Malcolm Enright – Another Inseparable…

Malcolm Enright – Another Inseparable…
October 5, 2011 KT

I’m delighted to now have in my art collection work by Malcolm Enright.

Malcolm has been a mainstay of the Brisbane art and design scene for over four decades and his commitment to his work and support of the sector is well known. He currently runs his own regular blog, Ephemeral-male, which is the online repository for his collections (and other featured collections) that stretch beyond the vast expanse of the internet and into the physical space of his home. These collections of ephemera are extensive and diverse and like Malcolm himself, intriguing…

Work from his Inseparables series has an edge, honesty and sense of humour to it. Pairing back the conceptual rationale behind the work, Peter Anderson writes in the catalogue essay from the 1986 exhibition of the same name, which was held at Michael Milburn Galleries:

“Meaning, rather than being the product of equivalences, of positive relations, ends up being found in the gaps between words, and in that conceptual gulf that lies between words and things. Rather, they operate as elements of a language system, in which any unit means what it means because of its difference from the other elements in the system… READING, rather than simply looking, is the process demanded by Malcolm Enright’s Inseparables. Each piece provides a frame which seduces the viewer into an intellectual game, stitching words and images together in an attempt to fix the relations between the elements in the system, or pulling a loose thread and letting language run away with itself… The 100 Inseparables that Malcolm exhibited [at the IMA in 1983] generated a good deal of interest… some people began to see readymade Inseparables everywhere, as the demand for viewer involvements, to make each work more than a simple illustration/caption, produced a spin-off effect, and the idea became the basis of an intellectual game which anyone can play.”

I now have ‘Kids/Adults’, ‘Romeo/Julieta’ and ‘Romance/Kiss’ in my collection… And, produced especially for this blog, Malcolm has created a new Inseparable work, which you can download here to print and frame. Thanks Malcolm, what fun!

For regular injections of ephemera, visit Malcolm’s blog. After 40 years as a multiple art and design service provider, Malcolm now works in a collaborative studio with his wife and master jeweller, Barbara Heath.