Thursday, December 23, 2010

nice day!

Nice day a group exhibition resulting from a collaborative weather projects with 5 other artists is on at Logan Art Gallery in South East Queensland from 12 January to 19 February 2011. The exhibition opening is on Wednesday 19 January at 6pm at Logan Art Gallery Corner Jacaranda Avenue and Wembley Road Logan Central Qld 4114 Ph. 07 3412 5519.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Gallery Sitting

Installation view more stolen geometry from the gardens of love, Depot 11 Gallery, Sydney.
It's the second week of my exhibition in Sydney and I am sitting the Gallery alone after Anita Traverso returned to Melbourne.
It's not the easiest task for an artist but the reaction to my work has been favourable and I am using the time to make cut outs for my next exhibition in Bowral.
The exhibition closes on Saturday 18 December so, if you are in Sydney, please come and say hello.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Sydney Exhibition




If you are in Sydney I will be at Depot 11 with Anita and would love to see you and show you my new work

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Small Delights


The Australian bush could never be described as pretty but if you walk slowly and look down there are some beautiful flowers.
I am posting this to show that even though I have reptile phobia on a grand scale I did go for a walk in the wilds of the Shoalhaven.
This evening I saw these beautiful small flowers. The blue flower I think is a bush orchid and I hope the yellow one isn't a weed. Denis Wilson, if you are out there in the blogosphere maybe you can name them.

Bundanon Week 2



Susan Buret, Grey Sky with Choppers, © 2010, paper & acrylic on gessobord, 62 cm x 31 cm.

The top image, is the walk from the Bundanon homestead to Arthur Boyd's studio. The soft garden with it's herbaceous borders is in stark contrast to the majestic bush and the open grazing lands of the rest of the property at Bundanon.
The small timber hut is also very different from the new studios built for residents (middle image). These beautiful light open buildings have been built on the footprints of earlier farm buildings to impact minimally on the land.
The walk to the studio each day is a walk to another world where time constraints become immaterial and one has the luxury of total freedom to create and make work (or not) or just to daydream. Bundanon generously provides this opportunity.
Bundanon is not far from the Jervis Bay Military Base which is home to the Fleet Air Arm. Helicopters practice manoeuvres (spell check doesn't like that but I don't like its American alternative so I hope you know what I mean) over pulpit rock which was a favourite subject for Arthur Boyd. The silence usually only punctuated by birdsong is shattered by thump of the whirring rotor blades. I love watching helicopters, or almost anything that flies and I made Grey Sky with Choppers using patterns from Moorish tiles and Amish quilts to suggest the rotating blades.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Bundanon



Susan Buret, Northward Aspiration, © 2010, acrylic and paper on gessobord, four panels 31 cm x 31 cm.

I am in one of the studios at the Bundanon trust property after receiving a last minute invitation for a residency and to help with a schools workshop.
I was last here in 2008 and, as Bundanon and the surrounding Shoalhaven area have a special place in my heart, I jumped at the chance to return. I piled as much of my studio as would fit into the back of my car and drove down the escarpment and along the slippery muddy track to arrive on Monday morning. After spending two days working with the students from Bombaderry High School, I am now working in my studio.
There is something extraordinary about this place which allows one to focus without any disruptions. I feel privileged to be the beneficiary of the Boyd family's generosity where the beautiful setting, no mobile, no television and crackling radio reception leave only the internet as a diversion.
The top two images are the views from my studio window; one towards the pastures and the other towards the native bush that covers most of the Bundanon property.
Since being here I have been working on Northward Aspiration. Using a section of an old map of the world which includes Africa, the Middle East, India and Europe, I have cut airplanes and pasted them over a damask inspired pattern.
The old map shows a colonial Africa divided between Britain, France Germany and Italy and I was thinking about how the inhabitants of the poorer nations of the south often moved north in the hope of a better life. The immigrants were screened and often refused entry to these countries where, paradoxically, the affluent were happy to adorn their homes with patterns borrowed from the very southern cultures they wished to exclude.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Southern Highlands Art Studio Trail - there's more to it than cockatoos!

