JULIE RRAP has put forward a proposal for the AGNSW facade commission. Julie was one of six women artists invited to create a concept for the empty space above the Gallery’s grand entrance, once intended for a decorative bronze panel that was never realised.
In 1913, the Gallery trustees commissioned the expatriate Australian artist Dora Ohlfsen (1869-1948) to sculpt a classical Greek chariot race in low relief for it. Though Ohlfsen worked on the piece for many years and her designs were approved, in 1919 the commission was abruptly cancelled. One hundred years later, the AGNSW is examining the original commission and some exciting contemporary proposals for the space.
In her concept, Rrap uses her own body to engage with issues of representation, gender and power.
Titled Walk out, Rrap’s panel appropriates the legs of five favourite sculptures in the AGNSW collection: those by Ugo Rondinone, Patricia Piccinini, Hans Bellmer, Louise Bourgeois & Michael Parekowhai. If developed further, Rrap would perform these figures, acting them out and casting her own legs in bronze.
In Walk out, Rrap uses surreal humour to destabilise. She refers to the relentless imaging of the body - especially the female body - within Western art history. These disembodied legs walk out in protest from the bastion of culture; or do they join our own to reenter the museum confidently, through the front door?
An exhibition of the proposed concepts runs until 8 March 2020.
