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BEAUTY IN SIMPLE OBJECTS

 


There is a certain stillness and quiet beauty that pervades the work of Jonathan Tse, from Morandiesque still lives of print workshop interiors to more recent personal/political works ‘Portrait of an Australian’ and ‘His Masters Voice’. These are the works of someone who although quietly spoken, remains unafraid to directly or indirectly, tackle the bigger issues in our society, and who does so with accuracy, simplicity and humour. They are works of great technical excellence that seduce the eye while allowing their emotional undercurrents to be revealed slowly.

The lovingly rendered prints of ‘Lessons in Life’ (1994) present meditative still life images from the print workshop. They evoke an environment familiar to the artist/printmaker, as a second home, a place of work and of art making. "That series came about when I first started working at the Queensland College of Art in Morningside, Brisbane in 1993. All aspects of my work environment fascinated me, hence the title ‘Lessons in Life’. The image of the old ink tin and bitumen containers inside the cabinet was appropriately titled ' Shelf life'. The acid cabinet and the eye wash bottle on the table, 'A dangerous life'. Cliché titles when you think about it, but somehow they all came together as ‘lessons in Life’”.

Jonathan and his family migrated to Australia in 1975 from Hong Kong. References to this period, in the form of text from the artist’s school books and family photos, are reproduced thoughtfully in ‘Portrait of an Australian’ (1998), which takes the form of an Australian passport with a re-worked, personalised coat of arms on the front cover. Showing a book, a printing press, an aeroplane and a Visual Arts Degree, all symbols that have represent various milestones in Jonathan’s life. ‘Portrait of an Australian’ was printed at the time of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation political ascendency in Queensland. Although it was not printed as a direct response to these events, it nevertheless advances a notion of what it means to be an Australian and provides a subtle critique to the idea of an exclusionist immigration policy, far more eloquent than those by any politician at the time. As Jonathan has said “The artist's book, 'Portrait of an Australian’ was made after some serious soul searching into my family history, but many people see it as an artist’s response to the right-wing views of Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party. It just happened at the time of One Nation’s rise, so one page referring to One Nation was in this book”. At a time of mandatory detention and bungled deportations, this intimate document of one family’s story continues to resonate and comment on the politics of the day.

Jonathan has been an avid, almost obsessive collector of toys for many years.  "It first began when I picked up a cheap Hong Kong toy from a second hand shop in Brisbane. I remember having one when I was a kid but when our family emigrated to Australia, my parents only packed what they thought were the essentials and many of our childhood things were left behind. That's how it all began. I guess most collections start with one, then another, then more again, until it finally it gets out of hand, until you reach the point where you wish you could finish it, but from my experience I tell you, it can never end”.
 
It is from this ever expanding collection that Jonathan has sourced the images for his most recent works, including ‘His Master Voice’ (2004). Although his most political to date was made as a response to the political realities of our time it still retains his signature quiet strength and wry humour. The image of a dog pushing a ball, re-coloured as the Iraqi flag, is taken from an old toy stamped with the words made in the U.S. Zone, Germany,  “The markings intrigued me and led me to research more about the origins of the toy. The findings were interesting. It was after World War II, that the Allies occupied the defeated country of Germany and encouraged the return of industries. Many products, including toys, produced in this American sector of Bavaria up to the 1950’s carried the words ‘made in the U.S. Zone’”. By re-contextualizing the image of this toy (and many others in previous work) Jonathan Tse imbues these objects of simple beauty with the hallmarks of all his work; quiet strength, playful humour, and timelessness.

Benjamin Byrne
2005

 

 

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