I will be opening my studio in Burrawang as part of the Southern Highlands Art Studio Trail on 20 & 21 November from 10 am to 4pm.
If you live nearby or are thinking about a visit to the Highlands it is a wonderful time to visit the region at it's fullsome fecund best. The trail provides the opportunity to visit the studios and workshops of local artists and crafts people ranging from hobby artists to experienced professional artists.
To download the brochure including a map of the trail click on the link above.
If you are looking for somewhere to lunch while on the trail I can highly recommend flour water salt in Bowral and Three Creeks Cafe in Robertson.
While you are in Bowral you should also visit Loft Gallery above Bowral Art Supplies in Banyette Street where Bella Hazelton and Adrian Davies show seriously good contemporary art and, for more information about the best of the region pick up a copy of SOHI magazine at any of the outlets mentioned above.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Statement Progress

Susan Buret, Into Whose Arms, © 2010, Mixed media on Linen, 150 cm x 200 cm. (Detail)

I am still not progressing much with the new artist statement despite good intentions. Deadlines for other written pieces and the flipping pages on my desk calendar only serve to increase my anxiety. I have always used a quote to introduce my statements but ,after reading Tracey Clement's latest post on The Post Post , I wonder if I am self aggrandizing when I begin a statement this way. After all, as much as I admire Foucault and Pythagorus do I have any right to place my work in their company?
When I woke up this morning I had a brief epiphany. (Why do they always come when I am nowhere near a pen and paper? I'm not good at recording or journaling having always preferred the back of envelopes for important thoughts.) Pined to my studio wall is an old subscription notice for The Economist Magazine which says 'Never lose your place in the world'. It has been on my walls for about 5 years. I put it there because I like the idea but also because I like the white font on red paper! The medium is the message.
Given that I am now using maps in my work it suddenly seems so relevant. I am very aware of my place, having spent the last year recording my observations and reactions either purposely or subconsciously as I enjoy the beauty of my new surroundings. Yet I'm constantly reminded of those who don't have the luxury of safe and pleasant surroundings. Maps tell us where we are, how to get somewhere , who rules or governs us, where we may or may not be welcome and where we might go for refuge.
I cut the maps and place them over patterns used to decorate or to imprison or restrict, comfortable security or the unwanted security associated with punishment or imprisonment, my process based repetitive images result in layered images which come together to my satisfaction to form a work. If only layers of ideas and illogic would do the same I might come up with a reasonable statement.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Networking, exposure etc.

My work And the River Looked at Siddhartha with 1000 Eyes, 2005, (far right) is currently in an exhibition at Anita Traverso Gallery, Melbourne.

On a negative day I wonder if I am babbling into a vast void but there are several good reasons for blogging. It provides an opportunity to communicate one's thoughts and ideas, it can be a diary or, as in the case of Queensland artist Nicola Moss it can serve as space to record information and observations which are later published as a book. Recently I wrote about the ideas that formed the basis of some new work and was amazed and delighted by the response. I have also been fortunate in the past few days to have my work featured on two blogs which I admire - The Design Files is Lucy Feagin's blog which features design, architecture and beautiful things and oh what a world, oh what a world , artist Lorraine Glessner's blog where she generously show cases the work of other artists. I really appreciate the mentions and the opportunity to widen my network. Thank you Lucy, Lorraine and Anita who has two of my works on show in Melbourne!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Life in Cuba 2

Susan Buret, Life in Cuba 2, © 2010, Mixed media on Panelpop, detail.

Heavy rain for the past few days meant that the outdoor concert we were planning to attend was cancelled and I managed to finish the work above today. It is fun to make small works and complete them quickly even though I think I work more successfully on a larger scale. The process is so different as I don't get the sense of exploring every inch of the surface as I work. The image materializes straight up as a whole almost before I have an opportunity to bond with it.
I don't know if the more 'roccoco' style will work on a larger scale ... I'll see what happens when my stash of panelpops runs out.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Life in Cuba Series


Susan Buret, Life in Cuba 1,©2010, acrylic and paper on Panelpop, 30 cm x 30 cm.

