The Art of Conversation (Gallery) is a body of 2D artwork on paper containing fine mesh-like layers of text (and sometimes accompanying imagery).
These works present colloquial and visual dialogues about young artists and tbC’s group practices around artistic agency and status. These dialogues emerge from tbC’s social and studio spaces and practices and are authored and presented as a group conversation.
This body of work was exhibited in 2017 in a contemporary art gallery in Melbourne called fortyfivedownstairs. Private and institutional collectors purchased several works.
tbC confronts artistic conventions and tensions around the status of young artists by presenting works like these in the gallery. The group sees gallery exhibition as a way to encourage audiences to take tbC’s artmaking seriously. Presenting tbC artworks within the gallery context invites critical engagement with the work the group makes. It encourages dialogue between the practitioner, audience and critic - about what art is, where it is made and who can make it.