Considering an artist in residence

I thought I'd step away from wandering around galleries for a moment and have a brief look at what some artists are achieving outside an exhibition space. 
Imagine inviting an artist into your home, school or office, solely to create something unique and relevant. Not necessarily a partnership or a painting project-by-committee, rather one which creates an opportunity: for the artist, to work and learn (and live and eat) and for the 'patron', to engage with someone, possibly outside of their groove, who might take a different approach to life and add another dimension. Each might influence the other which may then be reflected in the outcome.

Wendy Murray private commission 2006
acrylic & enamel paint on wallpaper 

Private patronage has many benefits for artist and patron alike. Life is meant to be interesting and should be filled with ideas and concepts that take us outside of the daily grind. Creative projects offer this opportunity.
We did it a while ago - in our family home. I met an artist whose work I particularly liked and which I thought could sit well in our home. Wendy Murray came to our home for 3 days, as our artist in residence, to draw and paint and spray-paint on prepared wallpaper, to create a large, site-specific wall piece. Her fee, materials, meals and beverages were covered and in return, we received what I still consider a beautiful artwork unique to our home. It was a particularly memorable experience for our kids and their friends - all of whom still speak with great pride about their involvement (minimal, thank goodness) in the resulting piece. A modest project yes, but with a long and very happy ending. Imagine the breadth of influences from a larger, more ambitious projects.
Sydney Grammar Prep in Edgecliff has a great residency program - the Master Artists Program. A generous anonymous donor bequeathed the funds to the School, for the purpose of bringing writers, poets, musicians, composers and visual artists into the classroom. The expectation is that the artists interact with the boys across all ages (to 12 years old) in the classroom, showcase their skills and develop a project in which everyone can participate either as individuals or as a group. This is not the standard residency program but one which crosses over into instruction and education in an informal way.

Alexander Seton Cats 2008
resin, 23x18x11cm ea
image courtesy the artist and
Sullivan & Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney

Art teacher Janna Tess seeks out artists whose modus operandi can be translated into a classroom situation and, importantly, artists who are happy to talk to lots of kids. The artistic skill set must be balanced with those of communication. The boys have been well nurtured in the art department by such luminaries as John Wolseley, Del Kathryn Barton, a group of women from Walpiri (Central desert), Alexander Seton and Darren McDonald. 
Alex Seton commented that instructing and organising the kids was a "new experience; it was intense and challenging but thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding." His art practice is fairly industrial, so it was pretty unrealistic to expect him to teach the kids how to carve Carrara marble. His approach was to create a project which was rooted in the elements and interests of his practice but was wholly achievable by groups of young boys, over a couple of weeks. They made huge inflatable creatures from recycled plastic bags. Janna's recollection of the project is one of pure joy, seeing these large fantastical creatures, puffed into life with a generator, float and waft across playground. 
The idea is not necessarily to meet the particular needs of the curriculum but to enliven it. It is to stimulate creativity in the classroom and introduce contemporary practices to young minds. For the teachers, they find it equally as stimulating and refreshing, keeping their teaching methods fresh and new. 

Darren McDonald Wielding the willow 2010
oil on canvas
image courtesy the artist and 
Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne

In this Program the artists are paid a fee and, should they be from out of town and around for a duration (say 2 weeks), they can stay in nearby accommodation. At the end of the residency, an artwork by the artist is bought for the School's permanent collection.  Whoever set this program in motion for the School had great foresight into its potential benefits and influences, for boys, teachers and artists alike. 
Along similar lines, with public funds, is the artists in public schools initiative, set up as a joint venture between the state governments and the Australia Council. The process and the outcome though seem to be less fluid and fairly curriculum/ policy driven, which is to be expected I guess.
As I blog, Alex Seton is enroute to another residency, this time in upstate NY. Art Omi International Artist Residency selects up to 30 artists from world wide to "gather in rural NY state to experiment, collaborate and share ideas" for 3 weeks in July. 
Art Omi began as the vision of a major art enthusiast and philanthropist, Francis Greenburger, as a way to find meaningful connections with artists internationally; to circumvent the frustrations of international politics and develop a positive international discussion based on cultural perspectives. Lofty ideals but a great point to start with and test drive. It is cross-artforms, with artists working alongside other invited writers, musicians and dancers. Art Omi is also realistic in its approach, aiming to assist serious artists find a solid professional way forward: that what they are doing is not and should not be perceived as hobbyist or extraneous, rather as meaningful and significant contributions to a broader international community. Creative opportunities are balanced with critical appraisals from the Critic-in-Residence and introduction to professionals and experts in the field (gallerists, other artists, critics). This is good old-fashioned art patronage at its best - generous, long term, ambitious and engaged. 
Such patronage is also thriving in Malaysia. Architect Hijjas Kasturi and his Australian-born wife Angela have developed and manage 2 artist residency programs, one on a large estate just outside of KL, the other in Penang. Their first venture and main estate Rimbun Dahan began about 18 years ago and was born of a desire to establish positive cultural exchanges between Malaysia and Australia. It was about the time of Keating and Mahathir contretemps and we all remember that famous jibe: relations were strained. The program at Rimbun Dahan is well resourced and organised: artists are invited for a 12 month stay with accommodation, a stipend and travel support. A solo exhibition is scheduled for the end of the residency period, in the Underground Gallery (onsite) and a couple of works are purchased for the Kasturi personal collection. Currently Jonathon Nichols is in residence and from what I've heard, is having a fabulous (and productive) time.
I heard about Rimbun Dahan from Thornton Walker, a Melbourne- based painter who lived there about 16 years ago. He has also recently just returned from a residency at Hotel Penaga in Penang, the Kasturi's 2nd residency venture. It is designed around a more informal and flexible program, offering a 6 week stay, but retaining the same sense of generosity and support as Rimbun Dahan. 

