Situated next to the Botanic Gardens amongst tropical rainforest, it is always a pleasure to visit the much loved Tanks Arts precinct. The Tanks are three WW2 fuel tanks that have been converted into arts spaces. Tank 4 is a dedicated gallery, Tank 5 hosts a world class music program, and Tank 3 is a space where the adventurous like to play and create. I have come to see Kitchen Sink, the aptly titled exhibition of TAFE Queensland (Cairns Campus) diploma graduate artists. This is a group show where each of the artists has been given the space to explore, bend, and shape their material in whichever way they see fit. Nevertheless, the exhibition has a coherency and flow that belies this freedom.
Since 2021 the staff of Tank 4, headed by Curator Chris Stannard, have hosted and collaborated with the TAFE Visual Arts department on the latter’s graduate exhibition. Early in the year, students present a broad range of work to Chris and his team. They are given feedback on their work and guidance on which work to develop for the graduate exhibition. Once the work is created, the students, under the stewardship of the Tanks 4 team, collectively curate and hang the exhibition. This process has led to the creation of a thoughtful collection that gives each artist space to breathe and also considers how each work impacts on the other.
As I wander through the space, certain works and collections impress or resonate. Adrielle Van Hassel’s homage to her beloved Gordonvale is one such collection. She has created a domestic installation that features a two-seater lounge framed by silk curtains and a coffee table. This setting is flanked by two triptychs of landscape paintings. Together, this work evokes a sense of reverence and sentimental bliss. One of the triptychs is a series of distorted cane fields, seemingly foretelling of the housing developments that are yet to be built. On the other side is a triptych of naive acrylic landscapes framed in faux window frames, an idealised childlike dream of the land before the housing apocalypse decimates the idyllic rural setting. Gordonvale is the chosen site for Cairns’ expansion, the cane fields are to be replaced by thousands of new homes. In this work, Van Hassel is at once celebrating what is as much as she is recording what was before it is gone forever.
More subtle but delightfully playful is a series of diptych prints by Bonnie Gilsenan. Each pair uses a different printing technique to explore our relationship with the digital world. As the method of printing becomes more complex, so do the issues raised. The intent of the series is highlighted elegantly i Convenience Vs Security – Red pair, which pairs a collograph and monoprint. This work shows the irony inherent to our relationship with digital technology. We are drawn to it for its convenience but in order to secure our precious data, identity, and information we inhibit its use by locking each process with passwords, facial and fingerprint recognition, two-step authentication, etc, making what was once convenient, inconvenient. This is a cheeky, intelligent, and humorous series with strong design elements and a clear artistic intent.
Also of interest was a series of works by Joshua Scarcella. The series consisted of pages from a graphic novel hung from the wall, a large painting, and a life-sized sculpture of a Ronin Samurai. This kind of genre-based work can often sit uncomfortably in a gallery setting, but seeing this work together I could not help but be struck by its obsessive nature, to the point where I almost felt that the artist was manifesting their own destiny: to be a Samurai. They had created a storyline, they had built their costume, all that was left was for the artist to don the gear and make their dream a reality.
It is important to note that these diploma graduates had only one year of study to develop their craft and style, as opposed to Bachelor graduates who have three years. Sadly, if these artists want to further develop their craft through higher education, they will need to leave. Cairns (and Far North Queensland) has a rich visual arts community and history. It hosts Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, one of the world’s premier First Nations art markets, and is home to Cairns Art Gallery, multiple council-run galleries, the arts collective Cr859, private galleries, and the daring and progressive Northsite Gallery. Yet, there is no university in the region offering a fine art degree. In this absence, we must commend TAFE and the team at Tank 4 for nurturing our next generation of artists and creating opportunities for them to develop the rich legacy of FNQ arts.
Expanded Lemonade coverage of 2024 graduate exhibitions is kindly made possible by Lemonade’s Patreons — including our newest Patreons Andrea Crosser, D Harding, Rosemary Tamas-Cao, and Patricia Olazo — as well as generous contributions from anonymous, Ruth Grieg, Leanne Kelly, Sandy Lidgett, and Charmaine Lyons. A special thank you to Merilyn and Stephen Mayhew for sponsoring a full Grad Show review.
Lucien Simon is a festival director, theatre maker, and filmmaker based in Gimuy Cairns.
