Fiona Hall

(Australia 1953– )

Title

Cash crop

Year

1998

Media

Sculpture

Medium

80 carved soap, painted bank notes in a vitrine

Dimensions

vitrine/plinth: 174.0 x 132.2 x 57.2cm approx overall :
cccc - vitrine/ stand; 114 x 130.3 x 54.2cm; vitrine
cccc - vitrine/ stand; 60 x 132.2 x 57.2cm; plinth

Signature & date

Not signed. Not dated.

Credit

Contemporary Collection Benefactors 2000

Accession number

54.2000.a-dddd

Copyright

Location

Contemporary galleries

Further information

'Cash Crop' consists of a vitrine filled with little sculptures of fruit and vegetables carved from a variety of natural soaps. These pieces of 'fruit' are accompanied by labels and painted bank notes. The terms appearing on the labels are taken from the language of economic activity. The juxtapositions are both amusing and sharply critical: 'liquid asset' is a grape; 'share market float' is a lotus; 'tax return' is a peanut; 'global liquidity' is a cola nut.

In 'Cash Crop', Fiona Hall explores the connections between trade, natural resources and botany. These concerns have been central to Hall's body of work since the 1970s. Soap is destroyed by water: it is ephemeral and changing. Commerce and trade, too, change with the slides in 'global liquidity'. Botany, like trade, is a system: of classification and collection. Botany is a science developed in order to 'collect' the world of nature. Cash Crop is about the exploitation of natural resources for commercial interests and the artifice of classification.

Julie Ewington writes, "Sir Joseph Banks created elaborate cabinets for the exploration voyages of James Cook, in which numerous specimens of plants were taken back to England, studied, dissected, analysed and planted. Later, the economic uses of collected plants were investigated, for medicine, cosmetics, prophylactics and profit... Fiona Hall has selectively emphasised the tendency towards conjoined terms in systems of Western classification. This is not a merely whimsical rubbing together of similarities, differences, binaries: it is a purposeful play between different orders of things, set up to embrace, pull apart, to slip and to slide".

Bibliography (10)

Contemporary: Art Gallery of New South Wales Contemporary Collection (2006), Anthony Bond (England; Australia) (Commissioning Editor), Wayne Tunnicliffe (New Zealand; Australia) (Commissioning Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874).

Fiona Hall (2005), Julie Ewington (Australia) (Author), Piper Press (Australia), Annandale, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Art and Australia (Vol. 37, No. 4) (Jun 2000-Aug 2000), Laura Murray Cree (Australia) (Editor), Fine Arts Press Pty Limited (Australia), North Ryde, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Federation: Australian art and society 1901-2001 (2000), John McDonald (Australia, b.1961) (Author), National Gallery of Australia (Australia, estab. 1982), Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Australian art collector (Jan 2000-Mar 2000), Susan Borham (Editor in Chief), Michael Hutak (Editor), Gadfly Media (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Artlink [vol. 19, no. 4] (Dec 1999), Stephanie Britton (Editor), Artlink Australia (Australia), Henley Beach, South Australia, Australia.

Art Monthly Australia (Nov 1999), Philippa Kelly (Australia) (Editor), Art Monthly Australia Pty Ltd (Australia), Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald (05 Oct 1999), Paul McGeough (Australia) (Editor), John Fairfax & Sons (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Eyeline (Summer 1998-1999), Sarah Follent (Editor), Eyeline Publishing Ltd, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Cash Crop (1998), Institute of Modern Art (Australia, estab. 1975) (Organiser), Institute of Modern Art (Australia, estab. 1975), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Exhibition history (7)

Fiona Hall: Force Field, (06 Mar 2008–01 Jun 2008), at Museum of Contemporary Art (Australia, estab. 1989), Circular Quay West The Rocks Sydney, New South Wales Australia 2000.

Cash Crop, (08 Oct 1998–31 Oct 1998), at Institute of Modern Art (Australia, estab. 1975), Cnr Ann & Gipps Streets Fortitude Valley, Queensland, Australia 4006.

Fiona Hall, (15 Jul 2005–18 Sep 2005), at Art Gallery of South Australia (Australia, estab. 1881), North Terrace Adelaide, South Australia, Australia 5000.

Fiona Hall, (19 Mar 2005–05 Jun 2005), at Queensland Art Gallery (Australia, estab. 1895), Cnr Melbourne & Grey Streets South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Cash Crop - an art exhibition by Fiona Hall, (20 Nov 1998–29 Nov 1998), at Brisbane Botanic Gardens (Australia), Mt Coo-tha Mt Coo-tha Rd Toowong Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 4000.

Fiona Hall: Force Field, (28 Jun 2008–19 Oct 2008), at City Gallery Wellington (New Zealand, estab. 1980), Civic Square PO Box 2199 Wellington New Zealand 6015.

Fieldwork, (29 Sep 1999–23 Oct 1999), at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (Australia), Soudan Lane, off 27 Hampden St Paddington, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2021.