the art life

Bethany J Fellows wrote to us to advise Art Life readers she is performing her much anticipated Bethany J Fellows V Helen Hunt event on July 5, Centre Place, City [which we think means it's happening in Melbourne next week]. She also attached this invitation:



More exciting still, we discovered that Fellows also has a blog which includes behind-the-scenes shots of the artist getting ready for her upcoming event and documentation of her other various art activities. She also includes a video of her 'Helen Hunt' training method:



Contemporary art - does it get much better than this?

Maybe! We have recently updated our links to artist sites and blogs with some top new additions: Artist Running Index [which includes a picture of a man with a bucket on his head], audio artist Kate Carr's Myspace page with downloadable tunes, Clare Milledge's very cool and clean site and another good site featuring Susan Fereday's 'rephotographs'. Want to be added to the best blog roll on the web? Just send an email to our Hotmail address [link on top right of this page]...

Labels: blogging, links, music, new media

Numbers: The final episode of The Art Life TV show went to air last night. We logged a very respectable 205,000 viewers, down from ep 2 but with an average of 253,000 viewers per episode. So how did we stack up against the rest of the field?

SBS's Sugar Town: The Bridegrooms attracted 140,000 viewers after being picked in the program guides of the Fairfax press as the doco of the night. Ha ha! [One reader noted we were lucky not have been up against Wilfred on SBS, but hey, we'd have made that puppy our bitch as well...] Overall, TEN took out the time slot with 976,000 viewers watching Numb3rs, Crossing Jordan had 769,000 on Network Seven while The Nation on Nine had 575,000 people watching.



Feedback: Some of the feedback we've been getting has taken us to task over a perceived Sydney bias in the artists we included in the series. In reality however, such a claim doesn't really stack up. There were 10 artists from Sydney, 7 from Melbourne and 4 from elsewhere:

Melbourne

Howard Arkley [deceased]
*Matthew Sleeth
*Darren Sylvester
David Rosetzky
*Glenn Sloggett
*Lily Hibberd
Jan Nelson

Total: 7

Sydney
*Del Kathryn Barton
Richard Glover
*Rachel Scott
Noel McKenna
*Merliyn Fairskye
*Petrina Hicks
TV Moore
Fiona Lowry
Ben Quilty
*Mark Titmarsh

Total: 10

Elsewhere

*Narelle Autio [Adelaide]
*James Guppy [Noosa Heads]
*Adam Cullen [Blue Mountains]
Emil Goh [Seoul, South Korea]

Total: 4

The * indicates the people actually interviewed on the show, and on that basis, it was virtually a 50/50 between Sydney/Melbourne. If you're interested in quotas, you'll also note we did well on the male/female gender split, but poorly on the young/old, white/non-white quotas. Must try harder! It's also been pointed out that four of the artists are represented by Kaliman Gallery, drawing dark conclusions... Actually, our masters are Stills Gallery.

Repeats: The word we've had from the ABC is that the show will be repeated in the near future, most likely first on Sunday afternoons before the august Sunday Arts program, then at at some indeterminate point in the future on ABC2. Sorry Angry of Melbourne, but all your worst nightmares are coming true! We're still working on vodcasting the show and will advise our readers as soon as we know how that turns out.

Now, let us never speak of this thing again...

Labels: reader comments, tv show

Del Kathryn Barton, A is for... [beauty before beauty], 2006.
Acrylic, gouache, watercolour and pen on polyester canvas, 220x180 cm.
Courtesy Kaliman Gallery.


It seems some of you people just about missed it - the name of that artist was ...Del Kathryn Barton. You can see her work at Kaliman Gallery.

Labels: announcements, painting

Click to enlarge

Dear Friends, This is the invitation to my exhibition at the Powerhouse. Hope you can make it. Entrance is free on Saturday the 7th of July. Come at 11:30 to try out the interactive installation (Cyberworlds Gallery, Ground Floor. I'll be holding an artist's talk at 12 noon in the Education Rooms ( level 3) followed by a live jazz performance... Julia


Drawing from the work of David Rokeby, The Musicians is an early prototype, interactive artwork that utilizes cinematography and sound to engage audiences via invisible touch pads. Users are encouraged to play notes or compose music by directing the two professional musicians as they jam filmically, the audience members directly impacting the artwork via their movements.

