Those who hate this ubiquitous saying should pop down to Linden this weekend to get into the mindset of Melbourne’s printmakers.
After much thought before selecting it, artist Jon Campbell is putting the saying up there for assessment. His clever appropriation of pop culture words and their meanings comes in editions.
Campbell’s satirical views have been amusing critics since the 90’s when even Robert Rooney gave him a backhand compliment.
Perhaps Campbell invented the saying but he denies it. He said it was doing the rounds during the lockdown. The print is a lithograph on a hand-painted monotype. The stencil was laid directly on the stone.
The interpretation of the saying’s place in the culture is left to the viewer. One called the work a fitting comment on “Australia’s history of complacency.”
This is the first edition of the Melbourne Art Print Fair, a collaboration between printmaking studios, including Baldessin Press, Kaleidoscope Editions, Sunshine Editions, Negative Press and Spacecraft.
Other memorable works include a newly-commissioned piece by Melinda Harper and a dedication to the late artist and educator Kate Daw.
Spacecraft has digitally printed floral images on blocks that perfectly matched the size of the novels in Daw’s library from which the accompanying quotes were drawn.
An eye for detail is a must for the master printer who makes suggestions for technique and colour to artists during the process.
The exhibition is aimed at those who want to get into the nitty gritty of how images were printed rather than their reception.
Campbell says that the black is crucial to It is what it is and came out more transparent during the collaboration.
“I’m not the kind of artist to hand over the finished art work then return for the edition,” he said. “I like to hang around.”
Another of his prints in the show was a result of this hanging around with print-maker Adrian Kellett, a stencil for Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, and shows the outline of the words in reverse.
Perhaps there’s an element of No, No, No to Campbell’s practice. Rooney, in a round-up of exhibitions, picked up on his irreverence.
He wrote about Campbell’s show at Gertrude Street Gallery in the ‘90s and included an image of silhouettes that might have expressed “youth culture”.
“Untitled by Jon Campbell has stepped-up aggression but it is preferable to galleries full of wimpy sensitivity,” he wrote.
Melbourne Art Print Fair
Linden New Art, 26 Acland Street, St Kilda
Exhibition continues to Sunday 9 February 2025
Free entry
For more information, visit: www.melbourneartprintfair.au for details.
Image: Jon Campbell with his work, It Is What It Is, varied edition (monotype and lithograph), edition of 10, 53.5 x 73 cm – courtesy of the artist and Sunshine Editions – photo by Rhonda Dredge
Words: Rhonda Dredge