Hope Chest by Maree Alexander, a tender series of large photographs of as it seems friends belongings with titles such as ‘Anna’s Comb’ and ‘Eunice’s Glove’... Intimate moments in time captured in a calming light... Loved 'Eunice’s Glove’, at first glance I thought it was a cardigan which made me take a closer look and realize it’s a glove encasing a lovely silver teapot... These are very quiet pieces that almost makes you want to whisper in there presence...
Names are a common theme within both of these artists work... Leila Jeffreys larger photographs of Budgerigar’s are bright, bold and beautiful portraits of colourful characters such as ‘Mrs Plume’ and ‘Bruce’... ‘Spencer’ with his almost regal stance looks incredibly proud!!!
These works give you the opportunity to study these birds in naturalistic detail and make you realize they may be small but are they are large in life...
The second show of Halinka's at Flinders Street and the paintings are as dark and moody as the last. Her ability to catch the effect of light at night is always impressive... as is the detail given to bricks and foliage in the surban world created.
This show didn't seem quite as complete as the last... it could have done with a couple more paintings ... the walls tended to look a little sparse, but definitely worth a look.
Penguins, polar bears and other glorious stuffed creatures from the animal kingdom... The heart of the matter!!! This is probably the most diverse show I've seen so far at this gallery... And a real treat it is too... Packed to the rafters when I arrived and filming it had it's difficulties...
Playing God in recreating natures intended course could turn Darwin’s theory of Evolution on it’s head...
Although, what is plainly present within these works is man’s unintended eventual destruction of the once beloved natural world... ‘War and Peace’, two Magellanic Penguins standing upon a nest of plastic soldiers reminds us of the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ that’s slowly killing off the Albatross...
‘Blessed are the Meek’, not what Nature intended, the lamb eating man... this is what horror movies are made of... ‘The Disney World’, carnivorous infighting between Bambi and friends... Man’s attempt with creating a ‘new order’, one of which would never work as we all saw in the film ‘Frankenstein’
This is a spectacular show which just may freak you out...
The thing I really love about Albion Street Gallery is it's truly a project Space. Mike McCorry the gallery director just lets the artist do what they like...
This show is wacky, these pictures are nuts...
Stephen after twenty years of commercial work is just going for it and the result is kind of hit and miss but entertaining all the same ... and it comes with one of the most heartfelt catalogue essays for a long time.
It's almost like going to a family Barby going to Albion Street Gallery, refreshingly informal and very relaxed and if you don't catch up with old friends you make new ones.
At it's best saccharine sweet, but if you let the corniness wash over you it's a marvelous body of work.
Heavy on the Chagall reverences but I don't have a problem with that... running into 'Commedia dell' Arte' at the Frankfurt au Main Opera house was a life changing experience.
These are lyrical personal paintings, I was trapped upstairs listening on the loudspeaker to Geoffrey Lehmann's beautiful poem and had the pleasure of meeting him at the end and got to show him the cooked bandicoot painting ... which was in my mind the highlight of the show... It's a little treat...
I got to shake Marie Bashir's hand and I so think she's cool... you would look twice on the M4 if you saw a car with no number-plate but a crown! Love my Governor being so damn interesting...
A VERY busy opening and hot beyond oxygen, this show needs the catalogue, the essay makes sense of it all.. and you get to see the fantastic ceramic urn that was in the show at Mary Place again... that alone is worth going to see.
Strangeland Vol. 1 featuring Sari T.M. Kivinen, Liam Benson and Debra Petrovich
Strangeland, it’s a strange land, within this stark spooky landscape John captures the sought after mood perfectly and the attention to detail is paramount... With the help of a strong supporting cast, Sari T.M.Kivinen and Liam Benson and the beautiful haunting soundtrack by Debra Petrovich and not to forget a mention for their technical support Melanie Ryan and Matt Cuneo...
I fell in love with the whole package and hope to see it again...
Glen Davis was probably the best choice of location for this work with it’s dark mysterious ghost town appearance and it’s WWII industrial background which worked well with the interweaving of scenes and characters...
John’s work reminds me of a Dennis Hopper film... It’s dramatic, violent, powerful, scary and just plain brilliant... This show is a definite must see, better than anything at the movies and you may need to bring your own popcorn!!!
It’s been awhile since I’d been to the Tim Olsen Gallery, but it’s a long walk and I only had one ride left on my Travel10... Planned for the trip back!!!
Breathing Land is a rich tapestry of colour within a dense dry landscape... Muted images of the vegetation that surrounds waterholes and gorges... Time spent within this landscape and you can see the colours and shapes for what they really are either at sunset or sunrise... How the light falls on the trees, casting multiply shadows... The many different species of native flora in a wide diversity of colour and smells... That’s right I said smells, when I look at landscape paintings I sometimes imagine what the air around it smells like!!!
I’ve met Celia a couple of times and found her to be very calm and easy going and her work reflects her personality... My favourites would have to be ‘Waterhole XIII’, ‘Waterhole VI’, ‘Waterhole VII’ as they remind me of tapestries... And especially the series of collages on the back wall of the gallery, these works a very light in mood and very pretty...
