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Say hello to Katherine! Katherine is one of our Gallery Attendants… isn't she just the sweetest?! As well as being apart of the White Rabbit family, Katherine is an incredible graphic designer and multi-disciplinary artist, make sure to check out some of her work! Katherines lockdown tips for you all are to draw doodles of your loved ones, Marie Kondo your wardrobe, eat plenty of fruits and veges. Her favourite White Rabbit Collection artwork is 'Ishvara' by Tianzhuo Chen @asian_dope_boys ​ ​ Why: No. Explanation. Needed. If you know… YOU KNOW 😎 ⠀⠀⠀ ​⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Tianzhuo Chen, Ishvara, 2016, video (colour, sound), 2 hr 4 min 4 sec

A post shared by White Rabbit Gallery (@whiterabbitgallery) on May 21, 2020 at 11:05pm PDT

 

Provide the name of the practitioner, the title of the work, the date when it was made, and a link to the work. 

 

The art gallery is the White Rabbit Gallery of contemporary Chinese are in Sydney.

The post was made on May 22nd, 2020.

It is untitled, but it is apart of a series that the gallery did once lockdown started due to Covid-19. In which the gallery introduced the staff behind the gallery, spoke about their favourite pieces and ways that they’re coping with the lockdown.

 

More examples;

 

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Meet Suna! Suna is one of our most versatile staff members! Suna jumps between the White Rabbit Gallery and Dangrove and is our Art Administrator/m. Suna has knowledge of Chinese culture and has made many budding relationships with our artists… without her on our team there would be a lot less sunshine in the room! ☀️ Suna's lockdown tips for you is to take up more skills that engage with your hands, and to observe and study any type of nature around you. Suna's favourite White Rabbit Collection artwork is 'Exotic Flowers and Rare Herbs 2003' by Cang Xin ​ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ "Firstly, I love wood as the creative media, also I was deeply attracted to the texture, colour and the shape of individual pieces as well as the whole installation. I remembered years ago when I was still a student I saw this artwork on the top floor of our gallery. This work immediately took me to a transcendental realm where the animal plant and human fused and manifested in one form – a way to state that we should have respect the mother nature and any other organism. Humans invent very advanced science and technology and think they are much superior, but unless you can live in harmony with nature and any other beings in the universe, all our efforts will be futile and eventually will do more harm to us." ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Cang Xin, Exotic Flowers and Rare Herbs 2003, 2007, wood, 198 x 96 x 98 cm

A post shared by White Rabbit Gallery (@whiterabbitgallery) on Apr 17, 2020 at 3:20pm PDT

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Meet Ben! Ben is one of our all-rounders, working on Reception, the Gallery Floor and as a Tour Guide! Ben’s tip for you all during lockdown is to catch up on all that important Uni work you may have missed. Ben's favourite White Rabbit Collection artwork is Jiang Pengyi’s ‘Foresight Series’, specifically No.13, No. 18 and No.19 @jiangpengyi ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ "Among many pieces, Jiang Pengyi’s ‘Foresight Series’ comes to mind as a collection favourite. This is due to its employment of experimental photographic processes. In a radical attempt to shed photography of its historic baggage –cameras, instantaneity and referents – Jiang’s image making proceeds with only light, time and chemistry. By placing organic matter (tofu, fruit and vegetables) on his filmic surfaces and leaving it to degrade and infuse in the dark, these incredible and unpredictable compositions were achieved. Like abstract paintings, they are enjoyed for their colour, texture and dynamism, far from the facticity, legibility and detail too often expected of photography.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Jiang Pengyi, Foresight Series No.13, 2017, inkjet print, 188 x 150 cm Jiang Pengyi, Foresight Series No.18 and No.19 , 2017, inkjet print, 100 x 80 cm each

A post shared by White Rabbit Gallery (@whiterabbitgallery) on Mar 26, 2020 at 3:23pm PDT

 

Provide some context on the visual content by summarising the content, the context of publication, and the audience it targets. 

 

The content shows a picture of one of the staff members, with some overlay of information.

Their name, their position at the gallery, their favourite artwork & ways that they’re coping with isolation.

The posts caption details information about the artwork that they favour, and if you swipe through the carousel feature it will show particular frames of the video artwork or photos if it’s drawn art/sculpture.

Contextually this comes at the start of COVID-19 when people first went into isolation. It’s a time when people who were used to engaging in the community could no longer engage in that sense. Art still exists online, but it can lose some of the human connection we have by not being at the gallery. So by seeing it through the eyes of another art fan/worker of the gallery, they’re introducing this human connection again.

The post is targeting younger people interested in art I believe, but not exclusively younger. It’s a way to bring the gallery down to the level of a consumer. We are seeing the people behind the gallery on the same playing field as us. They’re isolated and interested in art too.

 

How was the visual content made technically? 

 

The photos of the workers themselves could easily have been taken by newer model smartphones and if not just a DSLR.

The art content as you swipe through the carousel is using frames exported from the original video content shot by the artists. And some of the other workers’ favourites feature paintings and sculpture, in where the images were taken with a DSLR.

The first image of the worker also has some mild editing to it just to add the text details, which could easily be done within a phone editor or on photoshop potentially if they wanted a bit more control over it.

 

How does this piece of visual content fit into the art galleries media and communication strategies? What is it trying to achieve? 

 

The White Rabbit Gallery is a privately owned collection, situated in the inner-west of Sydney. The gallery itself is quite renowned in the community as having a great private collection, but still accessible to everybody who would like to see it.

The gallery has a strong community sense about it, often being run by fairly new grad art students and having a diverse range of staff. So these posts again reflect these values of seeing diversity in the art world and is engrained in the community.

 

Why did you choose this particular work?

 

This gallery was one of the first galleries I visited that really made me step back and go ‘Woah’. It sort of piqued my interest in art and it holds a special place for me as my favourite gallery to visit when I’m in Sydney.

Apart from my own connection with the gallery, I just really like the idea of the content putting the workers on our perceptive level as people. They’re not this “uppity” art staff, they’re just people like us.

Sometimes when you visit bigger galleries like the NGV etc… we don’t see the staff around as much, and they’re dressed up in suits and everything is guarded (rightfully so, though). White Rabbit doesn’t have this, the staff are dressed quite casually (still professional) and are there to help talk you through the collection they have.

 

What do you find inspiring about the content and form? 

 

I really love that this isn’t just promoting the art as a feature of the gallery, it also promotes the consumer connection to the gallery.

It does also come with the information behind the artist, and the piece below in the caption so it’s not also ignoring the art.

It’s a great balance between art & consumer.