Art or Not?
Red Gallery, Fitzroy North
25 September - 6 October 2024
There is an inherent divide in western culture between arts and crafts where crafts are seen as “less than” art. Craft doesn’t belong in a gallery, it belongs at a market or on websites like Etsy. Craft is functional, art is there to be admired. Craft is common, art is exclusive. We have been told this, shown this and seen this. Craft doesn’t belong here, but why not? If you’re an artist, surely everything you made is art, no matter the materials. Duchamp put a urinal in the gallery, surely we can put textile crafted work in and it will be considered art.
Gala Jane began tufting rugs after losing her studio, artworks and tools in the Lismore floods in 2022. After deciding she needed something new in her life to make up for all that was lost she bought a tufting gun and began making contemporary rugs. Using her existing text based practice she made rugs with bold words and phrases, ready to hang on gallery walls. This new found technique helped her to start creating again and to her this was a just different medium to create art.
There was a small problem though. She would hear choruses of “you should sell these rugs on Etsy” coming from all directions. Gala spent a long time trying to unpack her ick whenever this was said. Questioning why she had such an issue with being told this. Are they not worthy of a gallery? She questioned her own preconceptions, she is an artist who exhibits in galleries, why would she sell it on Etsy? Through researching the divide between arts and crafts she realised that these preconceived ideas we have about what deserves to exhibit in galleries was invading her own art making. Just because the techniques were crafty doesn’t mean they don’t belong on a gallery wall. She is an artist, she makes art.
So, what happens when you take a household item like a rug, something that traditionally would have been crafted with a functional purpose and place it on the gallery wall? Is it art yet? What happens when you place an “artwork” on the floor of a gallery? Is that still art?
