Steven RENDALL
2005

A Re – constructed World addresses notions of consumerism, obsolescence and desire through the use of hands on production techniques, simple lay art materials and subjects that so readily define our identity.

I often use lo-fi materials like corrugated cardboard to create everyday objects and, in this case, an image of a room. The image is a constructed moment in a constructed environment. My constructed environment is a large painting.

I made it like I would make a painting except the $120 per meter linen has been replaced by flattened out cardboard boxes. These materials are at odds with the purpose of a painting as a desirable and lasting object and the work is too big and awkward for most domestic situations – even the mansions of Toorak.

Consumerism. Paintings can be consumer objects. This one isn’t.

Obsolescence. A friend gave the TV in the painting to us 4 years ago. More recently we purchased a newer model 2nd hand from a contemporary art gallery so the old TV now resides on the back porch. I find the obsolete one more interesting to paint. The computer isn’t obsolete. Yet!

Desire. What do painters want/desire to paint? I wanted to make a painting of Kate. So Kate is in the painting looking at the computer.

Simple lay art materials. Acrylic paint on cardboard. The image is made from several drawings merged together. Very simple. Very lay.

So readily define our identity. Most of us watch TV. A lot of us spend a lot of time at a computer. Our identities, emotional, intellectual, physical and political have been shaped by and are linked to glass screened slightly radioactive boxes.

Critic and author Cyril Connolly wrote "The pram in the hallway is the enemy of good Art". He also said 'everything is a dangerous drug except reality, which is unendurable.'

There’s also the point that things will get made despite various influences to the contrary.