The aesthetic aim of The Musicians is to visualize the emotional influence the audience members have over the characters onscreen. Amidst witty commentary and pre-programmed repertoires, the musicians play to draw audience members into the museum space and then attempt to hold their attention by empowering the user with the ability to direct their activities. These ‘behaviours’ suggest a more human exchange is possible in the relationship between viewers and technological art. This is technically accomplished by first filming the actors, then implementing state of the art editing and interface systems to create a smooth junction between the art system and the end user."

Deborah Turnbull, Curator for beta_space


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out of the closets and into the streets come create a raucous! The atmosphere was truly magikal last saturday. There's even podiums to shimmy on - not to mention a crankin soundsystem!

HI everyone! Due to the success of last Saturday's Taylor Square hoopdown to promote World Hoop Day 070707 we have decided to do it all over again next Saturday 30th June 4.30-530pm.

Out of the closets and into the streets come create a raucous! The atmosphere was truly magikal last saturday. There's even podiums to shimmy on - not to mention a crankin soundsystem!


Who's up for it?????
:)
GET YR TWEAK ON HOOPSTYLE!
tim x
o434166307

be there or be...

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You are invited to the dual opening of two great new shows, Julian Meagher and Sam Smith, on this Thursday 28 June at Chalk Horse, 56 Cooper St, Surry Hills from 6pm to 8pm.



The main gallery space will feature Julian Meagher, whose work challenges the notion of personality by addressing the relationship between the internal and external workings of the body. Julian draws on the field of medical imaging to explore the ways that the body is depicted. Trained both as a doctor and in classical oil-on-canvas portraiture in Australia and Italy, his work has evolved to include oil paintings on X-Rays and Bone Scans.



The project space will feature Sam Smith, an audio and video artist who exploits the conventions of video, sculpture, photography and sound (both live and recorded). He takes electronic, physical and bodily exchanges and forms looping structures, time jumps, and technological distortions. Smith's live sound explores the intersection of treated or untreated
improvisational piano with electronics, moving from melody to aggressively processed sound.

Both shows will be running until the 22nd July.

Chalk Horse
56 Cooper St
Surry Hills 2010


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Opening night

Tuesday 3rd July, 6 – 8pm

Sculpture 19
19th annual sculpture survey



Peter Baka - Richard Byrnes - Sam Deal - Marguerite Derricourt - Lex Dickson - Erwin Fabian - Geoff Harvey - Cassandra Hard Lawrie - Sergio Hernandez - Les Kossatz - Patricia Lawrence - Diablo Mode - Marilyn McGrath - Frank Malerba - Clement Meadmore - Chico Monks - Phillip Piperides - Paul Procee - Qian Jian Hua (Justin) - Hui Selwood - Randall Sinnamon - Terry Stringer - Anne Wienholt

June 30 – July 25, 2007

R O B I N G I B S O N G A L L E R Y
278 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst
Tues to Sat 11am to 6pm

Labels: announcements, press releases

Well Fancy That is our ongoing series of excerpts from the writings of some our favourite critics, journalists and curators. We take a little slice of their latest musings and post them here - usually without comment - for your consideration. This past weekend offered a remarkable change of pace. Both the Sydney Morning Herald's John McDonald and The Australian's Sebastian Smee are in Europe taking part in a once-in-a-decade ' grand tour' of Europe's summer art exhibitions - The Venice Biennale in Northern Italy, then on to Germany for the Basel Art Fair, Documenta in Kassel and the Münster skulptur projekte 07 in Münster.

