Simryn Gill

Last updated

Simryn Gill (born 1959) is a Singapore-born artist who specializes in sculpture, photography, drawing, writing and publishing. [1] Throughout her career, Gill has presented her art at several significant events, including Germany's Documenta art show and the Venice Biennale, and is one of Australia's most famous contemporary artists. [2] Gill lives between Sydney, Australia, and Port Dickson, Malaysia. [3]

Contents

Early life and career

Although born in Singapore, much of Gill’s childhood was spent moving from country to country, her parents moving to Malaysia, India, and the United Kingdom, where she remained throughout her young adulthood. [2] There, she met her future husband, a social anthropologist named Souchou Yao, with whom she would go on to have two children with. In 1987, the family settled in Australia, where she would attend the South Australian School of Art to pursue her passion for artistic expression. However, a few months into her degree, Gill dropped out of her courses, partially as a result of her pressing responsibilities to help raise two young children in addition to her increasing dissatisfaction with the lack of novelty in her studies. [2]

Despite these setbacks, Gill’s art continued to gain respect and renown within the contemporary art community, with early collections of photographs such as May 2006 and Dalam, in particular, receiving notable recognition. [2] In 2007 and 2012, she was invited to Kassel, Germany to showcase her work at the quinquennial Documenta, one of the most well-known art shows in Europe. A year later, she was selected to represent Australia in the 55th Venice Biennale. [4] Since these events, Gill’s art has been exhibited in many cities worldwide, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Guggenheim in London. [2] Then, in 2015, Gill hosted her first major solo exhibition, Hugging the Shore, at the Centre of Contemporary Art in Gillman Barracks, Singapore.

Style and works

Gill's work is said to embody a sense of "in-between-ness", [5] with pieces inspired by her various homes and the influence of place. She acknowledged the irony this brought to her 2013 feature in the Australian pavilion at the Venice Biennale, saying "mine is not a representative voice—in fact, it's entirely the opposite of that possibility … Representation is a very strange notion." [5] Her work has been said to occupy a space of transition and compromise, taking small mementos and fleeting moments of everyday life to construct a sense of belonging. [6] Red Hot (1992), a Native American headdress made from dried chilies, was made from Gill's homegrown chilies while she was completing projects from a 1950s boy scout manual with her son. [7] This gentle incursion of the everyday into Gill's art is acknowledged in the foreword to the publication accompanying Gill's exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, in 2008–09. Director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor characterizes her as "an artist whose approach is rigorous yet sensual, conceptual yet tactile." [8]

Gill is a systematic collector, "especially of books as objects of reverence and dispute". [3] Roadkill (1999–2000) features hundreds of items collected from the side of the road, including flattened plastic and discarded rubbish. In many of these works, audiences are invited to play with and reposition the items, [9] leaving interpretation of meaning to the viewer. In addition to this, Gill often allows these subjects of her art to be openly exposed to the degrading forces of the environment, demonstrating the inherently ephemeral nature of man-made objects. [4]

Her photographic works often come in series. My Own Private Angkor, 2007–2009, spans 90 photographs taken in an abandoned and decaying housing development in Malaysia. [9] The estate, one the fringe of Port Dickson, had been ransacked for anything of value and left to the tropical elements. The name of the series alludes to "the ruins of a civilization that had been suddenly curtailed", [8] that of the ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia. Similarly, the series Standing Still (2000) examines deserted and ruined architecture across the Malaysian peninsula following the country's economic decline.

Books and words are recurring themes and mediums in Gill's work. Pearls (2008) is a sparse publication full of images of strings of beads. On closer inspection, the reader discovers each bead is made from tightly wound strips of paper, cut from canonical texts like Mao's 'Four Essays On Philosophy' and more mundane books, such as a tome on highland dress. [10] [ page needed ] The exhibition variation of Pearls, 9 Volumes of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (2008–09), again invited visitors to touch and play with the volumes, now turned into boules-style balls. [5] This preoccupation with words and the dismantling of the constraints they place on us is revisited in Where to Draw the Line (2011–2012), now housed in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. ArtAsiaPacific sees in these works as a continual process of negotiation with words, a desire to reduce their impact and to make them physical and tactile: "of course the real keepers and foot soldiers in this world of words are books, and Gill has employed an arsenal of them for her quietly revolutionary purposes". [5]

As a consequence of her experiences with travel throughout her life, Gill’s art is inherently influenced by the landscapes, cultures, and communities that she has encountered, utilizing these experiences to incorporate evocative imagery and the associated emotion into her art. [11] In particular, the empty spaces she deliberately places within many of her photographs and drawings manage to capture the dual fascination and apprehension that humanity holds towards the unknown. [11] Connected with this, Gill tackles complex topics such as cultural exchange, globalization, the interactions of culture and nature, and the transformation of knowledge in a postcolonial society, demonstrating the impacts of those inherent feelings of fascination and apprehension on indigenous cultures and the environment as a whole. [12]

