Imants Tillers
Art Critical Analysis
Mount Analogue is a post-modern artwork by Imants Tillers painted in 1985.
This work can be said to be a post-modern piece as Tiller has utilised several techniques common to this style. Bricolage is the creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available. In this case, Tiller, out of necessity, created his canvas board system.
This particular artwork is an appropriation of the rather majestic painting ‘North- East view from the northern top of Mount Kosciusko’ by Eugene von Guerard, produced in 1863. Tillers has re-contextualised the work and given it added value for the present time. ‘Mt Analogue’ explores ideas of authorship and originality through his use of appropriation. He has used one hundred and sixty five canvas board panels jig-sawed together to contrast with von Guerard’s meticulous nineteenth century depiction. Von Guerard’s painting was a result of its time; Von Guerard’s painting is based on sketches he made as part of a scientific expedition to record variations of the earth’s magnetic fields in 1862, and he recorded the new nation through European eyes. Although von Guerard attempted to very accurately portray the features of the new country, he used the techniques and conventions of the time.
So, it seems odd that a modern Australian artist would take this piece and be moved to reinvent it. By replicating such a significant image in Australian art history Tillers challenges the traditional notion of what art is. Imants Tillers uses elements of post modernism to recreate, appropriate the original painting and manages to make it a mystical experience.
Tillers was drawn to Australian-born artist Eugene von Guerard’s image partly because of the art-historical associations of the land and the mountains, and partly due to a book he read. Imants Tillers’ title, Mount Analogue, is taken from the title of a novel by the French author Rene Daumal. This novel follows an expedition in search of a
Mount Analogue is a post-modern artwork by Imants Tillers painted in 1985.
This work can be said to be a post-modern piece as Tiller has utilised several techniques common to this style. Bricolage is the creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available. In this case, Tiller, out of necessity, created his canvas board system.
This particular artwork is an appropriation of the rather majestic painting ‘North- East view from the northern top of Mount Kosciusko’ by Eugene von Guerard, produced in 1863. Tillers has re-contextualised the work and given it added value for the present time. ‘Mt Analogue’ explores ideas of authorship and originality through his use of appropriation. He has used one hundred and sixty five canvas board panels jig-sawed together to contrast with von Guerard’s meticulous nineteenth century depiction. Von Guerard’s painting was a result of its time; Von Guerard’s painting is based on sketches he made as part of a scientific expedition to record variations of the earth’s magnetic fields in 1862, and he recorded the new nation through European eyes. Although von Guerard attempted to very accurately portray the features of the new country, he used the techniques and conventions of the time.
So, it seems odd that a modern Australian artist would take this piece and be moved to reinvent it. By replicating such a significant image in Australian art history Tillers challenges the traditional notion of what art is. Imants Tillers uses elements of post modernism to recreate, appropriate the original painting and manages to make it a mystical experience.
Tillers was drawn to Australian-born artist Eugene von Guerard’s image partly because of the art-historical associations of the land and the mountains, and partly due to a book he read. Imants Tillers’ title, Mount Analogue, is taken from the title of a novel by the French author Rene Daumal. This novel follows an expedition in search of a