Both Smee and McDonald have offered readers their thoughts on Venice and, perhaps predictably, neither liked what they saw. Both then promised further reviews as they travelled around the continent... But instead of another head-to-head, readers of the weekend newspapers were offered a special treat. McDonald reported from Kassel for the SMH, but The Oz instead chose to commission Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, the tireless boss of the Museum of Contemporary Art. One could not have hoped for a better contrast in writing, attitude and outlook.

On the left, the plucky Scott, and on the right, The Esteemed Critic...

McDonald: "In terms of sheer scale and variety, Documenta is no match for the Venice Biennale, where the creative director plays a crucial role but the bulk of the art is chosen by participating nations. In Kassel, following the example set by the event's founder, Arnold Bode, Documenta is selected by an all-powerful artistic director working with a team of advisers and assistants. In 52 years, Documenta has come a long way from Bode's earnest survey of avant-garde painting and sculpture of the Cold War era. This is my third Documenta since 1992 and each has seemed more pretentious and megalomaniacal than its predecessor."

Macgregor: "The scale and scope of Documenta make it arguably the most significant platform for contemporary art in the world and the announcement of each curator is eagerly anticipated. For Documenta 12 this year, Roger Buergel and his partner Ruth Noack were something of a surprise choice: their previous curatorial practice was highly regarded but not as widely known as that of their predecessors. Rather than a clearly defined theme, they put forward three philosophical questions as organising principles. Is modernity our antiquity? What is bare life? What is to be done? This last question is in many ways the most significant. It is clear from the exhibition that the overriding objective is still educational: how to make an exhibition first and foremost for the people of Kassel, and how to create a context in which people can come to an understanding of contemporary art in all its complexity. This concern for the audience, especially those who don't belong to the art world, is a hallmark of Buergel and Noack's curatorial approach. A previous exhibition of theirs, 'Things We Don't Understand', was an attempt on a smaller scale to look at the ways in which the viewer approaches art today."

McDonald: "An advisory board of "40 local experts" was put together discuss Documenta in relation "local mindsets and topics". A large number of junior curators were invited to Kassel to do internships, including Russell Storer from the MCA. Consultants and colleagues gave advice from many different parts of the world and almost 100 art magazines were asked to grapple with the three "leitmotifs": "Is modernity our antiquity?": "What is the bare life?" [a line of inquiry that apparently stretches from the concentration camp to the hippie communue] and "What is to be done? The club of participants boasts a final membership of more than 650. If everyone was part of the process, who would be left to complain?"

Macgregor: "One of the first things [done] was to establish an advisory group of local people who were not art professionals, who were involved in discussions about the show from the outset. A team of educators is leading groups and a series of "palm groves" has been installed: groups of chairs where visitors can take time out to sit and contemplate or hold group discussions. The visitors' guide is lightweight and designed to be carried through the exhibition. There are no wall texts: the emphasis is on encouraging a direct response to each work. Whether this strategy succeeds in its goal of focusing visitors primarily on the art is an interesting question for visiting curators and museum directors, who are dealing in their own institutions with the demand for instant information in this age of immediate communication."

McDonald: "The fun begins when one tries to make sense of the idea behind the show. "The big exhibition has no form," Roger and Ruth tell us. "This trivial fact made us seek to combine precision with generosity." A small thesis could be written about the way curators use the word "generosity" but it is still startling to find them proclaiming Documenta's "inherent formlessness". This does indeed act as a justification for anything at all: minimalist works by John McCracken, Charlotte Posenenske and Poul Gernes; feminist polemics by Mary Kelly and Jo Spence; stuffed toys by Cosima von Bonin, a stuffed giraffe by Paul Friedl; pictures of babies by Iwie Kulik and several other artists; photos of chewing gum by Alina Szapocznikow; Inuit drawings by Annie Pootoogook; '70s performance videos by Eleanor Antin; an "electric dress" made by Tanaka Atsuko in 1956; and so on. Many of these works seem to have been around for 20 or 30 years but, since the show also includes Persian drawings from the 15th century, there is no point in worrying about what is or is not "contemporary".