And it really isn’t important how far the gallery is, just as long as you want to go...
It wasn’t too windy and it wasn’t too bright, just the right weather for my trip to the sea... I really enjoyed the entire exhibition and in fact I think it’s the best one yet!!!
So I have my favourite’s picked out, ones that struck me in the head and I may just be a little bias with my choice, as there is a couple of works by Artist’s that I know personally and those include Samantha Whittingham’s ‘Doorway’ up on Marks Park Lookout... This wildly huge work of a continuous doorway, I first thought it was made of steel and greatly relieved it was made of wood, really is an amazing piece and if I’d been a small child would have gladly enjoyed a dizzy run through it...
‘Oh My God’ by Lucy Vader a darling friend at Mackenzie’s Bay is a stand out piece, a phrase used widely by all of us, combining her Architectural background with the English language effectively...
Jeramie Carter, who I met through my fellow sixtoeighter James P Gilmour, comes from Coffs Harbour... I fell in love with his work before I even met him... ‘The Dancer’ is an absolutely beautiful piece, polished stainless steel to the inch of it’s life, offering a vast selection of reflections... Perfect for the vainest of characters... I dared not to touch it after hearing constant updates in it’s making, of blood sweat and tears and almost losing an eye!!!
I would have thought twice though of it’s position at Mackenzie’s Bay View, it really needed to be placed where you can walk around it comfortably, as I discovered when I made my video... I almost slipped into the ditch!!!
Moving right along, Sally Kidall’s ‘At the table: are we sitting comfortably’ at Bondi Beach Viewpoint... Ok, I’m a sucker for anything green and especially made with grass... This piece exuded confidence and comfort... I really really wanted to sit down at it and run my fingers through the grass... A really lovely piece...
Up at Mark’s Park Lookout with the wow factor... ‘Entering the exit’ by Braddon Snape... Big white shiny welded epoxy coated steel looked absolutely fantastic with the ocean backdrop... And ‘Tide’s Turn’ by Peter Collins, a gigantic eucalpyt crashing wave could very easily double as an adventurous pergola... ‘Bureaucratic Tank’ by Edward Horne, a brilliant reuse of office furniture to the point of wanting to seriously collect those government hued filing cabinet’s...
Down at Tamarama Beach I found ‘Evidence - The Trail Continues’ by Kerrie Argent... Thinking about the enormity of the work involved and the tireless collecting of all those bottle tops, it’s an impressive piece that makes you really think about recycling plastic!!!
And lastly ‘Flake’ by Gary Deirmendjian at Tamarama Park reminded me of ‘Cloverfield’ and all those other monster and disaster movies... It’s a very entertaining piece and I love how the light still works...
With there Turner esque landscapes setting the mood for this series of work, one can only feel compelled to love them all... I’m going to gush... ‘Fornacis’ and ‘Dust’ survive perfectly as misty landscapes... While the figures dance comfortably across the canvas...
‘Between Midnight and Dawn’ delivers a Magritte moment effectively... Margarita could very easily turn into a surrealist painter as it seems to be a comfortably progression... and I wouldn’t love her any less, in fact I would love her more!!! ‘Pomegranates’ a natural selection to convey her understanding and support of Greek Mythology...
My favorite is ‘The Seagull’, captured perfectly in blurred flight!!! The hungry gull searching forever for food... but somehow looking lost at the same time...
It’s a beautiful show and one that shouldn’t be missed...
Where do I start... These works are so beautiful, fragile, sensual and grotesque at the same time... Southern Ice Porcelain a magnificent stark white clay that attains its translucency is the star attraction... Delicate furls of clay finely attached by the most nimble of fingers... Animal hair, wax, lace, flocking, glass, cotton, bone, resin and ink make up these amazing pieces that are quite beyond description...
A graduate of the National Art School Juz has produced a gobsmackingly almost shocking exhibition... Pieces to entice you and pieces to revolt you, of almost slightly altered internal body parts and flora...
Just loved ‘Skull’, ‘Silence as a virtue’, ‘It’s beautiful and deadly up there, you would hate it’ and
found myself a little scared of ‘The Calves are being weened from their mothers’...
Seeing is believing and this is a MUST SEE show...
From the very first time I saw Andrew’s work at King Street Gallery in the mid to late 90’s I fell in love with it, it still holds a fascination with me as I do enjoy some serious geometric abstraction... I believe that if Kazimir Malevich was alive today he’d be quite chuffed to have been a huge influence on Andrew’s Art practice...
Still kicking myself for being too tired to go to the opening, but enjoyed viewing the work more so with an empty space, more chance to make acquaintance with each piece... As a quiet gallery lets you enjoy the silent speech of each work... And to study each brush stroke and his repeated favourite palette...
I’ve never really been a fan of acrylic paint but somehow Andrew can paint with acrylic paint and make it not look like acrylic paint... And that’s what I like...
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