55th Venice Biennale

Gill represented Australia in the 2013 Venice Biennale, with the exhibition entitled Here Art Grows on Trees. Her exhibit replaced that of famous architect Philip Cox’s Australian Pavilion, which had represented Australia at the Venice Biennale since 1988, with the structure scheduled to be removed the following December. [13] Working with curator Catherine de Zegher, Gill produced three unique works for the festival. De Zegher described the inspiration for the exhibition as "a space of negotiation between the small and the global, between nature and industry, as it reveals an understanding of the interconnectedness of all in a world in flux". [6] One displayed art piece consisted of Gill’s traditional style of carefully collecting specific words to display them in a massive collage spanning twelve white panels. [13] Another was a series of large cibachrome photographs taken of an open, abandoned mine system at dusk and dawn.

Her most famous work produced for the event was the unconventional use of the Australian Pavilion itself. [13] Challenging her audience to see her work as impermanent and transitory, Gill removed sections of the roof of the Australian pavilion, "allowing each moment of the six month exhibition to be a unique snapshot." [14] This exposure of the work changed it over time, the beach house and the art stored within it slowly being altered by the surrounding environment, emphasizing nature's ability to reclaim structures and objects constructed by humans. [13]

Collections

Solo exhibitions [20] [21]

Gill is represented by Tracy Williams Ltd in New York City, and has held four solo exhibitions in the gallery: Blue (2014), Simryn Gill | Nicole Cherubini (2012), Holding Patterns (2010) and Interiors (2009). [22]

Group exhibitions [20] [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peggy Guggenheim</span> American art collector

Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with the Titanic in 1912, and the niece of Solomon R. Guggenheim, who established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Guggenheim collected art in Europe and America primarily between 1938 and 1946. She exhibited this collection as she built it; in 1949, she settled in Venice, where she lived and exhibited her collection for the rest of her life. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a modern art museum on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, and is one of the most visited attractions in Venice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Jonas</span> American visual artist

Joan Jonas is an American visual artist and a pioneer of video and performance art, and one of the most important artists to emerge in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Jonas' projects and experiments were influential in the creation of video performance art as a medium. Her influences also extended to conceptual art, theatre, performance art and other visual media. She lives and works in New York and Nova Scotia, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Candida Höfer</span> German photographer (born 1944)

Candida Höfer is a German photographer. She is a former student of Bernd and Hilla Becher. Like other Becher students, Höfer's work is known for technical perfection and a strictly conceptual approach. From 1997 to 2000, she taught as professor at the Hochschule für Gestaltung, Karlsruhe. Höfer is the recipient of the 2018 Outstanding Contribution to Photography award, as part of the Sony World Photography awards. She is based in Cologne.

Carol Bove is an American artist based in New York City. She lives and works in Brooklyn.

Imants Tillers, is an Australian artist, curator and writer. He lives and works in Cooma, New South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yael Bartana</span> Israeli artist, filmmaker and photographer

Yael Bartana is an Israeli artist, filmmaker and photographer, whose past works have encompassed multiple mediums, including photography, film, video, sound, and installation. Many of her pieces feature political or feminist themes.

Fiona Tan is a visual artist primarily known for her photography, film and video art installations. With her own complex cultural background, Tan's work is known for its skillful craftsmanship and emotional intensity, which often explores the themes of identity, memory, and history. Tan currently lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery</span>

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery is an art gallery in Sydney, owned and operated by Roslyn Oxley and her husband Tony Oxley. The gallery has been a longstanding contributor to regional, national and international art fairs, and supporter of a range of mono-disciplinary and interdisciplinary contemporary artists. Artists represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery include Isaac Julien, Yayoi Kusama and representatives for Australia and New Zealand at the Venice Biennale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Antonakos</span>

Stephen Antonakos was a Greek born American sculptor most well known for his abstract sculptures often incorporating neon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine de Zegher</span> Belgian curator, art critic, and art historian

Catherine de Zegher is a Belgian curator and a modern and contemporary art historian. She has a degree in art history and archaeology from the University of Ghent.

The Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative is a five-year program, supported by Swiss bank UBS in which the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation identifies and works with artists, curators and educators from South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa to expand its reach in the international art world. For each of the three phases of the project, the museum invites one curator from the chosen region to the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York City for a two-year curatorial residency, where they work with a team of Guggenheim staff to identify new artworks that reflect the range of talents in their parts of the world. The resident curators organize international touring exhibitions that highlight these artworks and help organize educational activities. The Foundation acquires these artworks for its permanent collection and includes them as the focus of exhibitions that open at the museum in New York and subsequently travel to two other cultural institutions or other venues around the world. The Foundation supplements the exhibitions with a series of public and online programs, and supports cross-cultural exchange and collaboration between staff members of the institutions hosting the exhibitions. UBS is reportedly contributing more than $40 million to the project to pay for its activities and the art acquisitions. Foundation director Richard Armstrong commented: "We are hoping to challenge our Western-centric view of art history."

June Yap is a Singaporean curator, art critic, and writer. She is currently the Director of Curatorial & Collections at the Singapore Art Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimsooja</span> South Korean conceptual artist

Kimsooja is a South Korean, multi-disciplinary conceptual artist based in New York, Paris, and Seoul. Her practice combines performance, film, photo, and site-specific installation using textile, light, and sound. Kimsooja's work investigates questions concerning the conditions of humanity, while engaging issues of aesthetics, culture, politics, and the environment. Her principle of ‘non-doing’ and ‘non-making,’ which follows a conceptual and structural investigation of performance through modes of mobility and immobility, inverts the notion of the artist as the predominant actor.

Agnieszka Kurant is an interdisciplinary, conceptual artist who examines how economic, social, and cultural systems work in ways that blur the lines between reality and fiction.

Natalie King is an Australian curator and writer working in Melbourne, Australia. She specializes in Australian and international programs for contemporary art and visual culture. This includes exhibitions, publications, workshops, lectures and cultural partnerships across contemporary art and indigenous culture.

The American pavilion is a national pavilion of the Venice Biennale. It houses the United States' official representation during the Biennale.

Susan Norrie is an Australian artist working primarily with found film and original video installations to explore political and environmental issues. In 2007 she represented Australia at the 52nd Venice Biennale.

Duan Jianyu is a prominent contemporary visual artist from China and writer. The artist is primarily known for her surrealist-style of paintings that draw from a range of art histories, including European-American modernism, Chinese ink painting, and Chinese Socialist Realism.

Wah Nu is a contemporary artist from Myanmar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suzann Victor</span> Singaporean contemporary artist

Suzann Victor is a Singaporean contemporary artist based in Australia whose practice spans installation, painting, and performance art. Victor is most known for her public artworks and installations that examine ideas of disembodiment, the postcolonial, and the environmental in response to space, context and architecture.

References

  1. ↑ "Stolon Press" . Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Yusof, Helmi (March 27, 2015). "In Search of a Lost Time". The Business Times. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Simryn Gill". The Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation.
  4. 1 2 Fitzgerald, Michael (May 25, 2013). "Raising the Roof". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Fitzgerald, Michael (April 2013). "Against Blankness – The Inhabiting Spaces of Simryn Gill". ArtAsiaPacific. No. 82. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Forrest, Nicholas (May 31, 2013). "See Simryn Gill's Venice Biennale Australia Pavilion". Australia: BlouinArtinfo. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  7. ↑ Hauser, Kitty (May 25, 2013). "Artists Simryn Gill becomes Australia's accidental ambassador at Venice Biennale". The Australian.
  8. 1 2 Storer, Russell; Morgan, Jessica; Taussig, Michael (2008). Simryn Gill. Koln. pp. 7, 41.
  9. 1 2 "Simryn Gill – My Own Private Angkor, #51, 2007–2009". Artsy. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  10. ↑ Gill, Simryn (2008). Pearls. Raking Leaves.
  11. 1 2 Chua, Kevin (2002). "Simryn Gill and Migration's Capital". Art Journal. 61: 4–21 – via Academic Search Premier.
  12. ↑ Vali, Mutaza (2021). "Perspectives". ArtAsiaPacific. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Fitzgerald, Michael (May 25, 2013). "Raising the Roof". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  14. ↑ Gill, Simryn (2013). Here art grows on trees. Australia Council for the Arts. p. 29.
  15. ↑ Yap, June. "Simryn Gill – Full Moon". The Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Simryn Gill". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Simryn Gill". San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  18. ↑ "A Small Town at the Turn of the Century 1999–2000". Tate. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Works by Simryn Gill". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  20. 1 2 "Simryn Gill". Artsy. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  21. 1 2 "Simryn Gill to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale 2013" (Press release). Australia Council for the Arts. May 23, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Simryn Gill – Press Kit". Tracy Williams, Ltd. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Simryn Gill: Hugging the Shore". NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore. Nanyang Technological University. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Simryn Gill". Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Simryn Gill". dOCUMENTA (13). Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  26. ↑ "Simryn Gill". Universes in Universe. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.