Close Contact
Close Contact, curated by Firstdraft, presents five new commissions by Tom Blake, Jazz Money, Amy Claire Mills, Athena Thebus and Leo Tsao.
Each artist traces zones of contact that intersect with our present moment: the new relationship between public surfaces and public safety; the deep histories and practices of First Peoples landcare displaced by First Contact; the politics of touch and those marginalised from the embrace of the public sphere; skin, the biological interface that both binds and separates us; and finally, the choreographies of resistance that drive bodies together and against each other, and against power.
Athena Thebus
Athena Thebus is an artist whose work deconstructs desire. She has presented solo and collaborative work at Next Wave Festival, Liveworks, Sugar Mountain Festival, Campbelltown Arts Centre, ACE Open, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), and Verge Gallery. Most recently, she was shortlisted in the 2020 Churchie Emerging Art Prize, presented at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.
Athena Thebus, Bunny, 2021, leather, metal studs, steel scaffolding, rope, 240 × 155 × 100 cm (approx.), installation view, No Show, Carriageworks, Sydney. Commissioned by Firstdraft. Photo: Zan Wimberley. Courtesy the artist.
Bunny, 2021
Bunny was inspired by the feeling of desire. My girlfriend and I often send each other images of bunnies being cute and fluttering their eyelashes. They tap into the symbolism of abundance and new life – though this bunny has a devilish aura. – Athena Thebus
Athena Thebus’ Bunny is the third in her series of large-scale hand-studded leather hides. While previous hides have included the phrase ‘Power Fuck’ and a wilted daisy engulfed in flames, the central motif of Bunny is a chubby-cheeked black and white cartoon rabbit.
Rabbits are the horny innocents of the animal kingdom – a libidinal duality that is well-represented by animation. On one hand, we have Thumper, Bambi’s cute, fluffy, and be-lashed mascot; on the other, there’s Bugs, the worldly and sly bunny of chaos, phallobsessed – forever gnawing on a carrot (if he isn’t dangling one). Bunny has inherited all the best traits of her cartoon forefathers – diverting the wrath of her enemies with the bat of an impossibly long eyelash while animatedly fucking the world.
