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List of Works Country Cuisine Summer Country Cuisine No.2 Late Night Menu No.2 Hot Dog Inflation ‘06 Pie-Van ‘05 Cup-Cake Corretto Latte Alollybag Palmer River 15km Palmer River 6km Palmer River 4km Fresh Salad Menu Board With Wine Aceto Di Vino Gnocchi Cutting Board No.1 Frozen (Six Works) Mango (Five Works) Jacobs Water
mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media on canvas mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media on canvas mixed media on canvas mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media on canvas mixed media on canvas mixed media on canvas mixed media on canvas mixed media on canvas mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media on canvas mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media on canvas mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media, stitched assemblage mixed media on canvas
2006 2007 2006 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2006 2006 2007 2007 2007 2007 2006 2006 2006 2006 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2006
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Acknowledgements This catalogue has been produced in association with the exhibition Menu Board: New Work by Julie Poulsen, KickArts gallery, Centre of Contemporary Arts, Cairns, 6 March to 28 April 2007. KickArts Chairman, Michael Fordham. KickArts staff: Director - Rae O’Connell, Deputy Director - Russell Milledge, Administrator - Janette Laver, Finance Officer - Kim McQuillan, KickArts Shop Manager - Beverley Mitchell. Catalogue photography - Michael Marzik. Design - Russell Milledge. Editing - Andrea Huelin. Printing Bolton Print, Cairns.
back cover
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front cover
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96 Abbott St Cairns PO Box 6090 Cairns Queensland Australia 4870 07 4050 9494 www.kickarts.org.au
front cover image: Pie-Van ‘05 2007 mixed media, stiched assemblage images and text copyright Julie Poulsen edition of 1000 published February 2007 by KickArts Contemporary Arts Ltd
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pe Professional Qualification: 1978-80 Dip.Vis. Art D.D.I.A.E Toowoomba Solo Exhibitions 2006 Menu Board Ochre Gallery, Collingwood, Melbourne New Works KickArts Shop, Cairns Mixed works McDonnells Solicitors Exhibition Space 2005 Décor Sermon Cairns Regional Gallery Un-Zipped Sofitel Reef Casino 2002 Urban Insights Thornquest Gallery 2000 Face of Place A KickArts Exhibition at Cairns Regional Gallery 1999 Precious A KickArts Exhibition at Cairns Regional Gallery Un-Rattled Helen Wiltshire Gallery, Cairns 1998 Cut-flowers Helen Wiltshire Gallery, Cairns 1995 Shore Hit (Horse shit) Graft’n Arts Gallery, Cairns 1994 Kangaroos are Red Emus are Blue KickArts, Cairns Selected Group Exhibitions 2006 The Fleurieu Peninsular Art Prize and Exhibition McLaren Vale, South Australia Annual Studio Opening The artist’s studio 2005 Double-Vision Ochre Gallery, Melbourne Melbourne Affordable Art Fair Ochre Gallery, Melbourne Brisbane Art Fair Brisbane Convention Centre 2004 FNQ Souvenir KickArts travelling exhibition Hitting On & Kicking Off KickArts, Cairns World and Cultural Heritage: 8th International Group Show KickArts, Cairns Fingerprints Emporium Gallery, Brisbane 2002 Art is not where... Thornquest Gallery Art-in-Care Cairns Base Hospital 1996 RED (curator) KickArts, Cairns Transfer/tranship 1 A KickArts exhibition at Cairns Airport 1995 No Piece of Cake A KickArts exhibition at Cairns Regional Gallery 1993 The Fish John West Regrets A KickArts exhibition at Cairns Regional Gallery 1980 Queensland Gallery Trustees Purchase Exhibition Awards 2006 Fleurieu Peninsular Art Prize (finalist) 2006 The Art of Food and Wine Prize (finalist) 2005 Toowoomba RAWH Award 2005 Gladstone City Council Painting Award 2003 Bendigo Bank Award + 2 highly commended 2000 Cairns Art Society Oil Painting Award 1995 Innisfail Open Award 1993 Innisfail Contemporary 1993 Bundaberg Open Award 1992 Cairns Open Award 1991 Suncorp Finalist Mareeba Open & Fibre Award 1990 Mareeba Drawing & Sculpture Award 1989 Innisfail Open Award 1988 REIQ Award (commended) 1987 Yungaburra Festival of Art Award Commissions 2006 Sofitel Brisbane 2004-5 Artworkers Alliance Brisbane 2004 Hilton Cairns 2000 Novotel Palm Cove Cairns 1999 Mercure Harbourside Cairns 1998 Mariott Brisbane 1997 Legends Resort Gold Coast; Royal Harbourside Cairns 1996 Cairns Convention Centre Collections Public Collections: Gladstone City Council, Cairns City Council, Paradise Palms, Cairns Base Hospital, Bendigo Bank Cairns Port Authority, Cairns Convention Centre. National and International Private Collections. Represented Schubert Gallery Gold Coast KickArts Cairns Ochre Gallery Melbourne Oceanic Gallery Port Douglas Helen Wiltshire Gallery Palm Cove
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Julie POULSEN Inflation ‘06 mixed media, stitched assemblage 1500 x 1200mm juliepoulsen@cairns.net.au
mobile telephone: 0400131149
2007 KickArts Contemporary Arts Ltd Photography: Michael Marzik
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Summer 2007 mixed media, stitched assemblage
Artist’s Statement Menu Board began as a search for the fresh and unfamiliar, and became an exploration of the multiple meanings and aesthetic possibilities of words on signs when reinvented on canvas.
