civilian)
TOM SEVIL
(AKA Civil) is an community graphic designer and artist.
Since completing a Bachelor of Environmental Science in 1999 he has
gone on to become involved in the independent media and publishing
community. Tom has worked as a graphic designer for many political
and community organisations including 3CR 855AM and the 2006-8 Seeds
of Dissent Calendars; The Big Issue; Voiceworks Magazine 2003–2005;
The Paper; Melbourne Indymedia; NGO-in-a-Box Free & Open Source
Software CDs; Stolenwealth Games, Stop G20 and Tassie Forests. His
stencil work has been featured in the publication Melbourne Stencil
Art Capital, the film Rash, as a feature artist in Melbourne Stencil
Festival 2004/05 and most recently as part of the London Cans
Festival. Tom is one half of Breakdown Press
(www.breakdownpress.org), radical publishers of 3 Poster Series
covering different political issues, and the book YOU: some letters
from the first five years, an anthology of an ongoing anonymous
letter writing project.
TOM SEVIL(AKA Civil) is an community graphic designer and artist.
Since completing a Bachelor of Environmental Science in 1999 he has
gone on to become involved in the independent media and publishing
community. Tom has worked as a graphic designer for many political
and community organisations including 3CR 855AM and the 2006-8 Seeds
of Dissent Calendars; The Big Issue; Voiceworks Magazine 2003–2005;
The Paper; Melbourne Indymedia; NGO-in-a-Box Free & Open Source
Software CDs; Stolenwealth Games, Stop G20 and Tassie Forests. His
stencil work has been featured in the publication Melbourne Stencil
Art Capital, the film Rash, as a feature artist in Melbourne Stencil
Festival 2004/05 and most recently as part of the London Cans
Festival. Tom is one half of Breakdown Press
(www.breakdownpress.org), radical publishers of 3 Poster Series
covering different political issues, and the book YOU: some letters
from the first five years, an anthology of an ongoing anonymous
letter writing project.
Resisting Suversion of Subversive Resistance. Subversive Propositions Toward Urban (R)evolution.
Resisting Subversion of Subversive Resistance.
Propositions Towards Urban (R)evolution
Marc De Jong, Paul J. Kalemba, Van Tran Rudd and Tom Sevil.
“Facilitator” Paul Kalemba. (Curator)
"No, painting is not done to decorate apartments it is an instrument of war".
Pablo Picasso. 1945.
Resisting Subversion of Subversive Resistance features the works and collaborations of four contemporary arts-activists. Romantic illusions of freedom fighters aside, serious business meets tongue-in-cheek as a homegrown R/evolution through urban edibles and the bicycle-peddling critical masses meet conscious consumption and political awareness.
The 20th century saw exponential advancement in many areas of human activity. The image was by no means excluded from this refinement. The total war of World War 2 saw not only mechanized militarism devastate European civilization, but the Third Reich and the allies alike bred the image for a new purpose. The manipulation of desire and fear was refined and exploited through the image, with propaganda aiming for nothing short of changing the opinions, and thus actions, of entire nations.
Enter the 21st Century. Commercial advertising carries on this imaging tradition into this decade, promising a veritable Shangri-La of sensual pleasure, luxury and convenience, tied firmly to a treadmill of competitive individualism. Meanwhile, headlines scream climate change, peak oil, environmental collapse, over consumption, finite resources . . . the new ideas now firmly in the zeitgeist. At face value it seems society as economy vs a sustainable future.
Resisting Subversion of Subversive Resistance seeks to defy this manipulation of fear and desire, employing a combination of loose scale model propositions and the graphic image, where WW2 style propaganda meets re-advertising, promoting consumer awareness and sustainable models via DIY culture. The artists dialogue with the notations of propaganda and resistance though subverting emblematic symbology and imagery of contemporary art, advertising and politics and their concurrent histories.
Propositions Towards Urban (R)evolution
Marc De Jong, Paul J. Kalemba, Van Tran Rudd and Tom Sevil.
“Facilitator” Paul Kalemba. (Curator)
"No, painting is not done to decorate apartments it is an instrument of war".
Pablo Picasso. 1945.
Resisting Subversion of Subversive Resistance features the works and collaborations of four contemporary arts-activists. Romantic illusions of freedom fighters aside, serious business meets tongue-in-cheek as a homegrown R/evolution through urban edibles and the bicycle-peddling critical masses meet conscious consumption and political awareness.
The 20th century saw exponential advancement in many areas of human activity. The image was by no means excluded from this refinement. The total war of World War 2 saw not only mechanized militarism devastate European civilization, but the Third Reich and the allies alike bred the image for a new purpose. The manipulation of desire and fear was refined and exploited through the image, with propaganda aiming for nothing short of changing the opinions, and thus actions, of entire nations.
Enter the 21st Century. Commercial advertising carries on this imaging tradition into this decade, promising a veritable Shangri-La of sensual pleasure, luxury and convenience, tied firmly to a treadmill of competitive individualism. Meanwhile, headlines scream climate change, peak oil, environmental collapse, over consumption, finite resources . . . the new ideas now firmly in the zeitgeist. At face value it seems society as economy vs a sustainable future.
Resisting Subversion of Subversive Resistance seeks to defy this manipulation of fear and desire, employing a combination of loose scale model propositions and the graphic image, where WW2 style propaganda meets re-advertising, promoting consumer awareness and sustainable models via DIY culture. The artists dialogue with the notations of propaganda and resistance though subverting emblematic symbology and imagery of contemporary art, advertising and politics and their concurrent histories.
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