We are excited to present Dusty Moth-Bitten Holes an exhibition by Madeleine Minack & Arthur Dimitriou at Alpha60 Chapter House. The exhibition is presented as a part of Craft Contemporary an annual festival from the 1st -31st October which celebrates Australian craft.
WHERE: ALPHA60 CHAPTER HOUSE
WHEN: 1-31ST OCTOBER
OPENING HOURS:
Mon 10-6pm
Tues 10-6pm
Wed 10-6pm
Thu 10-6pm
Fri 10-6pm
Sat 10-6pm
Sun 11-5pm
The word elevate keeps cropping up lately. Every ad or product seems to guarantee some divine enhancement – to your living space, your wardrobe, your skincare routine. Elevate your experience with X.
There’s a joke about the way Melbournian northsiders dress. Brunswick art kids and their daggy chic. Clothes aren’t recycled but upcycled. The aesthetic is discarded but still desirable; inconceivably sexy scum with moth-bitten holes in all the right places. You might say it’s an elevation – forgotten things lifted up to the world of tumblr-worthy street fashion.
Philip K. Dick once wrote that “the divine initially [shows] up at the trash stratum” (VALIS, 1981). The things destined to transcend spawn first in a slew of grime. We pluck them out and buff them ‘til they gleam. This implies that we lift them to our level – some many grades above the grot. No one ever wonders why we’re wading through the trash stratum to begin with.
There’s so much denial about our place here. Sidled next to High Fashion is High Art. Even practices which incorporate the dirty will polish up the edges for a spot in brightly-lit galleries. Not to name-check but Duchamp never did this. Urinals are left worn and glass shattered. As with Madeleine and Arthur, there remains a humbleness to the work. Nothing is elevated beyond its origins, because the artists recognise that any sense of supremacy is only imagined. Instead, all the forgotten, broken things are honoured as they are, gracious and modest in their tattered stature, sacred as nothing more than themselves.
Text by Kaijern Koo.
1. Arthur Dimitriou, Untitled, 2023
Aluminium, ceramic shell, flint clay powder mixed, colloidal silica liquid, water with crushed brick aggregate and slurry.
51 x 32 x14 cm
$750
2. Arthur Dimitriou, Untitled, 2023
Aluminium, ceramic shell, flint clay powder mixed, colloidal silica liquid, water with crushed brick aggregate and slurry.
51 x 21 x 16 cm
$750
3. Arthur Dimitriou, Untitled, 2023
Aluminium, ceramic shell, flint clay powder mixed, colloidal silica liquid, water with crushed brick aggregate and slurry.
33 x 45 x 17 cm
$750
1. Madeleine Minack, peering through the looking glass, 2023
Aluminium, lustre photo paper and archival adhesive.
420 x 596mm
$650
2. Madeleine Minack, cardboard heaven, 2023
Aluminium, lustre photo paper and archival adhesive.
420 x 596mm
$650
3. Madeleine Minack, pink reflections, 2023
Aluminium, lustre photo paper and archival adhesive.
420 x 596mm
$650
4. Madeleine Minack, confused stained glass, 2023
Aluminium, lustre photo paper and archival adhesive.
420 x 596mm
$650
To purchase please contact Arthur or Madeleine.
adimitriou@arthurdimitriou.com minackmadeleine@gmail.com
INSTAGRAM: @arthur.dimitriou @madsminack