In the second part of her article Art, Labour, Love in the September issue of Art Monthly Australia, Pat Hoffie begins 'For artists it is true that they cannot know what they think until they see what they make'.
As I mentioned in a recent post about Artists' Statements , it is often difficult to nail the conceptual bases of one's work concisely and clearly. I have recently been making some smaller works to show at my open studio as part of the Southern Highlands Arts Trail in November (more about that later).
These works including Life in Cuba 1, above, arose form my interest in maps and boundaries and treatment of those who breach boundaries which led to the reintroduction of collage in some larger works. Recent news about events in detention centres in Australia led me to think about Cuba and Guantanamo Bay. Now (stay with me if you can!), when I tried to find a map of that area in Cuba I found that the relevent bits had been blanked out! I then went on to think about the ridiculous blockade of Cuba by the US which has resulted in Cuba existing in a state of rather beautiful decay .....I had these lovely Panelpop surfaces which I had got in Melbourne and when I applied a wash to them I suddenly had the feeling of weathered plaster walls and the works Life in Cuba came into being.
Dragonflies and Butterflies fly freely across border but we don't. I would love to go to Cuba but I can't believe that I must fly via Canada and the route to the greyed out region of Guantanamo Bay doesn't bear thinking about.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Where Corals Lie

Susan Buret, Where Corals Lie, ©2010, Acrylic on Linen, 150 cm x 105 cm.
My work Where Corals Lie has been shortlisted for the 2010 Redland Art Awards. The awards exhibition will open at the Redland Art Gallery, Cnr Middle and Bloomfield Streets Cleveland Qld 4163 on 7 November and continues until 5 December 2010.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Artists Statements etc

Detail New Work
Artist's statements are approached with varying degrees of trepidation by artists. After all we choose to be visual artists and not writers.
For the past few years I have found statements relatively easy to write and have enjoyed the clarity they afforded me. However I am wrestling with the statement for my newest body of work.
Collage has reappeared in my work again for a number of reasons. I had previously stopped shredding passport and visa images as I felt that I had said what I wanted and to continue to make the work however comfortable it was to produce I would be comprimising the integrity of the older work. I had also been feeling the need to paint after spending time at Ragdale and since my move I had been seduced by my surroundings and felt the need to explore this. I had moved from one comfortable and safe environment to another and wanted to paint and paint.
I loved playing with the paint and working with the imagery from the geometric patterns that have always been part of my work as for me they somehow symbolize the claiming of space. However in the back of my mind I knew that this was not my 'real' voice.
Then we were inundated with news of the election and the constant new arrivals of boat loads of refugees.
As the politicians scanned the maps looking for somewhere to put these people with the same fervour that they might look for a place to sight a waste dump I started looking at maps.
On the most superficial level they are almost as pretty as passports. But what are they for? You can find your way by the stars but you can also use maps to store information about ownership, weather patterns, geology etc. So for much the same reasons that I shredded identity documents I have started cutting up maps and floating the fragments on new works. To add further complication, even though I work with my back to the windows the colours of the seasonal changes in my new environment continue to appear in the works.
So how to make an artist's statement that makes sense of all of this?
I often listen to Bob Dylan when I want to think about my work. Two complete runs of Blonde on Blonde and well into the three volume deluxe Dylan set all I have come up with is 'the pump don't work cos the vandals stole the handle'
Where did I put my brain handle again?

Monday, September 6, 2010

Don't Give Up the Day Job Yet.

My Pots with At the Batthaus. © Gavin Chillcott 1987 in the background.

I have being spending my Friday evenings at Cloud Farm playing with clay. As you can see from the results above there is no evidence of Celeste's excellent tuition or the fact that Milton Moon was once my art teacher for two years. I am not about to give up my day job!
It's often good to play with other media just to see where it might lead and I have decided that I am probably more suited to decorating tiles than working in 3D. Apart from this I have returned to using collage and papercuts in my work and will post some new images shortly.
Oh, and those are the first poppies of the season from my garden.



