! 金 ! process-based and situational responsive intervention, curated by Dr Kent Wilson and La Trobe Art Institute, as part of the Castlemaine State Festival, Australia 2019
screen print on 200D knitted polyester 2.4 x 3.6 metres, 1861 [the year the Castlemaine Historic Market building was built] gold acrylic painted ball bearings slung shot at a wall for four hours, found then gold acrylic painted shovel, 1860 partially painted acrylic gold ball bearings [one fell into a hole within the Castlemaine Historic Market building], gold acrylic paint on canvas 35cm x 35cm, found then gold acrylic painted plasterboard, found then gold acrylic painted timber dowel 2.8 metres x 5cm, found then gold enamel painted ceramic bowl, water, dust vacuumed and collected from the Castlemaine Historic Market building, floor paint dust from Stockroom Gallery Kyneton, charcoal dust from indeterminate duration [for david] 2017.
Castlemaine State Festival:
! 金! [pronounced ‘jīn’] is the Chinese word for gold, and James’ assemblage of works make reference to the gold rush of the mid 1800’s, to Castlemaine and its surrounds, in search of this precious metal. The works also make reference to the artists’ own family connection to Chinese culture.
Beginning with a process-based drawing, the artist slung-shot 1861 [the year the Castlemaine Historic Market building was built] gold acrylic painted ball bearings at a wall, creating a subtle constellation of marks over four hours. A series of actions follow that incorporate materials used through the installation week, becoming works that make connections with the processes of panning for gold and the materials entailed within these processes.
Fundamentally, the works question the roles of ’labour’ and ‘value’ within the context of the Castlemaine Historic Market building and also within contemporary culture. The resulting found detritus reassembled within the context of an institution, opens up new relations encountered through its temporal, material and spatial qualities.
Andrew Frost, “Castlemainia: making regional arts festivals work”, The Art Life, April 18 2019
“Just down the street is the Castlemaine Market Building, another colonial era edifice that hosts on one side, the town visitors’ centre, and on the other two temporary gallery spaces. Where the Castlemaine Art Museum has the presence and authority of a conventional galley, the Market Building’s spaces felt temporary, especially for subtle pieces such as James Carey’s installation of piles of dust, and gold leafed bowls of water, and Jazoo Yang’s earth toned assemblages.”
