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Shilo

Sophie Cunningham December 14

Macleod Kat Macleod Shilo sleeve: collage of cotton thread, sequins, paper, adhesive stickers and beads 2009 © Courtesy the artist

Shilo at the Ian Potter Museum is a celebration of many things - including the world of vinyl. Here is the curator Chris McAuliffe on the exhibition: ‘The Shilo project started when I found two copies of Neil Diamond’s 1970 LP, Shilo in an op shop. One sleeve was clean, the other had been filled-in with fibre-tipped pens. Driving home, a thought occurred out of the blue: Why not invite artists to respond to the challenge of the blank Shilo sleeve?' Some 100 artists have been included in the final exhibition - artists as diverse as Kat Macleod, Adam Cullen, Katherine Hattam, TextaQueen and Ivan Durrant.

Released in 1970, Shilo was a compilation of tracks Neil Diamond had recorded several years earlier for the Bang label in the United States. In Australia, the record was released on the Stateside label, a division of EMI. The record company release the songs - over which they still held copyright - after Diamond had already left the company. It took him until 1977 to get the master tracks back.

There is a kind of blankness to the original album cover that suggests that Diamond was an unknown quantity, and to an extent he was. It wasn't until the live album 'Hot August Night' was released in 1972 that he became the iconic figure he is today. That album sat in the the Australian charts for 239 weeks.

The exhibition itself is a playful and lively engagement with popular culture. Some artists play with form (embroidery, tapestry, painting, textas) and others with the notion of icon - one artist simply puts Amy Winehouse on the cover, another fills the dots in with Harry Potter. Most of the artists struck a balance between respecting the original cover and allowing their own distinctive style to show through. It's a terrific exhibition - go along if you can. It runs until March 14 2010.

Bond Chris Bond Shilo sleeve: typed text, cut-out 2009 © Courtesy the artist

Sequeira David Sequeira Young child with dreams Shilo sleeve: polyester thread embroidery 2009 © Courtesy the artist

Textaqueen Arlene TextaQueen Shilo sleeve: fibre-tipped pen 2009 © Courtesy the artist


 

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