Sunday, August 29, 2010

Breaking the Silence

I haven't posted for ages because I just haven't felt like posting.
Minor ailments, bereavements, life too busy .... there are a load of excuses that I could give but, the reality is that I just didn't feel like it. This is probably why I am a visual artist and not a writer.
I am in awe of artist Joanne Mattera who has just made her 500th post and, since I began following her blog, they have all been great.
I really felt like writing today to tell you about the opening I went to yesterday. No image, no web link, but this opening at Loft Gallery, upstairs at 8 Banyette Street, Bowral, t 4861 3214 was just wonderful.
An affirmation of all the reasons I love to live here, locals, including artists, restaurateurs, doctors, architects and good neighbours gathered to hear Ben Quilty open Pamela Voysey's solo exhibition of still life works at Bella Hazelton and Adrian Davies' new exhibition space.
The space enjoys beautiful natural and good artificial light and the late winter sun bathed the room warmly.
I think this may have been Pamela Voysey's first solo exhibition. Ben Quilty, he of the maggotts, toranas and testosterone powered works, introduced us to Pamela's work which may otherwise have gone unnoticed. It is not often that a contemporary art space exhibits the work of a mature emerging female artist working in a somewhat forgotten genre. The works are beautiful, passionate observations of seasonality as Pamela celebrates lie. If you are in Bowral go to see them and if not follow Loft Gallery on facebook to see some images.

Monday, August 16, 2010

When not real is worth more than real!

I have been silent for a while but this I had to comment on!
I hope this article from artdaily.org is legible. If not click on the image to enlarge.
It's not what you are but who owned you! I can't believe we live in a world where some eager bidder will pay a stupendous amount for fake pearls while much of the worlds population lives below the $2 a day poverty line. I love jewelry too but I have to wonder if we are all nuts?

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Caroline Rannersberger at Dominik Mersch Gallery

Caroline Rannersberger. Becoming Oceania/West Alligator Head', 2010. Pigment, varnish, wax on cedar wood (10 panels) 138 x 148cm


Caroline Rannersberger's exhibition Unsettling Country is currently showing at Dominik Mersch Gallery at Danks Street Waterloo. The works, which form part of the research undertaken by Rannersberger towards her PhD are truly stunning. Rich layered surfaces and skillful handling of colour produced images which carried me into a landscape I have never visited in the way that reading allows for a much richer and more personal input than watching film. I was reminded of Bea Maddocks beautiful works which explore the Antarctic Landscape. Both artists' work honours and treasures the land they explore and somehow manages to add another sensory dimension to the genre of landscape art.
The exhibition continues until 10 July.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Nicola Moss at Redland Art Gallery




If you are in S.E. Queensland don't miss Plant Life a solo exhibition by my colleague and collaborator Nicola Moss. The exhibition which features paintings and paper cuts exploring the diversity of plant life in the Redlands Shire is to be opened by Renai Grace, Director of Creative Sight at 11 am on Saturday 18 July at Redland Art Gallery.
Nicola will also be giving an artist's talk about the work on Wednesday 21 July at 11:30 am.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Exhibition at Cloud Farm


Works from my shredded document series will be on show at Celeste Coucke and Stephen Fearnley's beautiful Cloud Farm Studios , Tourist Rd, Mt Murray, NSW in July. The exhibition opening coincides with Cloud Farm Open Studio on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th July 10 am - 4 pm and can be seen by appointment at other times. Contact sburet(at)gmail.com.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Yellow is the Colour

Susan Buret, Yellow is the Colour, © 2010, Acrylic on linen, 200 cm x 140 cm

The yellow work is finally finished as the last tenacious golden leaves begin to fall from the trees.
I find it such a difficult colour to work with and I have to blame the seasons and Louise Blyton from St Luke Artist Colourmen who showed me the delicious Nickel Azo Yellow paint. Oh the seduction of beautiful colour.

Friday, June 4, 2010

that's my clothes line tan



that's my clothes line tan,
a video work made in collaboration with Queensland artist, Nicola Moss opens at the Gold Coast Art Centre, 135 Bundall Street, Surfers Paradise, tomorrow at 4pm. I'm going up for the opening and looking forward to catching up with my friends. The exhibition continues until 1 August 2010.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Nature as teacher.