Thornton Walker surrounded by his work, in the studio at Hotel Penaga

Thorton Walker Georgetown V 2012
watercolour, ink & acrylic on paper, 76x56cm
image courtesy of the artist

On this recent trip to Penang, Thornton went with no preconceived notions or expectations of outcomes. I wanted to be completely open to new influences and subject matter during my time at Penaga as the artist in residence; to absorb the rich culture in Penang and respond to it as best I could, in the studio. After exploring the town for a week, what stayed with me were the old faded photographs of faces I saw on temple and clan house walls. They resonated for me as a window into the past, a nostalgic glimpse of a rich culture. I decided to do my best to recreate this feeling in paint. I took snap-shots of these photographs, often out of focus and partly obscured with reflections on their glass frames, and then set about interpreting them in watercolor, ink, acrylic and oil paint. Thornton Walker, 2012, on Hotel Penaga website

Thorton Walker Georgetown IV 2012
watercolour, ink & acrylic on paper, 76x56cm
image courtesy of the artist

Watercolour blots and softens the past. The portraits become romantic and intriguing, suggestive of alluring foreign lands and times, rather than records of particular individuals. The over-layed details of the ficus plant and bunch of lychees, so common in Penang, haul the works back into the present. The calligraphy is pure chinese, beautiful in its graphic feel but, in this context, absurd and out of place - lychees in heavy syrup! These portraits lure us in, though with tongue-in-cheek, toying with our own desire for the exotic.

And, beyond remaining just new work within a respected artist's career, these works add to the tolerance and understanding of another culture - from both sides of the fence. 

Now all that is required is a residency in an equally enchanting location for well-meaning bloggers. 
I am taking a short break from blogging over the next couple of weeks. But you, dear reader, need not pause in your pursuit of meaningful art: there is so much going on. Check these out ....
The 18th Biennale of Sydney All our relations opens next week and looks bigger, brighter and better than before. In tandem is SafARI, presenting emerging artists during the Biennale.
The Commercial opens, a new gallery venture for Amanda Rowell; Ken Unsworth is at William Wright Artists' Projects and Alfredo & Isabel Aquilizan: In-Habit: Project Another Country open at Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation
Go forth and enjoy.

Musings on a colonial past

The temperature has dropped so I thought I might as well make the most of it and head south. I set off with friend and overcoat and escaped to Canberra. Our mission was to tackle  Von Guerard: Nature Revealed and unDisclosed, the 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial at the National Gallery of Australia; lunch with my parents and a visit to David Sequeira's gallery space in Civic (downtown Canberra), in a single day.
Visiting the von Guerard exhibition was about stepping outside of a contemporary mindset and entering a completely different one - from the 19thC. It was really engaging. After we got back, I read David Hansen's review in the latest Art & Australia in which he talks about the  curatorial rationale as one in which the historical appraisals of von Guerard are revisited - the history of its history is reviewed. This time von Guerard is presented for a 21st C audience: "re-presented for an age of global warming, of the National Geographic Channel, of Aboriginal reconciliation, even ... of extreme sports." (David Hansen, review of von Guerard Nature Revealed, Art & Australia, vol 4, 2012 pp 674 - 675) www.artandaustralia.com.au 
And yes, it feels like that: the selection of works, the layout, the emphases of particular periods in his life and works all add up to furthering our understanding of who he was and what drove him. 
Von Guerard is presented as an adventurous nature lover, with a respect for local indigenous people and a deep commitment to his craft, career and the natural world. He was a 19thC greenie - intent on recording the world in its vastness, its variety and in its detail. For me, it is this side of the person and his work that is worth understanding. Whilst his works may be old-fashioned in appearance, they are thoroughly current in what they reveal of his intention. 
The detail in his work is unrelenting, though it remains more Romantic than Realist. The paintings are detailed and rich but it is his sketchbooks and lithographs which are truly revealing and which, for me, are the gems in the exhibition. Unadorned, without the distractions of colour or noble themes, the sketches reveal the keenness of his eye, the steadiness of his hand and the commitment to his vision. 
Von Guerard was intrepid to say the least. He came to Australia from Europe to seek his fortune in the gold rush and stayed 30 odd years. His journeys took him far and wide, in no doubt difficult conditions and circumstances but with the single purpose to record the plant life and landscape before him. With sketchbooks, brushes, inks and paints, possibly at times an easel, he ventured into new terrain to sketch/ paint extraordinary scenes. www.nga.gov.au/VonGuerard

