Extra

Phebe Schmidt

28 Mar–5 May 2018

This image series was informed by the artist's recent work Your Time, which explored selfhood and how we try to fit into a messy and complex world. We flip between feeling in touch with our “real” self to a sense of failure and alienation. As we struggle to understand ourselves various constructed “characters” or “selves” materialise.

Extra connects to issues of selfhood. An extra in a movie is a silent character that merges into the background or crowd scene, to contribute in some minor way to a main narrative. These “extras” play a part in creating a sense of realism or authenticity in the fictional world of film.

From another perspective, extra can refer to a form of behaviour that is excessive and overly dramatic. This “extra” plays in stark contrast to the movie extra, and is often framed as something undesirable.

Extra, the work is heavily stylised and occupies an imaginary space that does not exist in a specific place or time. This Extra is ephemeral, fragmentary and ultimately disposable.

Online, Exhibition, Play

Overview

PLAY (2014-2019) was a continuously programmed online gallery that presented single channel video art by national and international artists to audiences throughout Australia and the world.

Acknowledgment

This program takes place on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded - this land is stolen land. We pay respects to Wurundjeri Elders, past, present and emerging, to the Elders from other communities and to any other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders who might encounter or participate in the program.

Biographies

Phebe SchmidtWith a background in stylised character-based photography that draws on the surrealism of glamour and consumption, Phebe moved into film direction, bringing her eye for singular and fun imagery to the screen. Inspired by science fiction and a culture of online self-performance, Phebe has the rare ability to approach complex topics with a playful sense of humour and a cutting-edge sense of style. Her unique visual language has seen her work for esteemed national and international publications from Vogue to Vault Art magazine. Phebe was the recipient of the 2018 Eastside International Residency (Los Angeles) 2018 and has exhibited work nationally and internationally at MONA (TAS), West Space (VIC), Art Space (NSW), Gertrude Contemporary (VIC), Moana Project Space (WA), Sarah Scout Gallery (VIC) and Gaia Gallery (Istanbul) among others.

Curators

Lucie McIntosh is an artist, curator and writer with a deep commitment to the independent arts community. She is currently a Director and Program Curator of Blindside, an independent, artist–run space based in the City of Melbourne. Lucie’s exhibition and research based practice explores process of signification and, more specifically, in how the process of signification might be made visible through the content of an artwork. Her practice emphasises the inherently plural and personal nature of meaning—reminding us of, and celebrating, our agency in its creation. Lucie is interested in the many ways that ‘the image’ can be expanded and consumed in political and philosophical contexts. Her practice relies on plurality and intertextuality—each artwork compulsively referencing its many varieties of self, content, history and maker.