Aleks Danko WAIT…I think this is where I lost my HULA-HOOP
26 May – 24 June 2017
HESSE/LESS/NESS >(less and less) >(lessness) >protectiveness >childishness >lightness >competitiveness happiness >defensiveness >less and less >tenseness and anxiousness >utter helplessness >experience of awareness >forgetfulness of herself >bordered on fussiness >its whiteness is right >a right to womanliness >my hopelessness >their hardness >OOMAMABOOMBA >its painterliness >a certain fussiness >a certain obviousness directness >the weightlessness >becoming weightless >inherent aggressiveness >their hangingness >the uselessness >the same thickness >darkness >a pictureless picture >the thinnesses and thicknesses >totally meaningless >obsessiveness >maze-like obsessiveness >madness >thickness >nevertheless >softness >the floppiness >of double thickness >conceptualness >the dumbness >reasonableness >conservativeness >nevertheless tiredness >organic barrenness >the image of precariousness >the tenuousness >the sickness >increases its silliness >endless >never aloneness >nevertheless >weakness >connectiveness >audacious in its awkwardness >the seriousness >«funny» only in their unexpectedness >emptiness >consciousness >muscular consciousness >its organicness >tension between looseness and tightness >not childishness >obsessive inner-directedness >its literalness >suggestion of homelessness >nevertheless >cleanliness and straight lines >close to godliness concreteness with touch >nevertheless >concentrate on singleness >ordered purposelessness >openness to other kinds of touch >concreteness with touch >determined mindlessness >the singleness of purpose >the steadfastness necessary >their evocativeness >the homelessness >a homeless representation >its precariousness
(excerpt from Eeva Hessa Atta Herradressa / that which falls to the floor stays on the floor)
{edited from Eva Hesse by Lucy Lippard New York University Press New York USA 1976 ISBN 0-8147-4971-2 (cloth)}
On the back of his successful Survey Exhibition, MY FELLOW AUS-TRA-ALIENS at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney 2015 and the Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne 2016, Aleks finally meets up with Eeva Hessa Atta Herrdressa to discuss language, laughter, Lippard, LeWitt and Long Noses. With Eeva, the crisis of lessnessness is never far away… And, as the day turns to night, and with the arrival of Knot and Blot, they all turn to an ordered purposelessness in which to examine the merits of the alphabet as bottled by Emily Foiled. They soon realise that space is the container or non-container of air (‘and beyond it, deep blue air, that shows nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless’) and should always, be taken hot (sic!). With sunrise it is all ‘malsplaining’ for the day ahead, with the weather forecast predicting A Little Morning Drizzle But Mainly Fine. Eventually events other than themselves dot the dot, mirror the mirror, felt a sketch, and, it becomes a case of Do The Dog Not The Donkey. But, in the end, in a state of muscular consciousness, and with a singleness of purpose, they all come up with one last meaningless refrain: ‘You might as well laugh mate, there’s nothing else to do … ‘
‘…you might as well laugh mate, there’s nothing else to do…’
, 2017
Silk-screened texts on plywood, pine timber & acrylic paint
Dimensions variable
Aleks Danko
… it’s such a thin line between stupid and clever … with Martin King & The Australian Print Workshop
, 2014–2017
Embossed from an etching plate on BFK Rives 250gsm paper
33 x 35cm
Edition of 14
Aleks Danko
“David Shrigley meet Michael Leunig”
, 2009–2017
Acrylic on plywood
360 x 450cm
Aleks Danko
(from) HA A(void) LAUGHING
, 2017
Silkscreen print, dry-mounted
52 x 39cm
Edition of 49
Aleks Danko
A LITTLE MORNING DRIZZLE BUT MAINLY FINE
, 1970–2017
Glass preserving jar, rubber, distilled water and laser-cut, engraved acrylic sheet
28 x 17cm
Edition of 7
Aleks Danko
a message-stick to you rude boy / dot dot dot
, 2017
Microphone stand, wood, plastic, ink on fabric
204 x 91 x 3cm
Aleks Danko
ANOTHER GOLDEN SUMMER NO.2 Tom: ‘Look Arthur, another sunset’
, 2017
Cardboard, pencil & shellac
31 x 31cm
Aleks Danko
Do the dog, not the donkey
, 2017
Plywood, pine, stone bone, galvanised steel, recycled blanket
179 x 79 x 54cm
Aleks Danko
EEVA HESSA ATTA HERRADRESSA (that which falls to the floor, stays on the floor …)
, 2017
Laser prints, ink on carved wooden relief, rolled rawhide bones, oil-based paint on steel (wire-time)
Dimensions variable
Aleks Danko
HA HA HA #Aleks Danko (the last laugh)
, 2015–2017
Photo-offset print, dry-mounted on aluminium sheet
138 x 97cm
Edition of 3
Aleks Danko
I GIVE YOU NOTHING (selfie portrait no.3)
, 2017
A2 sandblast-etched mirror
59 x 42cm
Edition of 10
Aleks Danko
incident – ambivalence: I love a sunburnt country …
, 1991–2017
Timber, masonite, acrylic, varnish, signed, dated & editioned on reverse
28.5 x 27.5cm
Edition of 11
Aleks Danko
KNOT AND BLOT
, 2009–2017
Technical drawing ink on Blue Lake 400gsm handmade paper, 3 parts
109 x 77.5cm
Aleks Danko
KNOT AND BLOT
, 2009–2017
Detail
Aleks Danko
Malcolm Malsplaining (an innovative and agile boy)
, 2017
Oil paint on wood and plywood
151 x 25 x 45cm
Aleks Danko
NOTHING STUPID BEYOND THIS POINT (selfie portrait no.2)
, 2017
A2 mirror, sandblast-etched mirror clips, signed and dated on reverse
59 x 42cm
Edition of 10
Aleks Danko
OOMAMABOOMBA(white out edit)- with Martin King & The Australian Print Workshop
, 2014–2017
Artist’s reproof, photo-litho, liquid paper, pencil on BFK Rives 250gsm paper
Edition of 2
Aleks Danko
Stupid as a Painter, Thick as a Sculptor (AC/DC edit) or how I learnt to love Postmodernism, One Two
, 1987–2017
Laser prints
29 x 29cm
Edition of 2
Aleks Danko
taken in air (my other self portrait)
, 2009–2017
Digital print on archival 180gsm paper
44 x 31cm
Aleks Danko
THE ALPHABET, INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED AND SEALED FOR YOUR PROTECTION (f/or, Emily Foiled)
, 1970–2017
Glass preserving jar, rubber, laser-cut MDF/oil painted alphabet, zip-lock plastic bags and sandblast etched text with graphite
22 x 11cm
Edition of 7
Aleks Danko
The Four Rivers
, 2017
Framed digital prints, shellacked wooden stand and galvanized steel watering can
Framed works 44 x 62cm and 73 x 103cm, watering can 143 x 58 x 58cm