Eugene von GUÉRARD Ferntree or Dobson's Gully, Dandenong Ranges 1858
pen and ink and wash 37.9 x 54.8 cm (image and sheet)
NGV, Melbourne Felton Bequest, 1960 647-5 

Von Guerard's depictions are informed by both a European and colonial Australian sensibility. What was really interesting then, was to wander from 19thC colonial Australian landscapes into unDisclosed the 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial. One minute standing in the middle of a colonial past; the next, stepping forward out of the past, looking back and re-thinking it. Colonial references continue, but that history is represented and retold from a completely difference perspective.

Michael Cook Broken dreams #2 2010
inkjet print on archival paper, ed 8
124x100cm
image courtesy of the artist and
Dianne Tanzer Gallery & Projects, Melbourne

Michael Cook's two beautifully poetic photographic series, Broken Dreams and Undiscovered, make obvious references to the period (& slightly earlier) to which von Guerard belonged. Here is a retelling of colonial stories through the eyes of Aboriginal people. The photographic narratives feature only Aboriginal people, who have now become the sole protagonists. Therein lies Cook's approach - an alternative to a colonial dialogue, as one which is wholly owned by Indigenous Australia.  www.michaelcook.net.au  Also in the latest Art & Australia, an essay on Michael Cook by Maurice O'Riordan, pp572 - 575.
Danie Mellor's approach is similar. His works speak of dual histories. His large scale drawings retain a glimpse into another older world and, a bit like von Guerard, I see in his work a similar level of conviction to his natural world and his cultural history. He uses old fashioned techniques to create his works: composition of landscape, bordered by a continuous wreath of lush flora and fauna decorations, all held within elaborate gilt frames. But his intention is edgier. He uses limited colour. The works are basically blue and white, ala porcelain (think willow pattern blue and white) and animated by brightly coloured animals, birds and Indigenous people which sparingly inhabit the landscape, scenes of the FNQ tropical rainforest of his youth. And the not-so-usual smattering of crystals and glitter decorate and highlight the outer edges of the works, seducing us with their twinkle under gallery lights. 

Danie Mellor Paradise generations 2012
pastel, pencil, glitter, Swarovski crystal
and wash on Saunders Waterford paper
97.5 x 148.0 cmimage courtesy of the artist and Michael Reid 

But unDisclosed is no means an exhibition of the study of a colonial past and its travesties. The discourse broadens with the work (again photography, hand-coloured digital prints on canvas) of Nici Cumpston. Elegant yet very disturbing, these large scale photographs evoke a real sense of loss for irrevocable damage done to her Country - our shared environment. 
Vernon Ah Kee's installation, Tall man, a 3 part video channel, text, and portrait, in which he quietly rages over the deep injustices of the Palm Island tragedy is compelling. A full series of portraits is featured in the rehang of the Australian art collection at AGNSW. www.milanigallery.com.au 
Some other artists included are Fiona Foley, Sally Gabori, Bob Burruwal and Lena Yarinkura, Julie Gough and Jonathon Jones. This exhibition is a fresh, energetic, biting and moving overview of the diversity of concepts and practices in contemporary Indigenous art. This is only the 2nd Triennial but it is already well established and respected. The National Gallery offers an opportunity Indigenous curators and students to access its facilities and contribute to the development of the exhibition. www.nga.gov.au/unDisclosed
Back in Sydney-town, I find that Danie Mellor has a show in 2 parts, Paradise Garden at Michael Reid Fine Art in Elizabeth Bay and at Manly Regional Gallery & Museum (adj to the Wharf at Manly). So I (all of us) get to look and think about his work some more. At Michael Reid until 30 June. www.michaelreid.com.au
I rarely head north in search of decent art but  Manly Regional Gallery is an exception. This small public gallery is a museum, community gallery and exhibition space at the beach and as the current exhibitions show, offers great opportunity for engagement with some great work. Danie Mellor is in the access space, alongside Arthur Boyd and his father, potter Merric Boyd; a small but cohesive permanent collection of contemporary ceramics and of course, the beach museum. Old cozzies and brollies, memorabilia and paraphernalia from our long standing love affair with the beach are on display. If you're not up to the surf, then venture to the harbourside and enjoy a wander through this museum/ gallery. Entry is free. www.manly.nsw.gov.au/attractions/art-gallery-museum
Back to our Canberra adventure, we finished our day at David Sequeira's space Everything Nothing Projects. His very apt descriptor is Small Space Big Visions. He was keen to take us on a tour around his immaculate teeny tiny 'white cube' which is dedicated solely to geometric abstraction. Colour is at its heart and sings in this space: just see Melinda Harper's works, including paintings, tapestries and paper collages, which are currently on show. Sequeira's list of artists is impressive, ambitious and exciting - eg John Nixon, Eugene Carchesio and the late NY based Australian John Vickery, see more on the website or find David on Facebook. A small space can achieve big things by offering to artists an alternative approach. There is nothing else like it in Canberra. Put it on your list when next in town www.everythingnothingprojects.com

View of gallery Everything Nothing Projects
featuring the work of Melinda Harper

And lunch at the Gallery with Mum and Dad and my comrade-in-art was delicious. Mission south was well accomplished.

