IMAGING THE APPLE
Curated by John R. Neeson
& Elizabeth Gower
InstallationMarch 25 - May 1, 2010
IMAGING THE APPLE is a development of a successful show that toured the Eastern states of Australia in 2004 – 2005. The original exhibition was organized by artist/curator John R. Neeson who is co-curating the New York version with Elizabeth Gower, also a Melbourne based artist/curator.
The New York show includes 48 Artists from Stockholm, Beijing, Pittsburg, New York, Toledo, Hollywood, Auckland, Plymouth, Melbourne and Sydney, and in the case of Billy Tjampijinpa Kenda, from an area in Central Australia as geographically remote from New York City as it’s possible to get.
The Artists represent a cross generational group, with established and well known Artists such as Yoko Ono and Billy Apple, exhibiting alongside mid-career and emerging Artists, using a diverse range of media including text, photography, installation, video, sound and painting.
The conceptual basis for IMAGING THE APPLE references Paul Cézanne’s ambition to “astound Paris with the painting of a single apple.”
The apple has been a significant and reoccurring emblem in factual stories, legends and myths throughout western history.
Never actually identified as the guilty “fruit of temptation” in the Garden of Eden, an apple nevertheless has been universally represented as the culprit for twenty centuries.
The apple features in the Judgment of Paris from Ancient Greece, in the various legends of William Tell and Snow White and the poison apple from central Europe, in Isaac Newton’s revelation on gravity from England, in the origin of the Granny Smith apple from Australia, and from America, Johnny Apple seed.
There is also considerable mythology surrounding why New York City became known as “the big apple”. One story is that in the jargon of US jazz musicians, a gig was an “apple” and a gig in New York City, “the big apple”. A second tale dating from the 19th Century concerns a high-class bordello, run by Eve, who had the best “apples” in town.
In colloquial Australian “she’ll be apples” translates as “it will be fine” while “an Apple a day keeps the doctor away”, “an apple for the teacher” and “the apple of my eye” are epithets common in the English-speaking world that associates the apple with health and goodness.
Finally “apple” has become an enduring contemporary icon associated with the legendary Beatles company, the personal computers and ipod.
All these associations resonate in various degrees of intensity through the forty-eight responses in IMAGING THE APPLE.
IMAGING THE APPLE is accompanied by a catalog, documenting the works, and including a project essay by John R. Neeson. It is published by AC Institute and distributed by Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
IMAGING THE APPLE has received a grant through the Dame Joan Sutherland Fund from the Australian American Association and in-kind sponsorship from Chapman & Bailey, an Australian based Art materials company.
Featured Artists:
Billy Apple, Peter Burke, Jon Campbell, Ross Coulter, Holly Crawford, Penelope Davis, Kate Daw, Kim Donaldson, Janenne Eaton, Steve Ellis, Andrew Erdos, Juan Ford, Sue Ford, Clark V. Fox, Timothy Gaewsky, Martin Gantman, Michael Georgetti, Elizabeth Gower, Denise Green, Hao Guo & Thea Rechner, Jayne Holsinger, Natasha Johns-Messenger, Kate Just, Larry Kagan, Billy Tjampijinpa Kenda, Sardi Klein, Richard Kostelanetz, Kevin Laverty, Deven Marriner, Ben Matthews, Rob McKenzie & Kain Picken, My Dog Sighs, John R. Neeson, Yoko Ono, Mary Lou Pavlovic, Amy Pivak, Paul Ross, Andreas Söderberg, Spoonbill, Charles Tashiro, Brie Trenerry, Nico Vassilakis, Dan Waber, Cara Wood-Ginder, Max Yawney, Anne Zahalka.
Image courtesy the curators.