Macgregor: "The work of several key artists is shown in different sites and these keynote artists exemplify different strands within the show that weave, intersect and sometimes clash across the five buildings. There are striking contrasts, for example, between the complex figurative paintings of Chilean-born Australian Juan Davila that tackle a range of issues, questioning history and the construction of cultural, political and sexual identity, and the formal aestheticism of American minimalist John McCracken; between the delicacy of the exquisite drawings and photographs of Nasreen Mohamedi, who was born in Pakistan and died in India in 1990, and the striking use of pared-down industrial materials in the sculptures of Charlotte Posenske. A satisfying aspect of this Documenta is the inclusion of smaller works, drawings and collages in particular. In the Schloss Wilhelmshohe, with its magnificent historical collection of Rembrandts and Vandykes, some contemporary works are placed among the historical collections, others in a separate space The earliest works are far from contemporary: 14th to 16th-century drawings and paintings brought back to Germany from Persia, China and the Ottoman Empire. Indeed, historical pieces are interspersed throughout the venues, to make a point about forms migrating across geography and time."

McDonald: "Some works are obviously more appealing than others but to identify highlights in this cauldron of goulash would be mere dilettantism. In such shows, one tends to seize on some work that is less mediocre than most and imagine it is a masterpiece."

Macgregor: "The majestic drama of a James Coleman video with its 40-odd minute soliloquy by Harvey Keitel contrasts with a quiet yet gripping reflection by Amar Kanwar on the experiences of women and the aftermath of trauma and suffering. This last work highlights an important aspect of the exhibition: its humanity and lack of cynicism. It is a global exhibition that speaks powerfully about the local."

McDonald: "The other artist who seems specially favoured this year is Juan Davila, who was placed at Roger's right-hand side during a press conference the size of a rock concert. Davila's crude, scatological paintings are distributed througout Documenta, where they can shock and titillate audiences who are new to his trademark brand provocation. Simryn Gill, by contrast, has a low-key installation of old truck parts reconstructed from tropical plant and animal matter. It is badly displayed in the AuePavillion (pronounced "Ow") - a vast, sprawling greenhouse that added €3 million ($4.75 millior to the budget of €19 million)."

Macgregor: "The most contentious building is the one for the 21st century, a temporary structure modelled on greenhouse technology. This is far from the neutral white box expected of the modern art museum, but each work is given generous space, and the vistas created between works give visitors the space to pause, reflect and discuss. Simryn Gill's Throwback is here, shifting the meaning of forms and materials by re-creating, in tropical and other natural materials, the parts of a Tata truck destined for the scrap heap in India. So is a comment by Dmitry Gutov on life in the urban landscape: he has constructed fences from discarded materials and incorporated snippets of literary texts."

McDonald: "Forget about the bloated auction market; art is not about money or ownership [...] it's about self realisation and social action. They favour a brand of education that confuses rather than clarifies; an aesthetic that favours the intellect over the eye. 'We all start out as idiots in the face of contemporary art,' says Roger, Happy are the idiots who get to be idiots on a professional basis."

Macgregor: "'Art makes experiences of a special kind possible,' Buergel has said. 'One may talk about these experiences, but one can also demonstrate them visually; in other words, show them. Here the medium of the exhibition can become the basis of a new way of showing, a new way of seeing.' This new way of seeing is not framed by market values or cultural identity, or by definitive didactic statements. Yet it returns to the original proposition of Documenta as an educative tool for a wide public. The response of the audience after the professional preview days will be the true test of Documenta 12's success."

Labels: art criticism, old media, personalities

What a farrago. After our trip to Venice and the wonders of the art there our return to Sydney has been …well, difficult. The Art Life office was nearly blown away in last week’s storms and when we should have been out seeing art we were tag teaming it, cutting up tree branches, replacing windows and filling sand bags. But we got out, as we always say we will, and we’re starting to feel like we’ve stuck a small spike in a very large mountain… So we decided to get back into it a little slowly.


Newell Harry, Untitled (anagram) Che Fare / Her Face, 2006/07.
Neon, found vessels, spade, dimensions variable. [Detail]
Courtesy Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery.