Making connections, part II

Part II 
Here is my segue from Not the way home to a couple of exhibitions at The Rocks. Bear with me ..... it is more a reminder than a straightforward connection. 
Fowlers Gap the site of exhibition/ residency/project Not the way home, is a scientific research base of UNSW which has been shared with artists for many years. Here, artists engage with geologists, anthropologists, ornithologists, agriculturists, astronomists and engineers who are all there to engage with an extraordinary landscape. Fowlers Gap features prominently as a resource and venue for experimental research for NIEA at COFA UNSW. Don't be turned off by the acronyms - NIEA is the National Institute for Experimental Arts at COFA College of Fine Arts. NIEA is a research facility which promotes innovative theory and practice-based research through cross-disciplinary collaboration and close partnerships with .... Australian and international universities, industry and community groups. The environment and sustainability are key areas addressed by NIEA in various ways via creative experiment and thinking: urban development, renewable energy,sustainable materials, climate, arid zones, land and water, ecology.
NIEA is worth getting your head around because it is an extraordinary research facility, and indicative of the level of creative research coming out of COFA. As COFA heads towards its fully refurbished campus in Paddington (2013) with galleries, design and media studios, NIEA will become increasingly visible. 
The 2 NIEA research groups which are more closely associated with Fowlers Gap are Imaging the Land International Research Initiative (ILIRI) which facilitates, investigates and promotes contemporary dialogue relating to imaging the land;and Environmental Research Initiative for Art (ERIA), with Allan Giddy at the helm, which conceives and realises site-specific public art that accommodates 'eco-logical' practices in ways that regenerate physical environments. As an aside, Giddy is currently working on the exhibition, Desert Equinox - taking a group of local and international artists to Broken Hill and Fowlers Gap, to create solar powered, site specific installations to co-incide with the 2012 spring equinox. Locals are invited to assist the artists, with the installation of the works. Hopefully more on it later this year. http://www.brokenhillartexchange.com/desert-equinox.php

This is what is going on at COFA - I think it is really exciting. Check all of it out at http://www.niea.unsw.edu.au/

Now, hold that thought and move back east, some 1100kms, to The Rocks, in downtown Sydney. Down a side street, above a cafe that looks pretty good, you'll come across 3 artists, all of whom are studying at various levels with NIEA at COFA. It is part of The Rocks Pop Up 2012: a series of exhibitions in temporary spaces, to co-incide with Vivid. 
As does Fowlers Gap afford opportunities for cross disciplinary activities, sharing of ideas and seeking creative solutions in a very concrete way to some very non-creative problems, so too does NIEA.

Exhibiting now are 3 artist students who offer works which are new, experimental and deliberately unresolved. Andrew Newman draws on scientific studies to create a series of diagrams and texts on chalkboards, which hope to map out the neurological pathways which lead to love. Josephine Skinner uses romantic quotes/ sayings/ poetry in digital format, together with a slowed, repetitive passionate kiss from the movie Love Story (Redford and Macgraw), to create quite an intense dialogue of the desparation of love. I didn't get the video works by Rafaela Pandolfini - there is a series which I should look at in its entirety - but I did love the cornucopia head gear ....

Rafaela Pandolfini Cockatoo headdress 3 Loneliness 2009
still from digital video, image courtesy the artist

The works are youthful, experimental and challenging. There's a lot of theory being blown around here and inevitably the works require a fair bit of explanation, which in itself is not always clear or obvious. Even more frustrating... However on a visual level, the works are intriguing: the use of people, sound, repetition, text, the distortion of things known and familiar. Go with the experimental nature of the work, and see where it takes you. 

More connections but of a different kind, I venture down the road to another Pop Up exhibition, Topographies I. Who should I bump into? Kath Fries (from my blog 14 March) & Thomas C Chung (the knitter from last week's blog). Initiated by Gallery 8 as a pop up satellite space, it is in a shop which is still in fit-out mode, on George St adjacent to the MCA. The artists have taken over, with the blessing of the authorities; sort of like a fully-sanctioned art squat. Landlords on Oxford St take note - this is such a good use of disused space, even if only temporarily. 
Topographies I is another landscape exhibition, though in a less obvious way than that of No way home.  Each exhibiting artist talks to the site, in terms of its history, location and state of renovation or abandonment.  Chung is in his element with knitted hammer, spanner, nail drill: butch, charming and such obviously hopeless tools. Fries' work is more subtle and elusive: gauze wrapped around an open channel in the ceiling, filled with feathers. She alludes to the seagulls which swirl the Bridge at night, catching the lights, feasting on the bogong moths which are drawn to the lights. It is always a remarkable, eerie scene, on a hazy, misty evening in particular.  Check out her blog www.kathfries.blogspot.com
Mark Booth's small pipe sculptures look to an infinite plumbing system, recalling that of the MCA, which recycles water directly from the harbour for its essential air conditioning system.