Louise Bourgeois in 1990,
behind her marble sculpture
Eye to Eye (1970)
Photo Raimon Ramis

Yesterday's post about the passage of autumn to winter was written with sadness as, on Sunday night, I had heard that Denis Hopper had died and I had always admired his wild, wild ways.
Today I received the news that Louise Bourgeois had died at age 98 from a heart attack.
Louise Bourgeois was an immense creative force and a great inspiration to all women artists. Like the autumn leaves, her creative spirit burned brightly until the end of her life.
When I am saddened by the void left left by the passing of these two wonderful creative people I find comfort in the continuing cycle of seasons.
While I would like to babble on about taking the time to observe the natural world and preserving this precious resource I think you know what I am saying!

Monday, May 31, 2010

Winter

Winter after a week of heavy rain.

Autumn from my desk.

As you can see from the images above things are moving rapidly in the garden as the seasons change and, on the subject of change, what has happened with blogger draft which wont let me upload photos anymore? With it I could have waxed poetically about the above images and managed to place them in the correct order!
Any way the winds are howling and the rain is bucketing down as I work on a big yellow painting which I think may have been inspired by autumn colour. I always wrestle with yellow paint and this work is no exception. I might post an image if I win the fight.


Saturday, May 22, 2010

Julie Mehretu Mural

I would love to work on this scale.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Back in the Studio

Back in the studio I am working on two new large works and trying to plan my schedule for the next year or two.
I often make small 30 cm x 30 cm works as studies when I am working with new patterns and colour. Some times it's fun to place the works side together to see where my work is going. The work on the left is from 2008 and the one on the right from this month.


Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Annie Aitken @ James Dorahy

Yesterday I battled rainy conditions to visit galleries in Sydney. Martin Browne was in the process of hanging the next exhibition but at James Dorahy Project Space I caught the first day of Annie Aitkin's exhibition Symbiosis.
The exhibition features a series of exquisite forms made from stripped polypropelene and acrylic rod. These beautifully executed works, which must be a labour of love, remind me of sea creatures, nests and beautiful baskets. With their softly translucent colours and the delicate tracery of shadows that they throw on the gallery walls they are a visual feast. Oh to own one!
The exhibition coninues until 13 June.
Annie Aitken, 2010, Stitched #, Polypropelene & AcrylicRod.
(apologies for the incomplete caption)

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Artist Talk Anita Traverso Gallery


Stefan Gevers whose exhibition Forgotten Places runs concurrently with mine at Anita Traverso Gallery in Melbourne is giving an artist floor talk at 2:15pm on Saturday 22 May.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Installation Views




Sometimes blogging doesn't come easily. The past two weeks have been so busy and I have had lots to think about. Ask any artist and they will always say that the time after a new exhibition is often strange/difficult/disorienting after the frenzy and focus that leads up to a show. So I am posting some installation shots of my exhibition, Stolen Geometry from the Gardens of Love, and will get back to more serious blogging at a later date.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

An Occasional Collector

Tim North, who describes himself as an occasionally collector and owns some of my work, spoke at the Albert Street Galleries Open Day in Melbourne last weekend.
This is a short exert from Tim's speech in which he talks movingly about the roll art plays in his life.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Thank Goodness for Photographers

Beyond there Lies Nothing. 2010. Acrylic on Canvas. 150 cm x 210cm.
I've mentioned before that I was extremely lucky to have Carl Warner document my work while I was in Brisbane and I have been struggling to document my work since my move.
Today I received a disc with images of my work for my Melbourne Exhibition taken by Melbourne photographer John Bodin and they are fantastic!!!! Thank you John.
I have just uploaded images of most of my work to my website so please have a look at the new improved images.
Good news this week when Anita Traverso emailed to tell me that Beyond There Lies Nothing, pictured above and beautifully photographed, has sold pre exhibition.

Friday, April 16, 2010

This Week, Anniversaries and Life's Riches.

