Recently I visited my long time friend and artist Tony Twigg in his Sydney studio. I was there to check out the SLOT window gallery, at the front of his studio, where I will be showing my work, 14 July – 17 August. It’s a challenging space that offers exposure to the traffic and passers alike in Alexandria, an inner suburb of Sydney, for 21 years.
After talking about the space and my show Tony asked me to check out some of his new ‘cardboard’ works in the studio. This sounds interesting!
A recent visit and stay at the studio by acclaimed Filipino artists Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan brought about an impromptu collaboration. It left Tony with semi-completed work and a ton of cardboard offcuts from a disassembled Aquilizan work at the Art Gallery of NSW. I haven’t seen a lot of Alfredo and Isabel’s work but I am intrigued by the idea of their art practice and the material used.
Impromptu collaborations with physical art are rare these days, and traditionally collabs are done with artists either passing the work back and forth or working on it at the same time, a challenge in itself. What is interesting is that with the works in progress Tony is committed to pivot from his usual practice of creating with the firmness of refined wood and paint to adapt to another artist’s leftovers, like the remnants from a soft constructivist era the material evokes.
So what is it about cardboard? A common material that we all see in our everyday lives. It’s everywhere and we are very used to touching it and playing with it, from our childhood years onwards. Moreover, we can relate to what cardboard is – immediately. Its utility surrounds us everywhere, in transport, packing, storage and especially in the delivery and supply chain industries.
However, creating with a transient throw-away like material in its raw state brings a perceived conflict of what art should be made of, its perceived longevity and its value. It’s something I love to see – artists throwing in the unexpected and pushing the boundaries of our acceptability. At least in my mind it breaks down a highbrow art aesthetic to its basic form. Not new but it’s always interesting to see how individuals tackle and make use of their circumstances and their surroundings with what is immediately at hand. It creates an intrinsic meaning for their work that is wholly unique and valid no matter what we think or what has gone before.
In the works Collaboration 1, Collaboration 2b, Collaboration 4, you can see Tony’s aesthetic creeping into Alfredo’s material and subject matter. Where Alfredo leaves shards of semi-formed geometric architecture, Tony’s input brings about the semblance of the totemic, reconstructed habitats, religious altars and nods to weaponry.
Looking forward to seeing what else the works in progress drum up when they are aired for exhibition forthcoming to Slot’s back studio gallery in May 2024.
Constantine Nicholas is a Sydney based creative and curator.
March 28, 2024
constantine nicholas 
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