“I Heart Tintin” is part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival’s small visual arts section. I’ve enjoyed Tintin since I was a small child and “I Heart Tintin” at the Window at the Edinburgh Castle Hotel, is a great little exhibition. Created by Bernard Caleo and Jo Waite (I must note, for full disclosure, that Bernard Caleo is an old friend of mine). Cutouts of waves and giant mushrooms visually unite the little exhibition of cartoon panels, drawings and paintings. But there is nothing two dimensional about the art in the exhibition amongst the many takes on Tintin, the racism and anti-Semitism in Tintin are exposed.
I don’t want to make a big deal of the Fringe Festival as most the visual arts exhibitions would have happened whether the Fringe Festival was happening or not. I did not specifically set out to see all the shows in the Festival’s small visual arts section and these reviews arise from what is convenient for me rather than following a plan to review the Fringe. For more reviews of the Fringe Festival visual arts see my previous post: MoreArts & ArtLand.
Also part of the Fringe Festival was “Your Imminent Arrival” by Kirstan McIvers at Platform under Flinders Street. Kirstan McIvers is represented by James Makin Gallery; James Makin Gallery, a commercial gallery in the centre of Collingwood’s gallery district is so fringe. McIvers has filled the vitrines with a minimal amount of text. The text based art reminds me of art from the 1980s with its prosaic true statements like: going places”, “city loop” “this way up” and ‘close the gap”. This has to be one of the most boring exhibitions that Platform has had this year.
Aside from the visual arts part of the Fringe I asked my wife if she wanted to see anything in the Festival program. She leafed through the 80 something page program, checked the online program and in the end decided to see a play: “Closed” by The Ministry of Drama. It was a terrible play – I reminded myself to avoid collaborative theatre as actors seldom make good playwrights.
That was the random quality that I experienced from the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2011. What did you think of it all?
Black Mark 