Frame of reference

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This was published 14 years ago

Frame of reference

By Kim Smee

On the roadside, a few kilometres past Natimuk, about 90 kilometres before the South Australian border, I stumble across the most beautiful artwork I have seen. There, among long tufts of grass and grey-pebbled earth, erected in front of a neat farm fence and a vast, open field with Mount Arapiles in the distance, is a large picture frame.

Marbled soft gold and black, the piece is accompanied by a simple chair. There is something curious about finding something out of place – a bike hanging from a telegraph wire, a car wedged on a large rock formation, a television in the middle of the desert. The frame is poetic; it's as out of place as it is perfectly placed.

I am curious to know how it got there: when, why and by whom? A week later, I scan the internet for information on the mystery frame but am disappointed to turn up nothing. Next, I contact Natimuk local Brigitte Muir, the first Australian woman to climb Mount Everest. She tells me it is the work of Greg Pritchard. I find him on Facebook and write to him requesting he call me. A week later, I have my prize.

Pritchard, a local artist, explains that he erected the frame in 2005 during Natimuk's fringe festival (the Nati Frinj), a small but growing art festival which allows artists to “play” with what he calls “art attacks”.

“It was meant to just be an ephemeral work but four years on and it's still standing there,” he says.

Locally, it is common knowledge that Pritchard is behind the much-loved art attack but he has made no efforts to advertise his efforts to the curious passer-by or to the many who have displayed photos of it on websites, although if one looks under the chair sitting in front of the frame they will find his signature.

He has already returned to strengthen the frame's structure but is now considering securing it with concrete. He might do well to also concrete the chair, as he has had to replace it seven times.

Pritchard says his motivation for erecting the frame in front of Mount Arapiles is to pay homage to his 30 years of climbing it and to remind the locals to appreciate the spectacular view. “It was my statement for re-envisioning the mountain. Locals sometimes drove past and didn't notice it,” he says.

Images of the framed Mount Arapiles are increasingly popping up in photography competitions and internet photo galleries; it is a tourist attraction in the making.

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