Mark Booth ARROW.100 series 2011-2012 

U-PVC pipe and acrylic paint

image courtesy the artist and g8

Matt Busteed Anthropocene 3 & 4  2011

ripped street posters on board

image courtesy the artist and g8

Matt Busteed has torn posters from local scaffolds and reglued them in layers on board: detritus from a shifting urban landscape. This is the first in a series of Topographic exhibitions from g8 on George. Stay tuned. www.galleryeight.com

Now, though, like the moths, I feel drawn to the lights and need to go back to The Rocks at night, and just revel in the Vivid light show. 
So much to see, so much to take in ....

Making connections, part I

Last week it was hard to find connections. This week, it is all about connections and lots of them. Possibly at times a little tenuous, but connections nonetheless, which run from way out west to here in the east and from remote regions to the Sydney CBD.

I went to The Rocks a few times this week during the day - unlike most Sydney people at the moment. Apologies to Vivid, I am yet to, but am determined to, see the light(s). 

I started at SH Ervin Gallery on Observatory Hill. Run by The National Trust, it is a well resourced and respected public gallery which hosts a range of good exhibitions of Australian art, both historical and contemporary. It is home for the Salon des Refuses (the Archibald 2nds, if you like) and the Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize. You'll always find a solidly curated exhibition here - not necessarily cutting edge or experimental, but one with depth and scholarship.

Currently showing is Not the Way Home, curated by Owen Craven aka editor Artist Profile. This exhibition is the result of a project that began 12 months ago, when 13 artists headed way west together, to live and work in a desert landscape. All Sydney (& environs) based, the artists drove 1,100km west of Sydney, past Broken Hill, to Fowlers Gap. It was a 2 week residency during which each artist had an opportunity to forget about the grind of daily life and immerse themselves in their work. Luxury (the only luxury). Artists featuring in Not the Way Home include: Margaret Ackland, Elisabeth Cummings, Merran Esson, Joe Frost, Alan Jones, Jennifer Keeler-Milne, Ross Laurie, Steve Lopes, Euan Macleod, Idris Murphy, Amanda Penrose Hart, Peter Sharp and Guy Warren.  

Late afternoon Fowlers Gap
Not sure who took this photograph but thank you.
Found on www.notthewayhome.tumblr.com

It would be daunting to be cast out into the desert to work, for a limited period in which to come to grips with a difficult environment. No private studio or comfy bed, limited materials and few distractions. Working outside en plein air sounds very romantic, if it weren't for the flies, dust, bugs, uneven rocky ground, wind and sun. There is nothing like an enormous challenge to get the creative juices flowing. Each artist rose to this challenge and produced a body of work which reflected their manied and varied responses to a difficult yet seductive landscape.
Art about landscape is not just about what we stand in and look at, it is also about what we remember - our impressions and emotional responses and the layers of stories of place and inhabitants (people, animals, plants, spirits). Elizabeth Cummings and Idris Murphy do not disappoint - as always their sense of place is based on the feel of a memory; sketching in the landscape is the groundwork for future paintings in the studio. 

Elisabeth Cummings Creek bed Fowlers Gap 2011
oil on canvas 115 x 130cm
image courtesy the artist, King Street Gallery and SH Ervin Gallery

Euan Macleod paints en plein air, quickly and confidently: his bonfire piece masterful with its fiery highlights. Jennifer Keeler-Milne, daunted by the expansive vista, chose to look down at her feet and discovered a wealth of plant life which she studied and drew. Peter Sharp created objects from bits and pieces in the landscape, then drew and painted them - exploring abstracted forms which emerge from the landscape and encourage a different perception. Merran Esson brought the texture of the landscape back with her, as clay impressions to be reworked in the studio as ceramic sculptures. 
The artists here all have good credentials and, from this collective experience, they have produced a body of works which no doubt will inform their respective practices for a long time. 

Euan Macleod Escarpment 2011
acrylic on polyester 124x100cm
image courtesy the artist, Watters Gallery
and SH Ervin Gallery

Jennifer Keeler-Milne work in progress charcoal on paper
from notthewayhome.tumblr.com
image courtesy the artist and Tim Olsen Gallery

A project like this doesn't get off the ground without funding - this one being funded and organised by Artist Profile magazine and Windsor & Newton art materials. The artists have to get there, stay there, be fed & watered (always assists with the creative flow) and use appropriate materials, suitable for the location. Check out the blog developed to document the project http://open.abc.net.au/openregions/nsw-illawarra-86zZ5nx/posts/not-the-way-home-23uO4rR

It doesn't stop there. Not The Way Home satellite exhibition is on at Stella Downer Fine Art in Danks St www.stelladownerfineart.com.au and Jennifer Keeler-Milne is also currently at Tim Olsen Gallery http://www.timolsengallery.com/ with Lumiere. 
I have written too much for one blog (it was a wet weekend) - take a break and come back to Part II when you're ready for more.

