Lot 38

Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney 2008
Private collection, Melbourne

"Takadanobaba is the display of the entire contents of the cramped Australia Council's artist residency in Tokyo. This mass is the result of successive individuals caught up within the initial excitement of a hyper consumer society. The build-up is perhaps due to their short-term habitating cycle of residence within the space. These material dispossessions are stacked in some kind of order, attempting to create space within confinement.

The stack is constricted within the dimensions of the room. The room is also constricted within the dimensions of the tatami matting- as seen in the foreground of the picture. This articulation of dispossessions confined by space and time mirrors the desire to create a distinct personal identity within the multitudes of the metropolis.

The question of whether these left behind items are of practical use for future residents remains. A sword made of wood, a guitar left unstrung, things that do not make it to souvenir status become the detritus of a shifting space. These objects create a barrier or wall of sorts. Through the acquisition of these objects were the owners brought closer to the society that they found themselves in? The work questions the link between the possession of materials and personal identity." (Artists' statement)