Kandos - Cementa_13 - Day 2

Had a little too much celebration at the opening of Cementa and spent the day driving the porcelain bus while my head banged like a dunny door in a cyclone.  The photo is of Wallis, who kept me company in my convalescence.

Fleur MacDonald

Edwina Corlette Gallery - Hannah Cutts & Annie Aitken

As we know many artists have a tendency towards collecting and bower birding, but Hannah Cutts & Annie Aitkens have really mastered the alchemy of reinvention of found objects.  Both are currently showing at Edwina Corlette Gallery in Brisbane and their work really made my heart sing.

Hannah has been collecting and curating sets of well worn regalia for over 25 years.  The works in this show include hand painted linoleum, deer antlers, bicycle-seats and old tapestries. There was even a set of old book-maker name plates reconfigured into a wonderful assemblage.  I think Rosalie Gascoigne would have approved.

Nevertheless, these works are undoubtedly, Hannah's original inventions.   I particularly loved 'Tour de Forest - Oscar', a sculpture composed of a bright yellow bike seat and antlers.   In fact I made enquiries a few days after the opening and was informed that they had been a sell-out.

It was a delight to meet Annie Aitken and chat to her about the process behind her works, which she sees as three dimensional drawings or vessels.   Her intricately woven creations have been born from salvaged and reclaimed synthetic threads that have been untangled and woven into new contexts.  In doing so, the artist has revealed their latent aesthetic potential.

Amy Clarke
Guest Reviewer from Brisbane

12th February - ­ 2nd March 2013
Edwina Corlette Gallery

Kandos - Cementa_13 - Day 1

Very fortunate to get a lift with the lovely Naomi Oliver who happens to live in my local area which gave me a nice break from the train. Kandos is a sparkling little gem tucked away in the landscape next to two of my favourites, Rylstone and Ilford. It's jam packed with odd curiosities, strange knitted toys and lots of 4-wheel drives. It’s where the cement was made to make the pylons for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Luscious wide streets with a hickelty pickelty of character architecture. We arrived in the afternoon after driving through most of what Mother Nature could hurl at us to a damp little town and after inspecting one of the picturesque campsites decided it was time to catch up with our first tour.

First up is Margaret Roberts at the Scout Hall, her 'Polygon Landscape' cardboard laid out on the floor of the Scout Hall, apparently these 40 pieces represent side profiles of Kandos houses, they are quite large and are cut from thick cardboard. It’s an interesting piece of local history and a bit of a ‘Grand Design’ idea as most of the profiles show that the houses aren’t a grand design but as all houses are the owners castle I guess they are and for some unknown reason I love cardboard, particularly thick cardboard, I guess it has something to do with it's thickness and unbleached appearance. 

Next up we all walked down to the next exhibit at Ad Hoc Furniture for work by Zio Ledeux, let me say right now that the only work I got to see was the photo montage of ‘Andy does Kandos’ and loved it, what a great idea, wish I’d seen it happen. Every time I go through Leura on the train I want to get out and put an ‘F’ in front it.

It was an overcast day so thankfully I bought my umbrella.

Further down the road we came to The Brown Owl with work by Christine McMillan, my video is a little blurry but it has Christine explaining the work to us. The objects created were as smooth as a babies bottom, I snuck a touch as I always like to touch but don’t tell anyone.

I went into the church and looked up at the back wall and become entranced with the slide projection by Sarah Breen Lovett of a simple action of doors closing, one door closes and another opens, this piece holds so much in the palm of it’s hand.

Off to across the road to Mort’s Place where SNO Group were set up in a garage, ‘Collective Monochrome No.26’ by Billy Gruner and Sarah Keighery, a piece which involves interaction from the general public, there was a painted canvas sitting on an easel with a bucket of red paint and a brush on the table, we took turns to paint the canvas in any way we could. Had to be part of that and then sign our name on the form. Being a painter gives you a unique perspective on your surroundings. Over in the corner there was ‘Collective Monotone No.1’ a sound piece by Ian Andrews where other artist’s from all over the world contributed by giving a single tone of the note E, I really loved this piece as it reminded me of my many visit’s to have an MRI, I tried to get back on another day for another listen but couldn’t.

With a bit of a trek up the hill to the Kandos Museum we found Bronia Iwancak with ‘Sunset’ digital photographs depicting items entirely from the Museum set within the Museum setting. The Kandos Museum is a wild and woolly place with everything you could possibly think of that has existed on this planet then this Museum has it. Majority of the items have been donated via deceased estates so you can imagine what’s in there. From those ghastly racist toys to one of only two in Australia an AC-DC converter. A little bit of curious spooky for everyone.

