Loser

I lost my key the other day.

I tracked it down to the Adam Art Gallery. When I rang, Andy, the extremely helpful technician there, went and checked that it was there and then offered to drop it off to me.

I suggested he meet me at McLeavey's, which was having an opening that evening. At said opening, he presented me with:

Not to be outdone, I casually put it in my coat pocket:

Art New Zealand on the Adam Art Gallery's Wall Works

There's a feature by Jenny Rouse in the latest Art New Zealand on the Adam Art Gallery's Wall Works show.

It has this to say about me:

Meanwhile, David Cauchi must have been privy to inside information (that the redoubtable Jenny Harper was responsible for the belated addition of lavatory facilities to the architectural plans for the gallery) when he named his site 'The Jenny Harper toilets'. Here, the self-ordained 'intertemporal avant-garde artist' produced a series of witty 'one-liners' in acrylic pen, collectively entitled Where art belongs. Contributing to a global 'series of separate spacetime events joined intertemporally by an avant-garde thought virus', and alluding none too subtly to academic scrutiny of the grand narratives underpinning western epistemology – art history included – Cauchi's witty irreverence must surely have extended many a practical visit to the site. Pencils left in situ allowed for the work's enhancement by more or less comprehending visitors ('I shat on your resentment'), producing an infinitely more interesting bathroom suite than any other on campus.

I think the biggest failure of this work was the way the drawings were overshadowed by the text. They don't even get a mention here.

Where art belongs, the video

Rose and I made a short video of Where art belongs on Saturday. We did it in one take without any preparation, so you'll just have to put up with the long pauses and constant ums interspersed between me blithering about something other than what the camera is pointing at.

And that's it! The show's over, and it'll soon be painted out. That is a very pleasing thought. It did get somewhat obliterated on Saturday night during Shoji Hano's awesome performance up there. I snapped Tao Wells just after he'd covered every available surface in the green loo with big loopy scrawls, and even signed it, the narcissistic bastard. I thought that was extremely funny – and that it was a good thing we'd already shot the vid.

Some process pics

NB If you click on the label Adam Art Gallery, you'll be able to see some other pics of the loos and read some blithering.

Oh yes

John Hurrell has reviewed the Adam show.

Recover

Yeah, the party at the Adam on Saturday was fun. I didn't quite manage to drink enough to pass out in the toilets, but I had a good go. I was hampered by the hangover from our flatmate's birthday do the night before.

I wore my suit to the party. Jeena made a very good case for ripping the 'most difficult' patch off the sleeve and giving it to her, the justice of which I could not deny. But I resisted. I was a little disappointed with the quality of the responses on the toilet wall. Writing 'I agree' next to 'David Cauchi is a crap artist' is a pretty pathetic effort, I reckon. I thought at least one person would get a good hit in. Pah!

Since Saturday, I've been trying to get over the Stockholm syndrome of the last couple of weeks and focus on what's coming up. I've got four writing projects to do in as many weeks. Three of them are for school, but one is for something else, and I'd like that one in particular to be okay.

I might put some photos I took of the other people installing their works up soon, but in the meantime there are some on the Adam website.

REMINDER: Party of the decade! Tomorrow night!

The Adam Art Gallery's 10th birthday party
Doors open 8pm
Performances by Bek Coogan, Torben Tilly, and Double Ya D
Bar closes 11pm
After Party: The Watusi, 6 Edward Street
Door charge $5 (proceeds going to support the artists)

Reflecting on the toilet

It was the last day of the install yesterday. For some reason, I am exhausted. I don't really have any justification for it, especially compared with Jeena! She has put in a massive effort. As an example of how tired I am, we went out for a celebratory drink last night, and I was the first to leave! I even turned down a beer!!! Maybe my brain's been taken over by an alien parasite.

I'm really happy with my work, and I think the show as a whole is looking pretty good. I've really enjoyed the whole experience. I was a little apprehensive about it, what with doing something for the first time in public and all. I was a little unsure what I'd do if it had turned into a disaster. However, it all went very smoothly.

I started out pencilling in things first, just in case, but soon abandoned that and attacked the walls directly with my pen. The green toilet is mostly text, and I'm pretty sure I didn't make any spelling mistakes or skip any words. There is only one small smudge. There are a couple of places where I'd've liked to've shifted the placement slightly, but I'm not worried about that. They're minor.

Yesterday was funny. Faced with having to finish it, I got all nervous again and started second guessing myself. But in the end, after a bit of discussion, I just stopped, and a good move that was. I would've been the second to finish, but when we were having pizza and beer in the gallery in the evening someone made a comment that turned into the perfect finishing touch, so I was last.

Easily the best thing about the whole experience has been how social it's been. Someone called it art camp. We've all got on very well. No prima donnas and no standoffishness. If any of you are reading this, remember we've got a spare room if you need somewhere in Wellington to stay.

No more pics

I'm not going to put any more pics until the show is over. You don't want to have seen it all before you visit. Though as Rose said when she came up for a look today, it is quite different seeing it in the flesh than as pictures on the blog.

I reckon it's coming along nicely. I have a crit on Monday, and I'm bringing people up to the Adam for it. It'll be interesting to see what they make of it.

Some more pics

I had quite a slow day today. The room is beginning to fill up, and I have to think about placement a lot more than when it was empty (and that could be my mistake right there). I want this room to be completely full, unlike the other one, which I'm quite happy to leave quite sparse. Anyway, here are the pics:

More fun in the loos

I spent Wednesday at school. When I headed back up to the Adam this morning, I found this on the door to the stuff I'd already done:

I've been enjoying myself immensely. I've been getting good reactions to what I'm doing. The people at the Adam are extremely friendly and helpful, and the other artists are all good value. Here are today's efforts:













Oh yeah, also check out Paints after work. No prizes for guessing who the 'About me' section on it takes the piss of.

Fun in the loos

Yeah, so I'm not a very good photographer. Good thing too. If you want to see it properly, you'll have to go to the Adam. It opened to the public yesterday.

(The first version of this post was a bit sweary. What was meant to be a vigorous exhortation to go up to the Adam came across as unnecessarily abusive. Well, I was pretty drunk.)

Speaking of unnecessary abuse, I was standing at the bus stop to go up there yesterday. Some random stranger at the bus stop pointed to the cigarette in my hand and said 'That's why you're dying of cancer.' I answered with a cheery 'Hopefully!' He said, 'You should treat your body like a temple.' I said, 'Ha! The opposite more like.' Then he started abusing me, so I abused him back. I think I won.

However, that's not a contender for quote of the day. One tour party of little old ladies checked out what I was doing. One of them said, 'If I had that in my bathroom, I'd never be constipated again.' I didn't have an answer to that.

Runner up goes to Kim Pieters: 'Wellington people are like Dunedin people, only happier.'