IAN BURNS & TRAVERS NASH   'Sancho Panza'

Travers Nash acted as a studio assistant to Ian Burns in his preparations for his recent solo exhibition, AND THEN…, at Anna Schwartz, Melbourne. As Ian pursued his delusional quest for a Dulcinean exhibition, he benefited from Travers’ affliction of a particularly droll wit. Yet Travers suffered patiently and toiled at the repetitive and dull tasks necessary to the completion of Ian’s works. 

The opportunity to install a window display for The Wandering Room  has allowed for this problem to be addressed. In this piece these previous roles have been blurred, and Travers and Ian have collaborated with both serving as Quixote and as Panza.

The outcome of this analysis has been that Nash and Burns have reached the conclusion that in contemporary art the romance of the quixotic is diseased. This collaboration has been one of each trying to be the better assistant. As Cervantes would have it, the true power lies in the Sanchismos, so here Nash and Burns have chided each other into a visual Sanchismos. In supporting the Quixotic, Sancho Panza fell in and out of a delusional state as circumstances demanded. The ideal ability for the contemporary art viewer.

Ian Burns courtesy of Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne and Sydney

NATASHA CORDASIC

"In the past two years I have focused on technical development of painting with enamel on aluminium.  Specifically, I have been working out how to create images and use materials in such a way to generate a friction between properties or production and symbolism.  My practice engages personal history with the propaganda of nationalism and commercialisation.  So one of my main concerns is to deploy this generated friction to increase intensity and edginess in my work; and to imply political 'connotations'." - Natasha Cordasic