Retail Therapy brought together a number of prominent interior designers, architects, retailers and some of Brisbane's 'coolest' artists to collaborate on commissioned works for shop windows in Fortitude Valley. A total of fourteen retailers took advantage of the opportunity to have their window displays designed by artists, many of whom would consider themselves above the very mercantile art of window dressing. Note The works in Retail Therapy seemed to appear without warning and disappear with equal haste. As each piece materialised it was interesting to note the public response. Initially the works were read as window dressing, albeit, interesting window dressing. Looking at Thierry Auriac's work in the Brisbane Mission window for instance, a colleague noted that this window display 'looked like art?'. As is the case with many ephemeral public artworks, the wider, unsuspecting public tends to be more positive about art that is not shown in the gallery or art that does not necessarily look like art. Outside the hallowed ground of the art gallery and where the pressures of interpretation are not so acute conceptual art it seems is considerably more accessible.
In collaboration with Arkhefield architects Auriac created a giant heart made from 'preloved' straw hats and hung two giant eyes and a pair of lips in the foreground. The unmistakably second-hand look of this piece in the context of the Mission created a work of considerable graphic potency which did not exhibit the heavy hand of an architects' firm. Alongside much slicker works in the windows of trendy fashion boutiques it was easy to appreciate the 'rough edge' of Auriac's work while noting that the Brisbane Mission is possibly less image conscious than most of the other participants.
Fresh