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Eugene Carchesio / Australia b.1960 / Interpreter 1993–4 / Cardboard, paper and typing correction fluid / Purchased 1995 under the Contemporary Art Acquisition Program with funds from Dr Paul Eliadis through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Eugene Carchesio
Eugene CarchesioInterpreter 1993–1994
Not Currently on Display
The forty miniature matchbox sculptures by Australian artist Eugene Carchesio set up a playful musing on the Russian Constructivist movement, which lasted from 1913 to 1940. The commonplace simplicity of Carchesio’s materials are a humorous reflection of the altruistic intentions surrounding the emergence of the movement, the forms of which are directly alluded to in these tiny works.
In contrast with the sternness of the Constructivists, Carchesio’s work is nostalgic and playful. The matchbox forms are deliberately eccentric rather than rational. The materials also refer to the ephemeral construction of propaganda art that the Russian Constructivists created out of a mixture of intense ideological motivations and the dire poverty of their circumstance.
In an attempt to question the Constructivist’s pursuit of pure form, Carchesio introduces irregularities and a sense of human foibles. This is to some extent intended to parody the lofty abstract ideals of modernism, but it also aims to reclaim the humanity of art.
The very nature of Eugene Carchesio’s work makes it very difficult to describe it in words. His art is about the enigmatic, the mysterious, the spiritual. While he creates objects which are pleasurable simply in their visual effects, they are also very complex intellectually and conceptually.
Carchesio always works on a minimal and miniature scale, in direct opposition to the monumental oil on canvas productions of many contemporary artists. His choice of materials is very important and he often works on scraps of paper or card as a deliberate move away from so-called ‘artist’s materials’. He opposes any notion of current movements and styles and, rather, works from within his own experiences and thoughts. Carchesio is a musician and a wide reader, his artworks reflecting these interests. However, Carchesio’s work has many sources including science, geometry, Oriental mysticism and art history (particularly Russian Constructivism and the work of Joseph Beuys).
Eugene Carchesio has said of his art:
‘I deal in trying to move people’s insides. I guess the greatest thing a work of art can do is to inspire. A life process . . . always moving . . . creating . . . breathing with your head. Indicating what is perhaps beyond things . . . Everything is spiritual. But also when I make a work I develop a strong sensual bond to it. I won’t be able to take my eyes off it . . . I just keep looking and looking into it, going deeper into the colours, texture or whatever medium it is . . . sink into this created world.’