Over in the far corner was Fiona MacDonald with her first ever video piece ‘Sunset Kandos’ a split screen in 4 parts, upside down and right side up, showing both sides of the Kandos streets, Fiona gaffa taped a camera to the side of her car and drove for miles around the town, she then put it all together and picked out certain things to show in reddish orange which I think looks great. I sat on the seat and watched it all the way through, it was to record the lots that were marked out on the original 1915 auction document. I find it terribly interesting how the land changes constantly around us and how we record them. There is also oil paintings of the layout of the street lights and these were painted using the colours of the ingredients that was produced by the Cement works to create cement. Bravo!

Time to head off down to the opening ceremony at the Down The Track Cafe to see also the very big and beautiful ‘Side Wall’ by Kate MacKay with her signature cubes, I’m a big fan of Kate’s, I love her use of colour and her use of space to create these gorgeous structures.

The cafe became quite packed quite quickly, ran into lots of familiar faces and we all had a ball. It was time to move to a bigger venue so on our way over to the Railway Hotel we found ourselves in audience mode listening to the wonderful vocals of Liam Benson doing a great rendition of a Fleetwood Mac song, oh my, I think he is 'the most handsome of the art world'.

Fleur MacDonald

1st February - 4th February 2013
www.cementa13.com

Gallery 9 - Jelena Telecki and Simon Blau

May I say that I might just have to gush a little in this post as everyone knows that I’m a big fan of Simon Blau and now a fan of Jelena Telecki.

‘Sitter (after Land & A. Sander) oil on canvas paper promotes deep thought, I was a little mesmerized by the detail in the hair of the lady sitting, you could reach out and touch it, so beautiful. ‘Gregor’ oil on canvas paper makes you think, it’s telling some story but I’m not entirely sure what it’s saying, but I love the shapes and figures.

‘Roland’ oil on canvas paper is another dark beauty with it’s ghost like head in a telepathic conversation, this must be Roland’s mother.

Jelena has a wonderful future ahead of her, her technique and style is unlike any other and I found that sharing the space with the abstractionist Simon Blau gave off a comfortable balance between the two distinct styles.

It’s like he’s stepped back in time to around when his daughter Bella was born, as these are sort of the type of works that I remember him doing when I first met Simon Blau.

These new works are wildly wonderful, full of passion and a care free spirit, almost one that has been caged for sometime and then finally let loose. The colours are explicit and the patterns have exploded onto the canvas, love them all.

 Fleur MacDonald

23rd January - 16th February 2013
www.gallery9.com.au

Drawing Room - Case Studies

Case Studies, gorgeous paintings and drawings by three of my favourite artist's and long time friends. Its an eclectic collection of older and newer works, sensitive nuances and bold statements.

Each artist has bought to the table a delicious selection of mouth watering treats to tempt and tease. If I was a millionaire then I would without restraint buy every work in this show.

Fleur MacDonald
5th December 2012 - 27th January 2013
http://www.facebook.com/drawroom
www.gallery9.com.au

David Jones - Sculpture by the Sea

The grandeur of On Seven at David Jones propels these works into the museum setting as they so deserve to be in. I have to be completely honest but I miss the David Jones Art Gallery, use to go there on a regular basis and then it closed. To me it was quite posh, ok I have been to many many galleries but I have always remembered ‘it’ with fondness.

‘Mirador’ the wooden dome by Rachael Couper & Ivana Kuzmanovska is a Grand Design in it’s own right with it’s mega beauty reflecting everything on the inside.

‘Thinkin’n’drinkin’ cardboard monster by Hugh Ramage, love work made from cardboard, it reminds you that it is not only used for making cartons.  ‘Sunken Cathedral’ tree stumps with roots by Bjorn Godwin, a novel idea which would look great in an abandoned field, no one would know that they are not made of wood until you got up close to them. ‘At the Table: are we sitting comfortably’, grassy dinner by Sally Kidall, remember her seeing her work on the beach walk and loved it then and love it still, it’s so down to earth.

‘Step by Step, inch by inch...Towards the precipice’ sand shoes by BAM - Brenner & Medwell, really love this work and have been fortunate to get to know Pamela Lee Brenner for the past year, this piece is like following everyone’s footsteps and realizing that there are so many feet on this planet, it’s also fitting for this work to be shown in a department store that sells shoes.

Fleur MacDonald
11th January - 20th January 2013
http://www.davidjones.com.au