This week I exhaled loudly as my work was loaded on a truck for Melbourne. My tax was done and I had a few days of play baking bread, gardening and attempting to be a dressmaker.
On Sunday I visited an exquisite garden in the village and spent the evening roasting chestnuts for bread for the 70th birthday party of a fellow artist Liz Boothby.
It's funny how some weeks focus your thoughts and it's been that sort of week. Gathering chestnuts (yes more chestnuts!) Liz told me about her planned birthday speech which acknowledged life's riches and then on Thursday Donna Malone posted this clip of Coleman Barks reading from Rumi on Facebook


Thursday was also the anniversary of the liberation of Bergen Belsen, a time to remember those who were displaced, those who died and those who survived to build new lives.
Where is this all leading you ask? Well I am not a writer, so it's hard to say but these are the issues I try to raise when I make work about identity, displacement and the making of home and a place of one's own.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Openings, Chestnut bread and Good Company.

Waratah aka Telopea Speciossima native to the Southern Highlands and Illawara.

Yesterday Robertson Artist Julie Krone came to visit my studio bearing a beautiful bunch of waratahs ( No, spell check they were not warpaths!) and proteas from her garden. We spent a couple of hours chatting and looking at books and both concluded that these visits are essential to nourish the creative soul. I feel very lucky to be part of a community where there are plenty of friendly and talented creative people.
Last night, he Robertson Gallery, now renamed Gallery Chiron opened a retrospective of local artist, Brooke Maurice's work from the past 40 years. The space is becoming a great meeting place for members of the local arts community.
I once read somewhere that one shouldn't talk about what one ate on a non-food related blog but, I have to say that Director Pi Wei Lim makes the best chestnut bread in the universe. We are in the middle of chestnut season here and there is fierce competition among local chestnut fanciers ( Pi Wei and I) to see who can find the best chestnut recipe. Pi Wei, you win!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Packed Up at Last


All that is left now is to print the labels. I have spent the last few days attaching D hooks, signing and labeling paintings and wrestling with metres of bubble wrap to get my work ready to send to Anita Traverso Gallery for my show Stolen Geometry from the Gardens of Love which opens on 5 May. Save the date if you are going to be in Melbourne.


Monday, March 29, 2010

Paper Works Opening

Installation View Paper Works at Brenda May Gallery, Sydney.
Paper Talk 2001, Helen Mueller (foreground)
Stolen Geometry 2 & 3, 2009, Susan Buret (rear).

Paper Works opened on Saturday 26 March and I am delighted to have my work included in such a beautifully curated exhibition. Among the artists exhibiting I especially enjoyed the work of Lezlie Tilley, Caren Florence, Debbie Hill, Nicola Moss and James Blackwell.

Julie Ryder at Sturt Gallery


Julie Ryder's exhibition Generate opened at Sturt Gallery, Mittagong, yesterday.
The exhibition included printed silk hangings and works with hand cut leaves and flower pollen on tapa cloth which reflected Ryder's fascination with nature, taxonomy and genetic engineering.
The exhibition continues until 9 May 2010.

I was about to add this image but draftblogger is not offering me the alternative of loading an images from my files. I finally managed by using regular blogger which does not offer as much flexibility with image placement. Does anyone in the blogosphere know what is going on?

Monday, March 22, 2010

Paper Works




3 of my works are included in the exhibition. Please come along if you are in Sydney next saturday.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Silence

It's a poor workperson who blames their tools but please excuse the silence which has come to you courtesy of the incredibly inefficient MAC1 at Wollongong, who took over 2 weeks to replace the keypad on my laptop and then managed to return it with the hinge incorrectly assembled and, Telstra ,the internet service provider, whose speciality is not providing any service what so ever.
I promise to post about what has otherwise been several interesting weeks when I am in a better state of mind.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

A Man of Few Words 2

See below. Will I ever get this networking thing sorted. I am a little sensitive at the moment because of the approach of a significant birthday. I don't know wether I am reassured or horrified to see how those of my era are travelling. PS I AM younger than Lou Reed.

A man of few words.

