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ARTEXPRESS@COFA 2004

Article released: Tuesday, 10 February, 2004

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Opening Friday 20 February - Don't miss the outstanding selection of HSC Artwork exhibited in the 2004 COFA ARTEXPRESS!

There are several compelling factors that inevitably shape the scope of most exhibitions - competing interests, timing, finance and the complexities of coordination. Also figuring prominently in this line up are chaos and compromise. It's the role of the curator, weaving magic, to create coherence from this jumble of elements and limitations.

For the multi-venue, annual ARTEXPRESS, the issues of exhibition development are equally diverse.  In 2003, curators from COFA, the Art Gallery of NSW, the National Art School, and this year, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery are focused on getting hold of good, fresh, new art to build an interesting show. However, due to the politics and sensitive equity issues that define the nature of ARTEXPRESS, curators take on a host of other variables enroute to achieving exhibition success.

At the heart of ARTEXPRESS sits the simple reality that the exhibition is an educational process, directly linked to a series of high profile arts events.  ARTEXPRESS is in effect a meeting ground between the high school art room, governed by the Visual Arts HSC curriculum and examination, and the final professionally mounted public exhibitions. For stakeholders this is sticky territory.

Each year thousands HSC students across NSW compete to have their artwork selected and exhibited in one of the Sydney ARTEXPRESS venues.  To be eligible, students must gain high scores within the guidelines of the HSC Visual Arts examination. The grades are based on demonstrated mastery, conceptually and technically, of an art practice.  Only through submission of a well- regarded "body of work" to the HSC does a student stand a chance at ARTEXPRESS selection.

Getting this far, however, is no guarantee that an artwork will become an ARTEXPRESS piece. Marina Grasso, one of small team of COFA Art Education students assisting in the COFA selection, makes the prospects of ultimate success eminently clear.  "This year, she explains, around 300 works will be selected for ARTEXPRESS out of an eligible total of around 1100-1200."

So, what are the issues that might influence the selection of one student's work for exhibition from the many deemed talented enough for inclusion?

"We needed to consider," says Mitchell Kelly, a final year COFA Art Education student, "which bodies of work would be most suitable to our exhibition - were they too similar to artworks exhibited previously? How much space would they occupy? Could parts of the work be shown? How might they work with other artworks selected?"  In addition, the COFA selection committee took into account a need for a representative sample of government and non-government schools, the number of artworks from female and male students, and the geographical spread of schools from across NSW.

Of the artworks that make it through the HSC examination, around the guidelines for selection, and over the hurdles of curatorial scrutiny there is a moment to shine.  ARTEXPRESS does indeed present some of the best work from the HSC Visual Arts examination to the broad public. 

"Outstanding" is a common word used to describe the final ARTEXPRESS selections, but for Mitchell Kelly, who believes that many of the "HSC art students have art-making abilities and skills superior to tertiary fine art students," high praise should be awarded to all students who make it to the selection point. 

But for the same reason that not all eligible art students' works are exhibited, arts venues are not given free and open curatorial choice.  ARTEXPRESS is neither a purely educational undertaking, nor is it an independent art exhibition.  

"ARTEXPRESS is a hybrid beast, always encumbered by demands of educational bureaucracies, schools, and competing arts venues," says Penny McKeon, Head of Art Education at the College of Fine Arts.  "It needs to be many things to many people, and through the insight and vision of the curatorial teams, somehow each year it works."


ARTEXPRESS@COFA

Dates: 16 February - 26 March 2004
Opening: Friday 20 February
Location: COFA Exhibition/Performance Spaces
Hours: 10am - 4pm Monday to Friday