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AS YET UNCLEAR’Intriguing Stories Emerge from Fragments of Humanity’ Review by Robert McFarlane, Sydney Morning Herald CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE RADIO INTERVIEW with STUART SPENCE, RADIO 2SER CLICK HERE TO LISTEN |
THE AGE
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| There is photograph from As Yet Unclear, called "The Gap", where a lone old van is perched on the edge of a car park, overlooking a darkened sea. Its brake lights are lit red. I'd always felt something sinister was taking place inside the van, something causing the driver to lean on the brake pedal; maybe a body has slumped over the wheel, unconsciousness, accompanied by the horrific sound of a constant car horn. I asked Tim Freedman (The Whitlams), who eventually went on to own this photograph, what his take on the photo was, and he simply remarked that it reminded him of surf trips up the coast. My 80 year old mother, on the other hand, told me matter-of-factly one afternoon as she gazed at the photo, that someone from the van had obviously, just "gone for a wee."  I suppose it was these kinds of on-the-spot, wildly disparate interpretations that got me thinking. What if I took the series to other
folks, say, a group of artists and writers and see if they'd be moved enough to create a piece as a direct reaction to whatever
photograph took their creative fancy?The notion of their ideas marrying with mine was just way too tantalising. Initially I was apprehensive. Often artists don't like their work being corralled into a certain form, especially someone else's, but I found just the opposite to be true for As Yet Unclear. Rather than having to create something completely from scratch, I think I may have provided a collection of simple "keys" into artists' stories, perhaps, giving their work a gentle kick start. My pre-requisite was to connect to whatever image the artist felt drawn to, and record it with no fuss, catch a fire, demo-style. I didn't want artists feeling the pressure of the recording process getting in the way of their initial response. If more than one artist responded to the same photograph, so be it, in some ways I find this even more interesting. The results have been astonishing. I feel truly honoured, lucky, and completely stoked. |