Todd McMillan

Todd McMillan was the first lecturer of the public lecture series. McMillan describes himself as a romantic, a term used to describe one that practices the idea of Romanticism – an artistic and Romantic Movement which originated during Europe in the 18^th century. Throughout the lecture, it was evident that McMillan was a well-practiced romantic through is constant reference towards a themes such as sadness and failure or rather a “melancholy and tragic comedy” (GrantPirrie).  

Prior to the lecture, the idea of failure has never been a theme that could possibly be translated into sound artwork.  This is due to the socially accepted notion that the end results of art is meant to be successful. A painter would always want to paint a perfect portrait to capture the person exact features, or rather a photographer who captures photographs with perfect light metering (Frost, A.).  Both these outcomes are evidently the success of artist. However McMillan seems to (in an ironic way) successfully capture the idea of failing in every piece of artwork, so far as to receive The Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship (2006) (Lanridge, C.). 

By The Sea (2004) was a piece by McMillan that also questioned my understanding of his work that could possibly be improved upon. During the lecture, McMillan had mentioned that he had previously attempted to create By The Sea, however was unsuccessful due to his lack of preparation. Later on when questioned about what he defined as a successful failure, McMillan replied by explaining how a successful failure would be the result of him trying his best. This statement somewhat contradicts the final result of By The Sea as McMillan decided to present the version of him successfully standing for a whole 12 hours by the sea instead of the version where he unfortunately fainted whilst performing his piece. Why was it that McMillan decided to publish the fail attempt of him swimming the English channel as inspired by Romantic Lord Byron but not for By The Sea? Although, it is understandable that McMillan is a romantic and the work did feature the characteristics of romanticism such as him being moved by nature, pondering the questions of life with no answers, and understanding the world, the idea of failing did not come across his lecture in relations to By The Sea as he explained.

Reference:

artwhatson.com.au :: Museum of Contemporary Art Australia - - albatross (production image). 2013. artwhatson.com.au :: Museum of Contemporary Art Australia - - albatross (production image). [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.artwhatson.com.au/mca/primavera-2012/albatross-production-image. [Accessed 25 March 2013].

Frost, Andrew., 2009. The Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Being a success is overrated – we should strive harder to fail well’. http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/being-a-success-is-overrated--we-should-strive-harder-to-fail-well-20090721-drz0.html

Lanridge, Colin., February 2008. Luminal Catelogue – ‘Todd McMillan,’ Carnegie Gallery, Hobart City Council.

GrantPirrie, (n.d.). Last Accessed 10 March 2013, http://www.grantpirrie.com/artist.php?g=gallery1&a=7&e=67&s=1

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