Bernie Slater Fuel can 2008

Conquer in Comfort looks at nationalism and affluence in modern Australian culture. Bernie Slater uses everyday supermarket products and pieces of mass media as his drawing surfaces, making each artwork a portrait of the global economy. By using the products and materials that we handle everyday, he removes the middle man and directly implicates us in the oppression of those in the third world who supply our thirst for luxury, convenience and trivia.

A Letter to Plain from Fancy

Dear Bernie,

Just a note to say thanks on behalf of Australia and possibly the entire Western world for your show entitled ‘Conquer in Comfort.’ The likes of Schappelle, Corey, Kochie, Warnie, and yourself stand proudly as representatives of our great age alongside iconic remnants of magazines and the stuff of the holy supermarket. Thanks to you Bernie, we may digest the cultural bran of our day and keep our minds regular as we undertake a cultural renovation blitz.

The broad bow you stealthily utilise to deliver your funny and familiar magazine and TV inspired messages manage a hit to the heart of material and consumer culture. Are you suggesting that the TV and I.T generation should change position on the couch, reach for a GPS and take a new course through the malls, perhaps even look out the window?

By placing us the distant viewer in scenes such as the Cronulla riots and Abu Ghraib I get the feeling we are all deeply implicated. This brings a double edge to our sense of cultural belonging and patriotism as we casually paint the baby’s room in ‘Whitelaw’ and the skirting boards in ‘State Border’ oblivious to the ‘Highly Flammable’ nature of our daily consumables. We shrink wrap our ‘SoftexElite’ to keep us feeling secure and airtight as we enjoy the ‘Kwik Life’ we have. Thankfully Bernie, you save us from a soupy mess, and for our general health encourage us to pick and choose carefully from the selection. Where Warhol used ‘Campbells’ straight from the can, you Slater would spend a while in the aisle and perhaps choose ‘Homebrand.’

Your magazine pages appear as revelations. It’s like you place us on the set of Deal or No Deal, you are ol’ Andrew O’Keefe and you open case after case revealing our chance to ‘Conquer in Comfort’. You then leave us to decide, ‘Deal or No Deal’. Even when we think we have won our $20, 000 smackers we are implicated in global fear, suspicion and third world poverty.

We take in your images and objects like any others we may see on TV or in magazines, but after the initial wise crack you don’t really give us any answers. We are left wandering around the mall thinking and feeling and that is exactly what you want. You are telling us to put away the facial mist, pull our sporting beanies up from over our eyes and take a long hard look at who and where we are. Hopefully after digesting all that cultural bran we remember to take a change of undies and move safely to the next big game to begin living the dream.

Julian
Julian Laffan is an artist, writer and curator based in Canberra

Tess Stewart-Moore
inside, outside, puppy dogs' tails

Tess Stewart-Moore Hardluck 01 2006
Tess Stewart-Moore Two doors 2007

Tess Stewart-Moore's work is a commentary on the psychology of internal and external space. While the focus is ostensibly social commentary it can also be interpreted as something more personal by way of its exploration of a mindset peculiar to Canberra and the way its austere "utopian" architecture impacts on the social lives of its young citizens. This series attempts to create a narrative that is constructed with a series of images to create a metaphorical "song" that is based on the contrasts between silence and chaos.