Newell Harry’s show Views From The Couch at Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery looks like an accident in a font factory. There are words on the wall, on bits of paper, in a book, some words – fragments of phrases and word plays – are rendered in neon and have fallen into a bucket. After his Oxley debut in Amanda Rowell’s superb curated group show Rectangular Ghost early in 2006, Harry has made the transition to Oxley with confidence and élan.

The show is relatively modest – 18 works in total – and run the gamut of more or less familiar iterations for text based work. However, the main point of difference between Harry and all those other artists out there using text is his fascination with Bislama, the pidgin dialect of the South Pacific island of Vanuatu. The most interesting turn in the show is the inclusion of a series of hand woven mats - about 100 x 200 cms each – made in collaboration with the women weavers of Mataso Island. The mats, mounted on the gallery wall declare Cape Malays/Cape Malaise or Pick and Drive Pick and Play and Stone Cold Turkey Cape Flats Shacks – each presented with the vaguely studious air of an ethnographic museum display mixed with the mystery of a cryptic crossword clue.


Newell Harry, Untitled (gift mat #IV) Fuck Knuckle Uncle Pat, 2007.
Pandanas and dye,
111 × 210cm.
Courtesy Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery

There is also an air of comedy to Harry’s work. As his barrel rolling performance/photographs from Rectangular Ghost suggested, the artist likes to let the words do their own thing, small collisions of homonym, alliteration and metaphors. That the act of weaving also subtly suggests a material manifestation of the way language is constructed, and especially the way in which words and phrases from one language migrate across cultural barriers, Harry’s mats are concise little wonders.

Up the hill from Oxley Ms. & Mr. [a.k.a. Richard and Stephanie nova Milne] are making a commercial gallery debut of their own at Kaliman Gallery with a show called Heavy Sentimental. Long time stalwarts of Sydney’s artist run scene, the duo are a perfect example of the adage ‘the harder you work the luckier you become’. Each passing show by the pair in various galleries around town demonstrated that they were quietly honing their beguiling and romantic take on art making.

We remember well the Ms.& Mr. video piece in Turning Tricks at Firstdraft in 2005 and we were confused to say the least. Please no, we thought, not another quirky plasticine animated video installation, but despite an over familiarity with the style and the humour, there was indeed something there that we liked. We just couldn’t figure out what it was. Later in 2005 the duo won the Helen Lempriere scholarship and off they went to New York proving once again we don’t know what we’re talking about. So two years later the Nova Milnes are back from the family’s typewriter manufacturing business in Canada [makers of the famous ‘Beat Special,’ the Clark Nova] and have put together a show that significantly simplifies all of the artists special effects for something remarkably more straight forward but still containing a multitude of suggestive details.


Ms. & Mr., Videodromes for the alone: The Love Cats [1991-2007], 2007.
3.02 mins. Ed 1 of 5.
Courtesy Kaliman Gallery

The duo trade in a very a romantic and nostalgic depiction of their ongoing matrimonial love affair, imagining each other to be present at significant moments in their individual past lives – moments caught on tape and preserved in their personal archives. Videodromes for the alone: The Love Cats [1991-2007] for example, is a video of Ms. doing a dance routine to the famous Cure song at her high school, the event captured on crappy VHS tape. On the right hand side of the screen, Mr. is present via some basic special effects video pasting, dancing and singing along to the Cure song as Ms’s slightly clumsy yet adorable moment of fame reaches its climax. There is a undeniably creepy edge to the work that remains unresolved but adds a certain frisson to the whole experience. It’s a flavour that runs through the whole show.

Ms.& Mr. explore many different facets of nostalgia, ranging from the editing and temporal disruptions of the video works based on their own and family members archival material, to the creation of a massive VHS box lying in the middle of the gallery space. One work is a mass of home move footage stuck on permanent rewind. Videodromes for the alone: Grounded Encounters 1988/2007 conflates similar material with sound grabs from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and perhaps even a sideways reference to Tron.

