20th Hobart Art Prize.

Stutter by Anthony Johnson.

20th Hobart Art Prize.

Judging by the number of letters into the Mercury not many viewers are impressed by this year’s offering. The winning entry, Stutter has provoked considerable debate. On the one hand Anthony Johnson has attempted to create a random or accidental piece, although both new shelves have been disfigured in similar places and so defeat the purpose of accidental. So what is the artist trying to tell the viewer?

 According to his statement he wants us to examine quote, ‘how people experience time and space through often banal experiences and objects’.

It has often seemed to me that far too much contemporary art relies on such statements, rather than the work itself. Having now viewed this exhibition twice, I have been unable to extract any meaning from this work or see how the artist’s statement has any relevance. If we accept that we live in a world of over indulgence, a world of the throw way, a world of disinterest in the  sustainable, then this is for you. Whether this was Johnson's intent, I can not say. It is possible to claim that this mirror image is the only purpose of art, and to a great extent you would be correct. To most people Dada has come and gone and very little has been contributed to the movement in recent years. It is debatable whether two shelves costing $17 deserve the $30,000 prize.  Personally, I think such a philosophy of rehashing these Dada ideas is a dead end and I am surprised, that any thinking person would support such a position let alone feel obliged to give it airtime.

This is Hobart's major art prize, and I am disappointed in the lack of new ideas in the exhibits. There is little that is new, or has a wow factor, what the rejects were like we will never know. Hobart's' ratepayers deserve better.