Saturday 2 July 2005 WEEKENDEXTRA THE WEST AUSTRALIAN Page 12
VISUAL ARTS
Ric Spencer

Home is where the art is

A lot of people I've run into recently are "popping" over to Venice for the Biennale. With all the hype surrounding the variety at Venice this year,it's easy to forget the quality of art going on in our home town.
I have run into all the directions and diversions of contemporary art here in the past couple of weeks and there is enough going on both within and out of the galleries to satisfy the most ardent of art viewer - it's peak season right here in Perth.
If you want to catch up with the future of biennale art pop into Galerie Düsseldorf to see Tom Muller's Stadium.
Muller is an artist making tracks in more ways than one. His career is certainly taking off and this confidence and exuberance is reflected in the playfulness of Stadium. But there is also a burgeoning maturity in his work and this makes for informed as well as fun viewing. Stadium is a series of tracks which bears association with the recent Brian McKay show and tells of a seduction with aluminium and its association with leisure.
In this case, Muller is interested in the universal symbolism of sport and likewise the global similarities in the buildings that house it. As such, Muller continues his foray into the possibilities of a homogenised society with a global outlook. This time sport is the great form of democracy and stadiums offer us the architecture of home. His work also attempts to bring design, architecture and art on to a level playing field.
Like the compartmental art of Absalon or Andrea Zittel, Muller's utopian vision in Stadium is played out in the space of universal design solutions, hence his interest in the commonality of aluminium.
However, this interest in standardisation is presented in Stadium with a fair degree of suspicion - Infinity Track illustrates this straight away. It's a beautifully made piece that dominates the opposing wall as you enter the door. Perhaps it is a real belief in the benefits of homogeny but it also reminded me of a dog chasing its tail.
New Tracks, with its red vinyl cutting on aluminium, is another visually dominating work and, along with Open Circuit, at the other end of the gallery, is a highlight.
Muller's Stadium is an ambitious and energetic show by an artist coming up fast on the outside don't miss it.