A long piece of string

Usually I try to weave a story for you, gentle reader, about the art that is out there during the week. This week it's been hard to find the thread to pull it all together. So what follows is more a long piece of string, marking the trail of where I've been and what I've seen. 

First stop James Dorahy Project Space. Just opened: Annie Aitken's Kaleidoscope exhibition of new pieces and the Project Wall, completely taken over by Thomas C Chung, with "Do you know where I am?"

This gallery tends towards representing a small number of artists, who are just beyond the beginning of their careers (not necessarily young or straight out of art school). Dorahy's interest is in nurturing their careers in a very focussed way, to firmly establish worthy and solid trajectories; he is in it, with the artists, for the long haul. 

His artists' works are diverse, interesting and generally nothing similar is to be found elsewhere. I'm thinking Sarah Newall and her delightful knitted bouquets; Sherna Teperson and her carved wooden everyday objects; Matt Glenn with his bullet holes through painted metal sheets; Ali Noble's gloriously coloured felt collages or Antonia Radich with her lush rich abstract paintings (just to mention a few). www.jamesdorahy.com.au

To add spice to the mix, Dorahy invites other artists to present an exhibition on his "Project Wall". It's a nice way of supporting other careers and introducing new work to his clientele. A lot can be achieved in a small space on the first floor. 

Annie Aitken Kaleidoscope #6 2012polypropylene, nylon net, poly-raffia,
straw yarn, wire & acrylic rod
35 x 35 x 35cmimage courtesy the artist and
James Dorahy Project Space

Annie Aitken works with recycled materials. Not for any political reason and recycling does not necessarily underpin her work, it just reveals her modus operandi. She likes to knit, weave, stitch, plait and bind old vegetable/ fruit bags (the netted ones), strips from plastic sacks, bits of fluoro nylon ribbon, plastic raffia and string to create these bulbous, hollow shapes that "burst straight from the wall". Each one has a rhythm of colour and fabric which becomes more complicated and detailed the closer you look. Beautifully crafted, they're lovely pieces - light, fresh, airy explosions of colour (and very well priced). www.annieaitken.com.au

The Project Wall features Thomas C Chung whose work is a nice adjunct to Aitken's. His is surely an homage to the layette. You know, old-fashioned wool (sometimes acrylic)fine ply, cloying colours, which old ladies love to knit into booties, bonnets and matinee jackets. But instead of clothing, here is knitted kiddies' food, crockery, teapots even pencils and crayons. All carefully box-framed, they are delightful, a bit cheeky, with moments of harsh reality - a lovely box of choccies, with one missing; a cake carved into pieces, with one slice breaking free; lollipops with broken stems; flaccid coloured pencils and precious tea parties. Enjoy!

Then to Artspace down the road in The Gunnery on Cowper Wharf Rd, Woolloomooloo. Much more high brow and provocative, as it is meant to be. www.artspace.org.au The Other's other - an exhibition with an interesting premis and interesting work but, for me, the sum did not equal the many parts. I think a well crafted exhibition brings artworks together which talk not only to the curatorial brief but to each other. The works themselves were particularly interesting but remained isolated and disengaged from each other. Perhaps it was the diversity of what was represented and cultural approaches but the feel was stilted and disjointed.

I had just seen Paul Capsis' solo play Angela's Kitchen in which he reveals the life of his adored grandmother, who had migrated from Malta, as he knew and loved her. (Griffin Theatre www.griffintheatre.com.au) What he brought to the surface about dislocation and cultural identity through the experiences of one woman was deeply moving. The Artspace exhibition sought to deal with similar issues but it wasn't obvious: "multiple concepts of home and cultural belonging....how the memory... of cultural origin and involvement is configured and reconfigured from the perspective of living in estrangement from it." curator Mark Feary, 2012. Artists included are Raafat Ishak, Sangeeta Sandrasegar, Newall Harry, Jun Yang and Dinh Q.Le

Raafat Ishak Nomination for the Presidency of the New Egypt 2012 installation view
image courtesy the artist, Artspace Sydney and Sutton Gallery, Melbourne

Raafat Ishak, Egyptian born, now based in Melbourne, has a practice which is invariably about home and a sense of belonging. His work is quiet and subtle, eloquently combining his Arabic heritage, his architectural knowledge and a delicate painterly style. His 3D piece in Artspace reminded me of a cardboard polling booth reconfigured as an elaborate and elegant political statement in itself - I guess because I saw it on the first day of polling in Egypt, the first time in 5,000 years (incredible!). Ishak shows with Sutton Gallery in Melbourne www.suttongallery.com.au.

