Therefore, eOinc. announces that, Shell Collection will be eOinc.’s final exhibition, and the last in a successful programme including f3Xit, col-aberration, re-View and Kvinna-Nainen-Women. Earlier in the organization’s life, it was the agency that sent four Central Coast artists to an Environmental Art Symposium in Korea, and the foundation organization for the Dawn Light Symposium at the Gosford Regional Gallery in 2005.
Central Coast artists Meredith Brice Copland, Sandy James and Maumer Cajic in Cheongju.
Meredith and Sandy proudly display their eO T-shirts
This is not the occasion to detail why it is so difficult for independent artist-directed organizations, or individuals, to be positively engaged in contemporary art in the region. It is enough to say that the art community is diminished by the ending of eOinc. The details are well known, and constitute the hill up which, inevitably, one gets tired of pushing shit.
It is not surprising if artists decide to just get on with their work, and go somewhere where there are more people pushing in the same direction. In these times when the scope of art is global, Gosford needs leading edge artists more than the artists need Gosford.
Engagement is not so difficult if the forms pursued fit the cultural paradigms in vogue, but critical practice will always contest orthodoxy, even in its experimental guise.
Yet despite this, there is a core of contemporary artists who live locally and who would like to see local practice able to participate in the broader intellectual and critical milieu that constitutes contemporary art. It is tragic to see the passion and enthusiasm, the time and effort, the generous community spirit, worn down.
But – don’t be surprised if a few ex-eO members pop up unexpectedly. They might have been pushed to the fringes, but there be a feral and fertile place to play.
