Sydney Life

Let's get one thing straight: I do not understand installation.

Whenever I visit art exhibits, I'm afraid to eat or even use the bathroom, lest I disturb some unobtrusive piece of art.

So when I arrived at the Sydney College of the Arts Degree Show, I was armed with a healthy sense of alertness (and not without alarm).

Each year, the SCA hosts two major exhibitions, showcasing the major works of both undergraduate and postgraduate students. On Tuesday November 14, the 2006 Undergraduate Degree Show was launched. The show celebrates the year-long projects of final year students, most of whom are Honours contenders.

The crowd, dressed in funk finery, feasted on the appetisers so vociferously that I decided it would be acceptable to join them. According to my friend, Miss B, this is the single greatest thing about art shows: free tummy fillers. Yum.

But I had more important things to attend to: namely, how to tackle the pesky fact that I had failed to bring my camera. I decided I'd either have to rely on my creative prowess to explain the show, or just encourage you to see it all for yourselves. Then I decided that I'd do both.

Firstly, the work was amazing. I was stunned by the imagination of most of the artists. Their work was challenging, relevant, honest, and edgy.

Joseph Wheeler, a postgrad student, exhibited a series of ceramic sculptures, such as the po art-esque 'DIY' lurid lime green vase adorned with hardware catalogue clippings.

My favourite paintings were Jane-Marie Whiston's 'Journey to Abstraction 1' and '2.' The BVA (Hons) student mixed acrylic, enamel, and varnish to add a surreal, dream-like effect to her work. The clash of vivid greens with dull browns and purples worked well.

I loved the brazen, 'I am What I Wear,' from Jane Bowring. The piece was a brash commentary on our consumer lust. Twenty-five Andy Warhol-style shots of a single subject, each time wearing a different alphabetical pendant, showed that, in fact, Miss Bowring was not what she wore. The only letter missing was 'J.' The piece also included a large photo of the subject laden with dozens of jewellery objects. Rings to her fingertips, bangles to her elbows, earrings pinned to her shirt, and covered by chains upon chains upon chains. The chaos made quite an impression.

One of the night's biggest hits was also literally one of the biggest works. Satu Bushell's 'Inside/Out' intrigued dozens of onlookers. The talented ingenue constructed two lifesize steel sheds, connected by a steel pipe. The first shed was filled with warped fluorescent tubes of light, and in the second, curious Georges peered through the pipe's refracted glass. The result? A breathtaking kaleidoscope effect.

There was installation, and as predicted, it did confuse me. Anna Zarasyan's 'The Encodings' was...bizarre. Three TV screens stood adjacent to one another, playing different stages of the same footage. The footage featured a figure covered in black (decorated, at various stages, with other inanimate objects like prawns, sausages, CDs, a feathered mask, and even bunny ears) performing what looked like liturgical dance. Am I the inhibited and naive one here? Was I born without my 'ability to understand profound meaning' gene? Suggestions welcome.

The SCA crowd was buzzing. The art was clearly provocative and chatter abounded. What was Catherine Syrcott's inspiration for 'Branded,' a collection of words spelt out with steel letters? How did the play of shadows affect the meaning of 'emotion,' 'beast,' and 'savage'?

And what did happen to Jessie English 'One Night in his Life'? The photographer captured the ethereal essence of the forest with his fragmented images. They were both exclusive and uninviting, and yet, unnervingly tempting.

Did Genevieve Hinds use the SCA's history (the Rozelle site was formerly a psychiatric hospital) as her inspiration for 'Breathing a Vein'? Hinds suspended a chair in a large PVC pipe filled with garish red water, spurting from a gaping hole in a distinctly body-less mannequin's arm. The Kill Bill-style wound was simultaneously cartoonish and violent.

The bottom line? The SCA showcase was fantastic. Everyone who attended left with a smile, and to my delight, a slightly quizzical expression.