Sangeeta Sandresagar is another whose quiet approach is commanding. She recently completed a residency in Bangelore (southern) India - courtesy of the Australia Council - and her contribution here addresses what she researched. Eucalypts were introduced to this region as trees best suited for local use as scaffold supports. As with most introduced species, the eucalypts have had a devastating affect on the local ecosytem. Sandrasegar has cast several scaffold lengths of the timbers and imported them back into Australia. The message is as much environmental as it is political and economic. Their installation in the gallery is informal and seemingly random - sort of left on the edges, in the shadows, almost forgotten. Check out her great blog  - www.sangeetasandresagar.blogspot.com

They lead into a room with 2 very recognisable films running simultaneously - Martin Sheen in Apocalpyse Now alongside Platoon featuring his son Charlie Sheen. Both are Hollywood films about what is known in Vietnam as the "American War" but elsewhere, the "Vietnam War". This is a clever piece by Dinh Q.Le a Vietnamese artist who is interested to pursue how his country and culture has been defined by popular foreign cinema. Both films are suitably edited to sit alongside one another, establishing their own dialogue between the films and the actors (father and son). The piece is called From father to son: a rite of passage. It was pretty enthralling and has prompted me to revisit Apocalypse Now. That's this week's treat.

Stefan Thiel Prada handbag 2012
 101.7 cm x 81.5 cm, paper cut-out
image courtesy the artist and
Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney

Next stop Danks St to Dominik Mersch's gallery, which always has an interesting mix of local and European based artists. Currently showing Stefan Thiel, a Berlin-based artist, whose cutout silhouettes are decidedly racy. A warning at the door about explicit images should draw the crowd in. Titled There is always something better Thiel uses cutout silhouettes to explore his theme of fetish and vanity. Cutting and slicing shadow and form from digital images on paper reveal incredible b&w silhouettes of designer handbags and provocatively posed gay men. The cutout technique is so refined, the textures of the skin handbag versus the patent leather are easily discerned under gallery lights. Quite amazing. www.dominikmersch.com.au
Then onto Darren Knight Gallery, Waterloo. www.darrenknightgallery.com 
Showing at the moment is Patrick Hartigan and NZ photographer Laurence Aberhart. As with much of what is shown here, the works are quiet, subtle, beautifully crafted, intelligent and enduring. Aberhart's photographs are something else in this day and age. Taken with an 8x10" camera, they are contact prints formed on silver gelatin, gold selenium and platinum papers. So out of the norm is this now that he is having difficulty sourcing papers and chemicals. His is a photography that is based on truth to reality, to the image and truth to the craft. He is not interested in any manipulation, rather capturing an image in b&w as it stands. The exhibition is based on his ongoing engagement with monuments, revisiting this theme over and over in his travels. There is a great interview with him on youtube - www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVdgKLCX1DI. It's well worth listening to.

Laurence Aberhart Madonna of the Eternal Snows,
McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica, 29 November 2010printed 2010 silver gelatin, gold and selenium toned  19.4x24.5cm
image courtesy the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney 

I think the string is sufficiently stretched this week. Onto next week's search ....

Two women photographers

This week's blog is from elsewhere. Not where everyone else has gone this week. It isn't from the HK Art Fair! This is a postcard from Gymea - in the Shire.
I went to the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre on the Kingsway (can't miss it - it is the main drag) in Gymea. I saw some great art - Australian photography; had an invigorating  exchange of ideas and opinions with a colleagues; and ate well - no dumplings but stuffed figs, which were particularly fine. The only thing I didn't do was shop. http://www.hazelhurst.com.au/ 
Hazelhurst evolved from an estate built up by Ben and Hazel Broadhurst and then bequeathed to the local community. It is now a well regarded part of the comprehensive network of small public galleries across NSW (& Australia) known as 'regional galleries'.
In the 80s there was a real push to develop what were hobbyist/amateur art galleries into professionally managed, purpose built and well resourced public art museums whose collective mission was to collect, exhibit, educate and promote the visual arts to its local community. 
In NSW the flavour of each gallery is determined by each community, rather than imposed on it. The catalyst was usually the result of a generous bequest (as in Hazelhurst), a donated collection (Orange Regional Gallery), an art prize (Tweed Heads Regional Gallery) or (eg)an energetic craft group (Tamworth Regional Gallery). The Local Council would get on board in an official capacity, allocating funding to fit-out gallery spaces to store/ exhibit artworks and employ professional staff. The potential for the gallery is dependent on the commitment of the Local Council and community, and the dedication of the gallery staff. It is a great way to tour country NSW: visit the local regional gallery and then swim a few laps in the local memorial public pool. For more info on the network check out www.mgnsw.org.au
It was a glorious day and Hazelhurst was pumping. Locals looking, talking, eating, creating - making thoroughly good use of their cultural centre. The relatively new gallery complex (opened in 2000) is on park-like grounds, with a snappy cafe and the original home of the Broadhursts. There is alot to get excited about this place. The complex incorporates studios for ceramics, printmaking, mosaic, drawing, painting etc; good exhibitions can be held in the purpose-built, versatile, functional gallery space. There's a great cafe with good food, coffee and wine; an interesting shop with arty goodies and then, across the garden, the original cottage is being used for artists in residence, the Friends (official local volunteer support group), and an art library. 
Two really good photographic exhibitions were in the main gallery space, each allotted a half, and sitting quite comfortably together. Both are surveys of two influential Australian women photographers Sue Ford and Ingeborg Tyssen. Both women died relatively recently and these two exhibitions firmly reinforce their legacies to contemporary photographic practices in Australia.
Time Machine: Sue Ford is a travelling exhibition, curated and organised by Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne. www.mga.org.au Ford died recently, in 2009, but had worked with Monash curators to begin to develop this exhibition. The core here is her Self portrait series, in which she photographed herself throughout her life. The 47 self portraits start in 1960 and go through to 2008. The portraits are unadorned, direct and honest - holding true to her progress, her ageing. The series highlights an interesting (and what could possibly be described as as disciplined) focus in her work: that of people and their passages through time.

