Namedropping at Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) is the best kind of art exhibition – enjoyable and uncomfortable in turns,with ideas and challenges that pick at the way you see the world and then follow you out of the building.
Shared Fate (Oliver),1998,by Cornelia Parker. Courtesy of the artist and Frith Street Gallery,London.Mona/Jesse Hunniford
At the heart of everything on display is the idea of association – how being linked to a celebrity or a scandal or a historic event can elevate or diminish an object’s (or a person’s) worth.
IfI write out the lyrics toStarman,that’s just words on a page that anyone would be happy to scrunch up and put in the bin. Written out by the songwriter David Bowie himself,however,and marked up with corrections and changes – that’s different. To a visitor to this exhibition,it’s worth pausing over and having a discussion about. To Mona owner,it’s worth paying $339,000 to display it in his museum.
I pass a puffer vest in a frame,a book in a cabinet and a partially disassembled chandelier.
They’re of visual interest,sure,but it’s the fact that the puffer jacket (Power Vest 6 by Simon Denny) is partly made out of a scarf once owned by Margaret Thatcher;the book belonged to 17th-cenutry mathematician Isaac Newton;and the chandelier (16:32,26.05 by Danh Vo) was previously housed in the Hotel Majestic in Paris,where the Paris Peace Accords were signed,that give the objects meaning beyond their visual appearance.
16:32,26.05,2009 by Danh Vo. Courtesy of Centre Pompidou,Paris;National Museum of Modern Art/Centre for Industrial Creation. Gift of the American Friends of the Centre Pompidou,2022.Mona/Jesse Hunniford
There are works whose impact depends upon their association with well-known (and sometimes infamous) people and events.
The effect of Andy Warhol’sMao would be muted if we didn’t recognise the communist leader it depicts. Full enjoyment of Juan Davila’s playfulPicasso Theft (1991) hinges upon knowledge of both Picasso’sWeeping Woman (1937) and its notorious disappearance from the NGV in 1986.
Namedropping is itself an example of the themes many of the artworks explore. The exhibition is packed with pieces by blockbuster names that on their own are strong enough to draw someone into a gallery or museum,including but not limited to Renoir,Brett Whiteley,Vincent Namatjira,Nan Goldin,Picasso,Ai Weiwei and Francis Bacon.
The value that we put on fame is teased out in different ways. Autographs of celebrities are littered throughout. Walsh’s Order of Australia medal is displayed in a room along with a poker table and a Holden Torana.
Foreground:Painted vases (2006),Ai Weiwei. Background:Mao (1972),Andy Warhol.Mona/Jesse Hunniford
Would a certain cartoonish and energetic painting (Tasteful Old Criminal,2003) be mentioned in this article or displayed had it not been painted by Chopper Read? Would Ai Weiwei’sPainted vases be on display if he had made them from scratch rather than slapping a layer of paint over ceramics that are thousands of years old?
For a price,you can “name this gallery” and have your name appear on an LED display in one of the rooms. It’s temporary,though. The bidding (which resets each day) starts at $5 – and all it takes to bump your name off is the next person paying a little more.
The exhibition isn’t all about leveraging association for increased worth – it also examines how reputational damage or the removal of a previous association can affect how something is valued.
How do we view a work by Donald Friend now that we know he is a paedophile? What is to be made ofHead of a mannow that the portrait is onlyformerly attributed to Vincent van Gogh?
When you step into a gallery,you sometimes beeline for the big-name work – not because it is the most beautiful or striking piece,but because the legacy and reputation of the person who created it amplifies the work itself and blurs out everything around it.
There’s something inside all of us that is programmed to seek out what has been pre-validated by others.Namedropping explores this tendency,by both distorting and leaning into it.
Namedropping opens at Mona on June 14 and runs until April 21,2025
Elizabeth Flux travelled to Hobart as a guest of Mona.
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