Paper Plane Gallery - Anna Madeleine

It was my second visit to Darling Street in one week, first for an opening at Artereal and then for Art Month which gave me a chance to visit Paper Plane for the first time and I loved it and hope to return.

‘Fault Lines’ by Anna Madeleine is a collection of cool imaginative works on large pieces of paper some of which are on maps and dress-making paper. Detailed drawings of sections of the human skeleton and objects like shells and against backgrounds of geological maps.

It’s as if Anna is recreating and making alterations to her own life, ‘Alterations’, altered map, here she has re stitched parts from other maps that are relatively the same but in different colours and different sizes into the same areas to see what it would be like and effectively to. I like the contrast of the red thread against the blue and green of the map, nicely done.

‘Drown’, pigment ink on dress making pattern is a wonderful piece full of imagination and technique. There is a lot to read in this work and it’s probably my favourite out of all of them.
And I love a great drawing. Keep up the great work Anna.

Written by Fleur MacDonald

8th March - 25th March 2012
www.paperplanegallery.com
www.annamadeleine.com

Dlux MediaArts - 30th Birthday Bash

I had some idea about who Dlux was through following wonderful artists such as John A Douglas, Daniel Mudie Cunningham and Dani Marti, Elvis Richardson and Soda Jerk.

But not entirely sure as what they did at Dlux and now I know, Dlux is a haven for visual artist’s who paint with film, their tools are not brushes or palette knives but fancy electronic equipment and I might add user friendly. With 30 years of a wealth of knowledge to guide artist’s in creating perfection.

Dlux started out as the Sydney Super 8 Group in 1982 and has since been the longest running screen arts organization and this was the first time that I had visited Dlux as it set up a pop-up during Art Month and had to have somewhere to throw it’s 30th Birthday bash.

Somewhere to have a little celebratory drink and learn something new at the same time.

Oh and it was the first time I saw the coolest band in the land, ‘ToyDeath’, catch them if you can.

Written by Fleur MacDonald

www.dlux.org.au

Artereal Gallery - The Talent Agency & Charles Dennington

I’d not been to Artereal Gallery in some time probably over a year so my return was way overdue and I have to admit but I really like this gallery and should visit more often. The location is a little arty farty, a little alternative and definitely a little posh and you have to be happy with that.

The Talent Agency is the curatorial persona of artist Giles Ryder and ‘Northern Lights’ is a group show of South East Asian art. It’s an interesting selection of paintings, mixed media and video installations. Bringing almost unseen work to the heart of Balmain. There is lots of lovely work in this show but I’m afraid only one work stood out for me and basically it really blew me away.

‘Slow down, on fire’ by Noraset Vaisayakul, canvas, acrylic paint, web cam, laptop, projector and interactive software. It’s a piece that I found romantic and a bit breathtaking, it did take me a bit aback when I first walked into the enclosure, I wasn’t sure what to expect but watched it and watched it watch me and a fire ring would appear on my face. I loved how it was interactive and sensed your presence and I loved the fire ring that hovered over your face. You can see it in action on my video of the show.

This work is still with me as I’m still thinking about it and it would have worked also in a completely darkened room but I kind of liked how it was with it’s soft lighting, quite moody and quite fantastic.

‘When A Thing Becomes A Thing’, by Charles Dennington in the project room. This work is whimsical and wonderful and I can only guess how hard his work process involves as I can see so much thought process, I loved all of the work right down to the tiny ‘Baby Halo’, polymer clay right up to the labour intensive larger work ‘Untitled Studio Arrangement’, polymer clay, found objects and gouache.

These works are wild and show a fabulous sense of humour and a complete understanding of the physical reality, they all could very easily assume a position within an alternate reality to.

Fleur MacDonald

7th March - 31st March 2012
www.artereal.com.au

Martin Browne Contemporary - Adrienne Doig & McLean Edwards

Ok, well I have already seen a couple of shows by McLean Edwards and have enjoyed them all so far, he has this serious but mischievous sense of humour which I kinda like and his broad brush strokes in vibrant colours don’t go astray either. Friends have said to me that all his paintings are self portraits, it’s not really hard to believe as McLean does have strikingly strong and handsome facial features, a little like a cartoon super hero but in a good way.

I have two favourites from this series titled ‘Here Comes Everybody’ and they are ‘LA Story #2’, oil on canvas with it’s spectacular sunset and luminous green over shirt, the figure stands tall and straight as if propping up the motel sign, a little like a billboard poster showing off the wonderful vista. ‘Nine Lives’ oil on canvas is a front page grabbing headline with one of those fabulous infinite photo’s, it makes you want to read more into it, makes you wonder what the hell it’s all about and that’s what I like .. !

Adrienne Doig and her ‘AD in Arcadia Ego’ series is something I’ve been waiting to see, since friending her on facebook I had hoped I would have had the chance to meet her but was unable to attend the opening but still managed to see the show before the opening and really loved the work.

A wonderful playful use of romantic Rococo tapestries interweaving Australian fauna into the European landscape is quite breathtaking. It’s a little like reinventing a once lush landscape with Australian fauna that is not on the verge of extinction but in bountiful supply that’s available for the world to see at any time.

‘Lasiorhinus Krefftii’, or what ever that means has a darling Hairy Nosed Wombat in it, minding it’s own business while going about doing what Wombat’s do best. ‘Platycercus Elegans’, captures the moment in flight of two bright red and blue parrots. ‘AD Abundantiam’, has the artist going about her day to day chores, chooks and all.

Really loved every single one of them, Adrienne has told in this series a wonderful cheerful story with her technical skill as an embroiderist and her visual adaptation as an Artist.

Fleur MacDonald

1st March - 25th March 2012
www.martinbrownecontemporary.com

James Dorahy Project Space - Matt Glenn

Undercard

‘Untitled (Fighter)’, Lambda print shows strength in character but with an acute sensitivity to the delicate subject matter, a son’s love for his mother.

Green Screen for an Action film, steel, .38 calibre bullet holes, auto paint is a mini piece of purpose built framed heaven hanging on the wall. A wonderful moment of genius.

This ‘Pink Flower’, steel, shotgun holes and auto paint is a large pink flower elegantly exploding it’s blossom for all the whole world to see.

It really is quite amazing what beauty you can see after such a violent act. I am certainly not condoning gun violence but I do when it comes to Art and hopefully no one was hurt during the making of this kind of Art.

‘Dream Bout’, fluorescent sign with lettering, this work speaks volumes and very loudly so I don’t really need to say much about it.

But Matt is a real sweetie, he has a very sensitive approach to his work showing off his attention to detail and creating a schmick and slick collection of beautifully powerful works.

Fleur MacDonald

28th February - 25th March 2012
www.jamesdorahy.com.au