This work, signed “futc 2009″, is a rare late work by Marr Grounds, who is the CEO of the Free University of The Coast, near Tanja in south east New South Wales. There’s a much more salacious translation of FUTC but we don’t want to go down that track, do we? Nevertheless, in this evocative readymade, the author celebrates Slim Barrie’s famous adage: “International Roast is the best coffee to paint with…” Alas, Slim’s best example, a coffee-painted boat, was eaten by rodents the night before it was due to be sent for exhibition. Owners of paintings by Chris Ofili please take note…

Seems there’s a beat-up at the SMH in anticipation of the launch of David Marr’s new book: The Henson Case.  In this advertisement for next weekend’s Good Weekend the SMH pix editors parody their own self-censorship, brought on themselves by the Bill Henson controversy of a few months ago. David Marr’s account of the issues raised by the various reactions to Bill Henson’s work do not engage with the substantive questions of the weak nature of the defenses already mounted: the prior arguments based on context and intentionality (it’s erotica, not porn, so that’s OK) are about vested interests, and not the 21st century reality of the way images are now distributed and consumed. Henson and his dealers have sold and continue to sell individual works out of context, and to distribute such out-of-context works on the internet, so the stable door is wide open… Nobody appears to be willing to mount a defense of this aspect of the “case”.

On September 15 we posted a reference to a Bill Henson photograph of a different order to any of those that were in the spotlight back in May. This (trigger warning) image was put to auction last week by Menzies Art Brands, on their online catalogue, and it’s still there. (We wonder whether Henson gave copyright permission, but that’s another issue). We asked then whether such examples of his work could be defended in the same terms as the discourse which emerged in May, and subsequently.

Throughout this debate, ArtWranglers has always taken the position that the world of the internet has radically changed the context in which images such as these are (now) seen and interpreted. Defense of the work in its original context, or a defense based on the autonomy of its artistic intent, seems to us to be no longer sufficient once the work is “out there” circulating on the internet. There, it occupies a different contextual category, and is therefore subject to different values, criteria, and critiques. Surely it is no longer a matter of where each of us may draw the line between (say) erotica and pornography, or whether the artist’s intention supercedes its new context in the wider world of vernacular photography. Once it’s “out there” in cyberspace, there’s nowhere to draw a line, and just as individual works may challenge our assessment of the whole corpus of Henson’s work, so such works as the above now need to be assessed (and defended) in the expanded field of internet imagery. Perhaps. What do you have to say about that, David? And there are more questions for David to answer on The Art Life. Read also Jonathan Green’s comments on Crikey. Regrets? A few…

And a growing caution in interview with Leigh Sales: “The photographs are beautiful and nothing Henson has done in the last few months with all of these photographs breaks any law and none of them are remotely pornographic.” and “The Internet has changed the way we view photography. There is a sense in which no photograph can actually be corralled anymore. Everything is potentially available to anybody anywhere in the world, once it gets on the Internet. We still have to deal with that, that apprehension of the Internet, because it’s changing the way we consider art, photography, all sorts of things. Part of the purpose of my book is to look at the history of that fear of the Internet, and try to work out whether in fact we need to be so afraid. I don’t think we do.”

“We don’t need no Monumenta, we don’t need no art control, [there's] no dark sarcasm in this city…” So sang Pink Floyd on their last visit to Canberra, to coincide with the infelicitously named Floriade Festival. Floriade was closed yesterday for Health and Safety reasons, and today we understand why. Among the half-repaired sparkly lights, the Custodians of Aesthetic Health have gazumped the yet-to-be announced Anniversary Monument, with their own monument to high kitsch. Take a detour. Go underground! Anywhere but! (At least it’s temporary…)

Liz Paterson had not seen this Slim Barrie drawing recently on show at ArtWranglers when she made this cardboard landscape for the exhibition Shifting Perspectives just past at CraftACT. Synchronicity?

Slim Barrie fans will want to make the pilgrimage to see a selection of his work in the context of other Australian and international outsider artists at Without Borders: Outsider Art in an Antipodean Context (previously at MUMA) which opens this Saturday at Campbelltown Arts Centre from 1.00 onwards. Hear Colin Rhodes, Peter Fay, Glenn Barkley and others discuss the work of the fifteen artists selected. Find details, links and bios – here’s some of Slim’s work, and you’ll see some pix of other artists who caught our eye over the next week…

It’s a must-see show, which complements the local and contemporary Australian artists with a great range of historical and international works, and which elevate and challenge the senses. “Without Borders” is a great title, but as you engage the works themselves you can’t help wondering where we place the boundaries around such art – in fact the viewer’s consciousness about how boundaries shift in the act of engagement is one of the factors which makes the experience so reflexive. Like two-way mirrors, looking at this art is an act of reflecting on oneself. Our side of the mirror is loaded with our sense of context, precedent, associations, and potential meanings. Their side cares little about such things, but speaks a language of mystery and wonder, and about using their art to put their world in its place.

Willa congratulates Louise as she adds to the family collection of Slim Barrie (they were enthusiastic collectors at Slim’s first boat show) by snaffling on of the drawings of the Lakes Entrance Monster.

Slim Barrie knew Georgia O’Keefe. Or did he? Everything is true in Slim Barrie’s world. It’s the viewer who makes the connections. See the outcomes in his sculptures, reliefs, furniture and drawings at ArtWranglers for the two weeks following the opening this Friday from 5.00pm. Slim’s show will be open from ten to five on Saturday and Sunday 9th and 10th and 16th and 17th August, and by appointment in between.

There are things at Lakes Entrance that only Slim Barrie can see. Like the little-known Lakes Entrance Monster.

Slim Barrie will be showing sculptures, reliefs, furniture and drawings at ArtWranglers for the two weeks following the opening this Friday from 5.00pm. Slim’s show will be open from ten to five on Saturday and Sunday 9th and 10th and 16th and 17th August, and by appointment in between.

And there’s a Bob Hawke as well! (What is she thinking?) In addition to portraiture, Slim Barrie will be showing sculptures, reliefs, furniture and drawings at ArtWranglers for the two weeks following the opening this Friday from 5.00pm. Slim’s show will be open from ten to five on Saturday and Sunday 9th and 10th and 16th and 17th August, and by appointment in between. Early birds get their worms!!!