As Long As You Are Here

As Long As You're Here was a live-drawing performance portrait project produced at and hosted by the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra between October 9 and November 10 in 2013. By combining the contemporary practices of participatory art with the notoriously un-contemporary tradition of portraiture, As Long As You're Here illuminated the necessity of participation with portraiture, while simultaneously calling attention to the role of the image in experiential and event-based art. During the course of the project, the artist was located in the gallery for 33 consecutive days drawing portraits of whomever sat in the chair opposite, for as long as they chose to sit. Drawings were made on an iPad, which automatically recorded the drawing process. When the participant left the chair they were emailed a copy of their image. The parameters of the project were developed in order to give the participant maximum control over the resulting portrait, which was determined by how they choose to participate. The choice to sit still, fidget or move around as well as the amount of time they chose to sit determined the level of 'finish' of the image. Images were 'finished' only when the participant ceased their participation. As Long As You're Here tested the relationship between portraiture and participatory forms of art. During the course of modern and contemporary art, artists and institutions have developed strategies of providing more immersive, experiential and relational forms of artistic practice that depart from the materialized and object-oriented forms of visual art. This project questioned the role of photography in documenting such dematerialized and event-based art forms by foregrounding drawing in the performance activity ' emphasizing the persisting role of making images in so-called post-retinal forms of art. Here the core activity was the production of the documentation through drawing, resulting in a series of 194 digital portraits drawn from a total of 224 participants and a digital video of 4 hours and 11 of the recorded drawing process. Tony Curran's practice is an investigation into contemporary strategies in representing ideas of self, in art. Based in Wagga Wagga, in regional New South Wales, he lectures in Art History and Media Arts at Charles Sturt University. He has completed a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) at Macquarie University, and a Masters of Art at COFA University of New South Wales. In addition he has completed an Honours degree at Charles Sturt University in Fine Art and is currently undertaking a PhD at CSU. He has exhibited nationally and internationally in drawing, painting, installation and sound art and has worked towards public programs and residencies at Australia's National Portrait Gallery, Radford College, Canberra, Fraser Studios in Sydney and the Museum of the Riverina in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.