Sensitive Teeth

BACKGROUND Lurid Beauty: Australian Surrealism And Its Echoes traces the beginnings, development and influence of Surrealism in Australia. Ellis is recognized as a leading contemporary surrealist artist with work that explicitly utilizes surrealist research techniques and concepts. In particular he has employed a range of approaches to engage automatic, irrational and chance processes in art making. The commissioned work 'Sensitive Teeth" investigates how surrealist psychic automatic concepts and techniques developed in the 1920's, can be employed specifically in large-scale contemporary wall painting. CONTRIBUTION Ellis's contribution focuses on the use of psychic automatism as a research method to produce artworks. Using automatic drawing without pre conceived idea is central to surrealist conceptual investigation and Ellis's research extends and tests its potential for direct application as wall painting in a contemporary context. This is the first directly painted site-specific work Ellis has created in a State Gallery and presents new possibilities for future works reflecting this complexity and scale. The potential for large-scale wall painting to be generated without the loss of lyricism and spontaneity evident in preliminary small-scale form is also a key outcome for further research. SIGNIFICANCE This is the first National Gallery exhibition of current and historical Australian Surrealism and its impact. NGV Director, Tony Elwood invited Ellis to participate and the curatorial team led by Max Delany, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art and including Simon Maidment, Curator Contemporary Art selected 80 works by Ellis including the commissioned wall painting 'Sensitive Teeth'. The exhibition catalogue includes texts by Ellis, alongside other exhibiting artists Barry Humphries, James Gleeson, and Rosslynd Piggott. Ellis's work was reviewed in The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Weekly Review, Time Out, Herald Sun, and ABC Radio National Books & Arts【背景】《妖艳之美：澳大利亚超现实主义及其余响》梳理了超现实主义在澳大利亚的起源、发展与影响。埃利斯被公认为当代顶尖超现实主义艺术家，其创作明确运用超现实主义研究技法与理念。尤为特别的是，他依托多种创作路径，将自动、非理性与偶发过程融入艺术创作环节。本次受委托创作的作品《敏感齿龈》（Sensitive Teeth）探究了1920年代形成的超现实主义精神自动性（psychic automatism）理念与技法，如何能够针对性地应用于当代大型壁画创作。【贡献】埃利斯的研究核心在于将精神自动性作为创作研究方法以产出艺术作品。摒弃先入为主构思的自动绘画（automatic drawing），是超现实主义概念探索的核心环节；埃利斯的研究拓展并验证了该技法在当代语境下直接应用于壁画创作的可行性。这是埃利斯首次在州立美术馆创作的直接绘制的特定场域（site-specific）作品，为未来呼应此类创作复杂度与规模的作品提供了全新可能。大型壁画创作能够在不失小幅初稿中尽显的抒情性与自发性的前提下完成的可能性，同样是本研究为后续探索带来的关键成果。【意义】本次展览是澳大利亚国家美术馆首次举办的、聚焦当代与历史时期澳大利亚超现实主义及其影响力的专题展览。维多利亚州国立美术馆（NGV）馆长托尼·埃尔伍德（Tony Elwood）邀请埃利斯参展，由当代艺术高级策展人马克斯·德兰尼（Max Delany）牵头、西蒙·梅德门特（Simon Maidment，当代艺术策展人）参与组成的策展团队，甄选了埃利斯的80件作品，其中包括本次受委托创作的壁画《敏感齿龈》。展览画册收录了埃利斯与其他参展艺术家巴里·汉弗莱斯（Barry Humphries）、詹姆斯·格里森（James Gleeson）以及罗斯林德·皮戈特（Rosslynd Piggott）的撰文。埃利斯的作品获得了《澳大利亚人报》《悉尼先驱晨报》《周报》《Time Out》《先驱太阳报》以及澳大利亚广播公司国家电台图书与艺术栏目的评论报道。