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Salad 2006 mixed media, stitched assemblage
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Hot Dog 2007 mixed media, stitched assemblage
In the pursuit of the unpredictable, beauty has been found in imperfection, and meaning in obscurity. Menu Board is a sensory snapshot of a place and time, which allows for the familiar to be considered in an unexpected, fresh new way.
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Palmer River 15km 2007 mixed media on canvas
Palmer River 6km 2007 mixed media on canvas
Palmer River 4km 2007 mixed media on canvas
The bygone era of the dusty 10 hour journey from Mount Carbine to Cooktown in Far North Queensland, where resilient signs were tacked crudely to conspicuous roadside trees, is reflected in Palmer River – 4kms, 6kms, 15kms. The road was turned into a pleasant ‘drive’ when finally sealed in 2006.
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Menu Board 2006 mixed media, stitched assemblage
It was the commonplace black and white sign that first inspired consideration. The simple menu board with its flat, black surface and chalky text provided a fertile source of material to reinterpret and embellish.
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Jacobs Water 2007 mixed media, stitched assemblage
In contrast to pictures, using text as a subject creates a new and exciting tension. Initially, the words present as abstract symbols with pictorial and illusory qualities, but because of the meaning and sub-text of the words, the visual and verbal compete as both text and picture elements fight to be ‘read’ in different ways. This combination of visual aesthetics linked with emotive, gastronomic sub-text, causes the familiar to become new and surprising.
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Inflation ‘06 2007 mixed media, stitched assemblage
More recent artworks probe the blunt arrangements of words in roadside signage. More literal than the earlier menu boards, the text is a commentary of the ever-changing development and topography of North Queensland. Pie-van ’05 and Inflation ’06 registers light-heartedly the effects of inflation, while interpreting in colour and form the culture of roadside stalls.
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Corretto 2006 mixed media, stitched assemblage
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Fresh 2006 mixed media on canvas
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Cup-Cake 2007 mixed media, stitched assemblage
The traditional menu board itself has also been reinvented: whereas the actual board is hard, sharp and chalky, the compositions in Menu Board are soft, stitched and assembled, scarified, printed and painted, which contributes to the effect of the often obscure letters and words having a life of their own.
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Latte 2006 mixed media on canvas
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Late Night Menu No.2 2007 mixed media, stitched assemblage
Late Night Menu No.2 touches on the connection between food and memories; youthful late-night binges on greasy, tepid bain marie meals. In Latte, the romantic nature of foreign languages, now commonplace in our café culture, tantalises our senses with exotic coffee names – doppio, macchiato, latte – all attesting to the emotive power of single words.
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Alollybag 2007 mixed media, stitched assemblage
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Country Cuisine 2006 mixed media, stitched assemblage
The content of each menu directs the colour, size, style and legibility of the text. Each artwork contains emotive innuendoes and aesthetics, united in a playful reinvention of the original board. Country Cuisine lists examples of European deli fare with the contrast of Australia’s legendary ‘pie and coke’, all presented in ribald red and cream.
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Country Cuisine No.2 2006 mixed media, stitched assemblage
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