Rebecca Hobbs - Absurd and Imperialism

This week the lecture was given by Rebecca at her Gallery show - Failing, Falling, Flying.
It is fascinating to see the practicing side of a lecturer that had taught me before, and learn what aspects of life inspired them to make their own art. Especially when i am most inexperienced the field of photography/media.

Upon entering the show, i saw the footage of Ah-round first. I did not understood the hidden meanings in the work, but i liked the skillfully used camera techniques, and wondered if it would be used to enforce the idea behind the work. After Ah-round, i moved on seeing the works displayed at Failing, falling, flying.
One element i really enjoyed was the interesting titles of each work. The choice of names are short and clever as it suggests alot of movement, which is effective as most of the photos are action shots.
Rebecca then went over telling us about her years of practice, which answered alot of questions in my head when i first viewed her art. Many of the works are made overseas during her studies in L.A. The work i like the best out of all is a short filmed footage - Tumbleweeds, 2004
http://www.videoartchive.org.au/rhobbs/weeds.html

Rebecca told us that this was shot at Pioneer Town in L.A. I was alittle confused and frightened at first, people rolling on ground out of no where in an empty town is a scary image that reminds me of alot of scary movies (like spider walk on the stairs). However after awhile i start to find it quite humorous and silly.

Humor is a very important element in Rebecca's work, and one of the main influences in her practice. Her works are largely based on the ideas of 'Absurd' and 'Imperialism', and i choose to talk about the 'Absurd'.
Rebecca states that Absurd to her holds the idea of 'Strife to find meaning in the world, but never been able to find it.' She was inspired of this idea from Sisyphus, who was punished by god to forever be pushing a huge boulder up a hill, the rock then will roll back down; therefore repeating the process for eternity. Rebecca combined this idea of the ambition to find meaning with humor. She said that alot of her earlier works are commonly played upon dirty jokes, because there's so very little meaning that they hold, and that is why the names of her works are rather raw and literal.
I find the way Rebecca explain her perception on 'Absurd' interesting. She talked about the absurdity in relation to Irony and Slap-stick, and the three are closely linked and the difference is fine lined, which is written in the essay by Peter Shand - I'm walking backwards for Christmas. In the essay Shane also made a reference to the 'myth of Sisyphus' in relation to the idea of absurdity. My favourite quote of this essay was 'Absurd actions take on an independent existence that have nothing to do with their goals.' - this perfectly describe the waste of endless effort of trying to find an answer in life. The essay also mentions one of Rebecca's favourite artists: Bas Jan Ader, and his work of him riding on a bicycle into a canal, in which is another example of the Slap-stick humor.

















Another artist that Rebecca was greatly impacted by was Roman Singer.
Singer is a Switzerland artist that does mostly photography and videos.

The frozen in time action 'slap-stick' shots is indeed very similar to alot of Rebecca's works, and after seeing the works by Singer, especially this one with the car leaping into the air, i begin to come to better understanding of the question that Rebecca talked about: 'when is the meaning created?' I start to wonder the same if the meaning was actually created long before the vehicle was started? Or was it when the car started running? Or maybe it's when the car ran off the road? It is indeed a meaning that no one would be ever to find no matter how hard you try.
http://www.romansigner.ch/en/start/

I was never good at photography, nor do i think i would ever be good at it. It is not something i am particularly interested in. However Rebecca's talk about 'Absurd' have given me new ways of looking at meanings in art as well as our world in general. Her way of looking at the means of life is very new to me and also inspiring. I would like to make works that creates a question that maybe no one can have the answer of. Though sadly i don't think it would be photography.

After Rebecca's talk we were to go to the Auckland art gallery and pick our own winner. To be honest, i did not understand at all what the works are about, as i could not relate the title to the work. This made it very difficult for me to choose, however i found the work 'Something Transparent' (please go round the back) by Fiona Connor quite interesting. I like the structure of the work, as it looked rather architectural. The title of the work was also quite witty, as i realised after viewing the work i can see the installation from the front and back. Connor's work was the only the one that i thought was quite creative.