I just received information about Vivid Live, Sydney's Winter Festival. If you are not festivalled out it is a chance see a program curated by Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson.
Lou Reed is a man of few words (apparently) but I just had to share this informative video with you.

Well I don't seem to have embeded the video yet! I'll try again.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

The Report.

On Wednesday I went to Sydney to visit several galleries. Instead of driving I took the train and had a much less stressful day. It was one of those sparkling sunny days that Sydney is famous for and as I walked through Paddington the air was heady with the scent of Murraya.
First I visited James Dorahy Project Space in Potts Point. colouring-in (material) is group show  group  by the galleries artists. There is a strong and consistent aesthetic to the artists James represents and the exhibition sat really well in the curved walled space.

Sullivan and Stumpf also had a group show of the galleries artists. I enjoy these shows as I am introduced to the work of artists I haven't seen before and can watch out for their solo shows.

Sherrie Knipe's Waterways above was a watering can made from plywood butterflies and in the downstairs galley there were two gouaches by Sydney Ball which unlike his usual minimal work were layered images of drops of paint and which were testament to his skills as a great colourist.

From there I went to Danks Street after a costly retail detour in Oxford Street.

Dominik Mersch had a group show where the Stefan Thiel woodcuts were the standout works for me. I enjoy the shifting grids he creates in works like Ali.
Stefan Theil, Ali, 2009, 44 x 38 cm, cut- out.

Conny Dietzschold was showing the sculptures and drawings of Robert Schad.  The drawings  explore the line with great elegance and when translated into delicate sculptures the works occupy space in an improbable manner and seem to dance above the floor belying their construction from sturdy steel quad. I would like to have seen them in a larger space to fully appreciate their lightness of form.

Robert Schad, Steel Sculpture.
   


Thursday, February 18, 2010

Tanmaya Bingham


I first met Tanmaya Bingham when I was showing work in off the wall at Art Brisbane in 2008. Tanmaya was assisting Cash Brown in running the off the wall space and her energy and warm spirit were really infectious. Later I found out that we were represented by the same gallery in melbourne and this is how i came to know her work.
Tanmaya makes beautifully crafted intricately executed works which explore deeply personal and at the same time universal issues.
She recently had a solo show at Anita Traverso Gallery in Melbourne and was interviewed by the Age and National Times produced a video about how she works.

I love to hear how other artists work and look inside their studios and wanted to share the video. Be patient as the video takes a little while to upload.

Monday, February 15, 2010

The Late Report.

The last week was very busy and very rewarding.
On Wednesday I made the three and a half hour trip to Liverpool to pick up my work from the Liverpool Art Prize and finished work on a grant application.
I spent Thursday hanging some works from 2006 and 2007 at the Robertson Gallery. It was lovely to be reunited with the work. I have had a couple of them hanging in the house but most have been in my storage racks. Some of the works had to be delivered by ute (pickup) as they are too big for my car and we arrived at the gallery literally minutes before an enormous storm. Pi Wei Lim, who is director of the gallery, hung the works with a little help from me. I had never used a hanging system before and I was impressed with the ease of hanging.



The majority of the works are hanging in the front room of the gallery with three works in the back room that is painted a beautiful warm dark grey and looks wonderful with the colours of the work. More photos to come.
On Friday I cleaned and tidied my studio in preparation for my studio warming on Saturday night. I hung some of the new work I am making for my show at Anita Traverso in May. Getting the studio looking good was a mammoth task so I didn't get to hang the works until Friday evening. Screws in the wall - no fancy hanging system.


Saturday turned out to be misty and very wet so 'you are invited to drinks in the garden' turned into I hope they will all be comfortable in the studio.

This was transformed

into this


and, I had such a wonderful time I forgot to take any photos after the guests arrived. ***!!?

On Sunday we went to the opening of the Southern Highlands Printmaker's Association exhibition at the Sturt Gallery in Mittagong. A lovely buzzy opening and exhibition of some exciting work in a great space. I met several local artists and crafts people and have invites to visit studios.

The studio still looks tidy and now I get to spend some time with my new work.