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Do ya think
| Braunias
carries on from other recent large 'wall works' by painting directly
onto the gallery wall, allowing figures and shapes to twirl in a
miasmic dance across a great divide. The making of 'Homage to Rolf 'was
documented by video as was the final 'painting over'. We see a 'main
man 'bustle in from the right towards the central action. Wearing brown
walk shorts and knee-high socks he sports a black moustache. beard and
carries a bag of tricks. To anyone who suffered 70's Television, the
resemblance is unmistakable. Rolf Harris TV extraordinaire, who with a
whistle and a chortle oversees the state of play; the artist has
arrived. Facing the main wall a video shows Braunias in his studio
unearthing the usual suspects from patina marks left on his studio
wall. Here a line of black slowly morphs into a goofy looking animal, a
red shape transforms into a dripping colon; all etched with a dash of
white. The video is titled 'Congo' and pays homage to the monkey
"Congo', a one time big star of 1960's BBC television, who under the
tutelage of animal behaviorist Desmond Morris made 500 'works of art
'on paper, selling some at Sotheby's Auction house. Is Braunias
aligning himself with "Congo' as simply another animal who derives
aesthetic form from a world of line and colour or does Braunias suggest
that the 'culture' of humans demands closer scrutiny; we may be not as
significant as we believe?
A facing work on canvas 'War Grunt'
says it all. From again a pristine white background Braunias unearths a
70's Jerry Garcia type with handlebar moustache and round sunglasses.
His war-hating peace -making stare seems confident of approval. With
the hindsight of history, one cannot be so sure.
There is a
recently researched neurobiological process called 'searing'. It is the
process by which the human brain recollects and stores all information
and memory, not only of facts and dates, but the smells, feelings and
nuances of detail, which accompany any past human occurrence and
emotion. Similarly, Braunias works the searings that surround us as we
waddle through human history. No space frontiers here, no philosophical
blathering, just the desperate and often senseless details that make up
‘our place; monkeys after all.
Elizabeth Smyth
Selected works
1. Untitled
2. Do ya think
3. Fuzz Puss
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4. Has Been
5. Swingers Wanted
6. Ya Ya
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All works oil on stretched board |
