Goth Glamour in 3D

I was seduced by the opening of Rising 5 – by the promise of an exclusive event and 3D fashion photography. I wasn’t sure what to look at: the clothes, the models, the 3D photographic effect or the other guests. It was like some strange kind of goth nightclub, with a DJ, hundreds of people, boys in black dresses, strangely dressed women and security at the front except that nobody was dancing. All this was for a little fashion photography exhibition in the Atrium at Federation Square.

Mark @ Rising 5

Even looking at the photographs I wasn’t sure what I was looking at: the fashion, the styling or the 3D effects. The 3D photography by Mark Ruff didn’t require special glasses to see, it was like the lenticular 3D effects of the old postcards with the image separating into distinct several layers. It was difficult to look at the photographs in the diminished light of the Federation Square Atrium; the partitions did not have spotlights illuminating the images and the 3D effect was going out of focus.

A passing photographer showed me a sharp image on his camera that he’d taken earlier of the 3D photographs and he recommended seeing the exhibition in daylight to enjoy the best of the 3D effect. There were two videos where the 3D effect could be seen but these were just compilations of the existing images and didn’t add anything new.

A passing make-up artist involved with the project (was it Shella Ruby?) told me that the models were all photographed in front of a blue screen and the backgrounds were added in digitally. She also told me that it was all for charity so it was important that I got the names right (Beyond Blue, but how I don’t know; nothing was for sale and I wasn’t asked for a donation).

Although Simone Ling and Izabel Calgiore’s art and styling emphasized the goth look; with backgrounds including Melbourne University’s carpark (that was used as a set in the original Mad Max film). The fashion of Lui Hon, Dhini, Richard Nylon Millinery, Nadia Napreychikov, Cami James and Alistar Trung ranged from 80s cocktail dresses to ball gowns that could have been designed by Alexander McQueen. Some of it, like Metal Couture jewellery is hardcore goth, all of it was over the top.

Not that it mattered on Friday night. Almost nobody was looking at the dozen photographs and two videos anyway – mostly they were air kisses, schmoozing and posing for photographs in front of them.

Rising 5 is part of the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival and I was a guest of Madam Virtue & Co.

B-side

Daniel Dorall, Ruth Fleishman, Cecilia Fogelberg and Tim Silver have all exhibited at Blindside before. But this time they are showing the B-side of their artistic practice.

“B-side” is an almost redundant term referring to songs released on the 7” single records. Wikipedia lists several types of material found on B-sides http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_side including different version (e.g., instrumental version) of the A-side or another track, a song not considered good enough for the album and a song that was stylistically unsuitable for the album. Or as B-side’s curator Andrew Tetzlaff describes it as the “edges of art practice.”

Daniel Dorall has a corrugated cardboard maze for the visitor to navigate before they can access the rest of the gallery. This is a very different scale of work from Dorall’s usual architectural models and is clearly a B-side of his art practice.

Ruth Fleishman is best known for her digital environments but in B-side she returns to traditional mediums with her Cacophony installation. Cacophony is a diorama of a play world influence by her work with children it is both grandiose and funky.

Cecilia Fogelberg’s “Three-Dimensional Sketchbook” is a B-side of her sculpture practice, as a sketchbook is preparatory material rather than finished work. Fogelberg’s ‘sketchbook’ is a collection of objects and a beautiful artist book that catalogues the collection.

Tim Silver is primarily a sculptor and photography is B-side of his art practice. Like an instrumental version of the same song, Silver’s photography has a similar theme of decay to his sculpture but this time played in lenticular prints of fire. Lenticular prints are a familiar novelty item; producing images that have an illusion of depth or movement when viewed from different angles. And novelty is another feature of the B-side.

Novelty and fun, rather than major works of art are the objectives of the B-side exhibition. The opening at Blindside on Thursday night felt very packed due to Dorall’s maze taking up most of the floor space. A temporary fence partitioned off Fleishman’s diorama to prevent it from being crushed by the crowd.