Artist Focus: Yannick Blattner
Yannick Blattner is a Brisbane based artist focused on the intersection between labour and leisure—examining their class-laden values and shifting cultural expectations. Cultural phenomenon, prevailing customs, rituals, and social-economic paradigms are examined to call attention to the immobility of these structures. Blattner’s paintings turn familiar objects and imagery into symbolic devices—rearranging and tweaking their context to present new meanings. Exploring the potential for narrative his work deals in ambivalence and uncertainty with underlying meta-narratives surrounding the conventions and formalities of art making. Australia flaunts a climate-based lifestyle that is synonymous with the nations identity and has become highly commodified. Blattner’s work uses the commercial manifestations of this lifestyle—capturing the by-products of a climate that is simultaneously idyllic and unforgiving. Concerned with incongruent cultural practices Blattner’s work focuses on shifting aesthetic and social conventions which form unwanted, outwardly generated class expectations.
Such is my Ferocity No.2
Oil on polyester
83 x 153 cm
No Slack
Oil on Canvas
64 x 95 cm
Stoked to have a few pages in the latest unMagazine. ‘Badaud’ was whipped up, wrangled, and finessed by the legendary and inimitable Tara Heffernan. UnMagazine out now online and at all participating retailers. @taraheffers@un_projects
My contribution is of greyhound paintings I’ve been working on. I haven’t shared them much so they may be a bit unfamiliar. Anyway, here’s the text:
Unlike the broader associations of horse racing, dog racing is typically associated with the working class due to its lower cost of participation, proximity to urban centres and evening race schedules.
Bred specifically for racing, greyhounds possess an innate prey drive that compels their unrelenting pursuit of the lure. Despite their reputation as sporting dogs, however, greyhounds are renowned for their idleness, typically sleeping up to twenty hours per day.
These paintings draw on this paradox and the greyhound’s class coding. Bred to run, work and earn, greyhounds embody a unique duality.
Moreover, greyhound racing - fraught with numerous animal welfare issues - has become an ideological flashpoint. Retired greyhounds, often perceived as victims of the ‘cruel’ proclivities of the working-class, are today in vogue as rescue dogs. This status shift highlights the process by which middle-class benevolence finds its proxy in pet-ownership, casting a critical light on the perceived harshness of the working class. By focusing on the sleek yet awkward form of the greyhound in its restful state, l highlight these incongruent states of labour and leisure. My work seeks to draw connections between these disparate elements, with the greyhound offering a commentary on the complex social dynamics surrounding class.
Yannick Blattner is a Brisbane
‘Based’ artist.
“Whoever passes by, look and weep. What you are, I once was, what I am, you will become, I beseech you to pray for me.”
💀💀💀
#amsterdam
#amsterdamn
#amstersmokeagram
#rijksmuseum
#carelesswhisper
#rembrandt
#vermeer
Why do dogs always run for the doorbell? It’s almost never for them
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#underpainting #oilpainting #art #painting #artwork #oilpaint #oilpainter #painting #oilpainting #paintingprocess #australianpainting #australianart#contemporarypainting #dogpainting #dogs #greyhound
#workinprogress #artwork
If anyone needs me I’ll be floating face down in the mainstream
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#studio #painting #oilpainting #wip #workinprogress #australianpainting #australianart #contemporarypainting
One more day. Then one more after that.
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#studio #artstudio #painting #oilpainting #wip #workinprogress #artstudio #australianpainting #paintingprocess #australianpainting #australianart #contemporarypainting #brisbaneart #artwork
Make do, do it yourself or do without
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#painting #oilpainting #wip #workinprogress #artstudio #australianpainting #paintingprocess #australianpainting #australianart #contemporarypainting #brisbaneart #artwork