Sue Ford Self portrait 1961

Sue Ford Self portrait 2004
both images here Copyright B&E Ford.
Courtesy of Monash Gallery of Art and the Artist's Estate.

The other great series in this survey is known as the Time Series and again, are great examples of the power of the photograph to capture change and memory. From 1962 to 1974, she photographed portraits of people - straight up, no props or fancy finishes - and then returned a few years later to do it again. Invariably her sitters were her friends, families, colleagues.

Sue Ford Lynn 1964-1974
 images here copyright B&E Ford.
Courtesy of Monash Gallery of Art and the Artist's Estate.

I think about Lynn here and wonder what happened in the decade between the portraits. A  sadness and heaviness to her gaze in 1974 has replaced the perkiness and charm of 1964. Whereas Ford's practice is politically charged, there is a poignancy to her personal reflections.
Ingeborg Tyssen: Photographs is the exhibition on the other side of the room. There is much said and written about Tyssen. This exhibition curated by Sandra Byron is a personal homage to a dear friend who died tragically young. There is an intimacy and warmth in the selection of works, the way they are hung and briefly described. It is very much a personal interpretation of her work. 

Ingeborg Tyssen, from the People series - City Light 1977
courtesy and copyright the Artists Estate
John Williams and Sandra Byron Gallery

Tyssen's people are not known to her, rather are studies of anonymous people: in action, in the city, at a fairground. The People series - City Light 1977  images reveal a sense of isolation in a crowd. People emerging from the dark shadows of the same station/ mall and march into the sunlight. They are expressionless, uncommunicative, isolated, yet display a keen sense of self and appearance. Mostly minding their own business, doing their own thing, they seem undisturbed by the female photographer standing nearby. She must not have been intrusive or demanding, just there with her camera at the ready. 
Studies of kids in the Ryde pool series 1981, in their togs, jumping, splashing, sunbaking, wonderfully capture their sheer joy in the water. They are oblivious to Tyssen and her camera. She's found the wetness of the pool, the delight of the water, the warmth of the concrete. There is a gorgeous image of wet togs which is sublime: the way the togs could stick and bubble over the crevices and bumps of the body. The bloke two steps behind me muttered out loud exactly what I was thinking: "You'd be arrested if you took that photo these days." Too right. 

Ingeborg Tyssen, from the Ryde Pool Sydney 1981
courtesy and copyright the Artist's Estate
John Williams and Sandra Byron Gallery

I have hesitated in my choice of image for this part - the wet bubbling togs. I didn't feel entirely comfortable posting it here. Who knows who is out there trawling for information, to be used as misinformation. I am thinking of the clamorous debate that surrounded the exhibition of Henson's work a couple of years ago. Though his are intense studies and this series of Tyssen's is more observations, it seems like the prospect of misinterpretation based on community fear and ignorance could still be out there. Controversy beaten up. Pornography and exploitation v. the brick wall of unthinking censorship. How we accept, or not, photographic observations of people in the crowd has changed since the 1981 photographs by Tyssen. The unabashed directness of these photographs speak now of another time. Can we still photograph people like this: anonymously, unstaged, no waivers or copyright or permission forms in triplicate? Short answer - no. 
There are other important series presented in edited form: the Tree series 1982 and Billboard series 1982 both of which reveal a keen sense of humour and irony, and sharp powers of observation.  The series From the heart of the forest to the edge of the road is more about her own sense of dislocation, having arrived from The Netherlands at 12 years old. The physical and emotional upheaval of this adjustment become positive forces within her practice. 

Ingeborg Tyssen, from the Tree series 1982
courtesy and copyright the Artist's Estate
John Williams and Sandra Byron Gallery

A while ago I was given the beautiful monograph of Ingeborg Tyssen edited by John Williams (published by T&G Publishing 2006) with a moving obituary by eminent photography critic Robert McFarlane. Most of the images in the Hazelhurst exhibition are in this book.
One imagines Ford and Tyssen knew each other or would certainly have known of each other. Tyssen lived in Melbourne in 1975 for a brief period and ran The Photography Gallery. Whilst their work did not necessarily cross over, their time and place did; their sense of humanity and curiosity did. The two shows together generate a compatible synergy. A glimpse into an association would have been a nice addition. 
The exhibitions form part of the Head-On photographic festival which seems to have taken over Sydney's galleries in a big way. http://www.headon.com.au/
So, after these delights in Gymea, what next? I'll keep you posted.