Site-specific work as part of The Walls Art Space | ‘Medium Rare’ Off-Site Program, 2021
‘Untitled Untitled’ 2021 By Byron Mitchell (Byron Coathup and Mitchell Shultz)
BOTH | SIDES 2020 by Rebecca Ross + Byron Coathup
Supported by HOTA Gold Coast [Rage Against the V(irus)]
BOTH | SIDES responds to the current QLD/NSW border closures. Living on either side of the border, collaborators Rebecca Ross (Queensland) and Byron Coathup (New South Wales), are unable to meet up to make work, conceptualise projects, or surf! The artworks employ a split-screen editing technique with each artist creating one half of the work. The visible line or split in the videos acts as a virtual border, dividing the disparate and distant workspaces of the artists and their work. The work explores the often arbitrary nature of borders; the QLD/NSW border is marked mostly by the 29th Parallel South, a ready-made path in the circle of latitude of 29 degrees south. The 29th Parallel South is not unique to Australia, it circles Earth’s equatorial plane latitude at 29 degrees south and crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America.
More Info: https://hota.com.au/both-sides/
PLAYGROUNDS : BYRON SCHOOL OF ART [PROJECT SPACE] 2019
Playgrounds brings together an arrangement of artworks and collaborative experiments by artists Byron Coathup and Rebecca Ross. Surveying a myriad of (mixed) messages and mirages, Playgrounds is framed a testing ground for the artists to pursue new and explorative work. Their approach to making work has been driven by research, reflection and the collecting of materials that are often discarded by others, and that are suggestive of ideas and meaning. Playing with an array of media including painting, video, collage, ready-mades, found, redundant and kitsch objects, and light, the collective works in Playgrounds sit at the junctures of site, situation and sensation.
BORDERLANDS | 7 June – 29 June 2019 | MArts Murwillumbah
ARTISTS INCLUDE:
Ellie Beck, Chris Bennie, Aaron Chapman, Byron Coathup, Hannah Cutts, Geoff Davidson, Ree Hegh, Amelia Reid, Rebecca Ross, Mitchell Schultz, Christine Willcocks, Tim Wilson
Curated by Byron Coathup and Amelia Reid.
Personal Exhibited Work:
‘Crossbreed’ 2019
Mixed assembled collage (aluminium car plates, driver’s licence, watercolour & gouache on paper board)
SUPER SOUVENIR : April - September 2018 [Travelling Exhibition]
Super Souvenir is a creative project that seeks to interrogate place and Gold Coast identity through the prism of the humble souvenir. It’s something of a hybrid – residing in a repurposed 1978 Viscount Royale. It’s a contemporary art gallery and micro museum on wheels, a space for conversation and chill out, and a place for making and reflection. Originally developed for the Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival April 2018 it now continues as an independently run project.
At a time when consumer culture is in question, Super Souvenir also seeks to provoke a conversation about the design of future memories, and to broker the development of a new generation of thought provoking souvenirs that are responsive to the key design challenges of sustainability and authenticity.
Projects Activations:
1.) April 2018 | Bleach Festival 2018 as part of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, (Various Locations over 3 weeks)
2.) June 2018 | ‘Surface Architecture’ Edge Conference – Australian Institute of Architects, Broadbeach Park. QLD
3.) September 2018 | ‘Sunshine Gold’ Horizon Festival, Sunshine Coast. QLD.
Follow on @super.souvenir / www.supersouvenir.net
Co-Curatorial Project with Virginia Rigney
MIAMI/ MIAMI : October 7th - 21st 2017 [Solo Exhibition]
The Walls Art Space, Miami, Gold Coast.
MIAMI/MIAMI is a cross-cultural project between two cities that share similarities and differences. Miami (QLD) and Miami (FL). Both run under the slogans that tempt and encourage tourism, as these two cities were made on Sun, Sand and Surf and the Holiday aesthetic. Built environments, towering apartments, seaside ornamentals and motifs that reflect a carefree vacation. All of these characteristics portray the essence of what it might feel, look, sound and taste like in these man-built fantasylands.
An inaugural international exchange, MIAMI/MIAMI initiates a new collaboration between Gold Coast artist Byron Coathup and artist-run initiative Obsolete Media Miami, from the other Miami (Florida/USA).
'Four Pilars of Democracy' 2017 [Collaboration with Rebecca Ross]
2970 Degrees Conference, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast. QLD [Curated by Not Yet Its Difficult & David Pledger]
An Act of Showing: Rethinking Artist-Run Initiatives Through Place (2017):
Testing Grounds, Melbourne. VIC // Curated by Anabelle Lacroix. Collaboration with The Walls Art Space, Miami, Gold Coast.
Artwork: Blue Into Gold (GC Magnets) 2017 with accompanying essay by Danni Zuvela & Rebecca Ross (The Walls)
Click Here for the Essay; Blue Into Gold (2017)
Bureau of Returns (2016):
Group Exhibition: Hotelling // Novemeber 2016 QT Hotels, Surfers Paradise. QLD
Curated by David Pledger & Bleach Arts
A hand built display cabinet of hotel souvenir’s that lost souls have taken, borrowed and returned. In pure short term gain items from hotels are often stolen or borrowed. These items are returned accompanied with handwritten letters expressing empathy, acceptance, forgiveness and to ward off ‘Bad Luck’ that had befallen the taker.
CULTURE SCULPTURE // 2016
Group Exhibition: Made In Qld: Ode to the Souvenir // February 2016
Gold Coast City Gallery
Culture sculpture is a term I use to describe objects and destinations that builds content and atmosphere for a city like the Gold Coast. They build our culture and make what the Gold Coast is – Queensland’s ultimate playground. From the golden beaches through to our city center’s and out towards the hinterland rainforests, the Gold Coast is a very unique and opportunistic place for tourists and locals. The Gold Coast prides itself on a staged landscape that for fill’s every visitor’s hopes and dreams of a relaxing and unique holiday destination.
I have been inspired to find where our true cultural souvenirs lie. A series of small advertisement’s and classifies from late 1950s and 60s print collateral, such as Magazines, holiday pamphlets, souvenirs and postcards. By redesigning and contemporising this information, I wish to put the bricks and mortar of local businesses, personnel, services and accommodation at the forefront of our souvenir culture. These are the places where locals and tourists gather on common ground and find these unique treasures and experiences that people collect to take home.
I am intrigued by these advertisements typographic choices, simple formations and graphic iconography. The clashing font styles and hierarchy seems to generate this true sense of nostalgia in a time where technology didn’t allow for mistakes and typographic composition had a set order. Some might also find these formations hip and refreshing, particularly in a time where modernised nostalgia is cool again. This remixed information leads us to scroll our eyes over each column and consider what is old and new, and where you might find these souvenir treasures.
MADE IN QLD: THE CULTURE SHOP
Bleach Festival // 4th-20th March 2016
Collaboration: Bleach Festival + Gold Coast City Gallery + The Strand
Coinciding with the Gold Coast City Gallery exhibition, Made In Qld: Ode to the Souvenir, this pop-up shop was co-curated by myself and the gallery to act as a modern day souvenir store. 12 local artists from different artistic backgrounds were invited to design, make and manufacture small run souvenir products about the Gold Coast.
The space was designed and built by myself from recycled timber pallets and run over the span of the Bleach Festival's 3 week program. This project seeks to discuss an urgency to reinvent the Gold Coast Tourist Booth and the new possibilities for souvenirs to become new and interesting - particularly with the coming of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in sight. All artist participating offered their time to sit in the shop and sell products and discuss such ideas among the public.
Exhibited: 'Fibro Coast' Gold Coast City Gallery, Qld. 2014