The effect is disquieting, not so much because the cultural reference points come from a time when we were adults, but because despite this, the works still carry such an emotional charge. It can be extremely dull looking at other people’s home movies, but Ms. & Mr., with their freewheeling attitude to messing with their own memories, their pillaging of ‘precious moments’ for pathos and comedy, and the low key way in which the whole show is presented, this trip into their lives is worthy of more than just a passing glance. Got any more photos?!!

Labels: article, exhibitions, sculpture, video art

Episode 2 of our ABC TV series went to air on Tuesday night. The numbers were good - 253,000 viewers around the country - slightly down from Episode 1. We were up against some stiff opposition for our key demographic with An Interview with Princes William and Harry winning the 9.30pm to 10.30pm slot for Seven, with 1,093,000 people tuning into see two young men explain why don't want to see images of their dying mother shown on TV. While we again easily beat the pants off SBS and their The American Ruling Class doco [121,000], we have a long way to go to catch up to either Numb3rs [534,000 on TEN] or The Nation [626,000 on Network Nine]. Following some sage reader advice, series 2 of The Art Lifee [if and when such a thing might happen] will incorporate sketch comedy, time-travelling crime-solving psychic detectives... and current events.

Regular Art Life blog reader response to the TV show has been very good. A big thanks to all the readers who kindly left encouraging comments or sent emails to our various addresses, and thanks especially to those salutations from long lost comrades of the art scene now abalone fishing in Tasmania, doing design work in Annandale or skinning rabbits somewhere out west.




Of course, not all the comments have been good. We're reminded of some very wise words spoken by Peter Hill. In regards to the status of contemporary art on Australian TV, Hill said "There's only ever one show on TV and we're always complaining that it's not the right one." That comment - made about two years ago - referred to the magazine-style art shows that lined up, one after the other, to be launched and then decapitated by a scathing audience disgusted that, once again, the ABC had failed. Experiments such as the late and unlamented Vulture fared little better.

It's interesting being on the other side of that attitude because, demonstrably, things are very different now. Along with our show and the regular Sunday Arts, there has been a series of visual art shows pitched at a variety of audiences - from Painting Australia to Art Safari, from I [Heart] Carbunkles to Girl in The Mirror, from the Artists Working series to the forthcoming Marcus Westbury show [made by the team behind our series], there has been a proliferation of art TV the likes of which has not been seen for a decade or more. While we're happy to weather your good natured abuse at not living up to your expectations, it's simply incorrect to state that there's no contemporary art on your ABC. There's heaps.

Labels: reader comments, tv show

Fluxfilm 08 George Maciunas - 1000 Frames , 1966, from YouTube

Labels: cinema

"Revered … but Benjamin has questioned the value of his landscapes."
Photo: Quentin Jones, SMH.


Not everyone can write like Jack Marx. And fewer still can do it for The Sydney Morning Herald. Commissioned to write the text for a book published to coincide with Jason Benjamin's new solo show at Melbourne's Metro 5, Marx siezed the opportunity to unleash his inner Gonzo. Here are the first two paragraphs of the SMH front page story:

"SOMETIME in the winter of 2006, I became quite convinced that the Sydney artist Jason Benjamin was not long for this earth.

He had hired me to write the text for his monograph, What Binds Us, and thus I'd spent weeks in his pocket, during which time I had witnessed the 35-year-old's descent into a mine of inexplicable neurosis and despair that would surely end with death. The only question was whether it would be by his own hand or mine. I'd have been happy with either."

Near death! Everything is on the line!! The artist may die!!! Unfortunately, the story that followed didn't quite live up to this corker of an opening. Given the tough job of writing about Benjamin, Marx went to the painter's studio, asked some questions, then sat around for few hours. At one point things got quite tense:

"One day, after I'd commented positively on one of his works in progress, he took up his brush and, with nary a word, destroyed the picture - surely the most self-sacrificial "f--- off" in the history of either art or journalism. During another difficult evening, Jason doodled my likeness on the back of a beer coaster as he answered my questions. The monstrous result left no doubt as to how he viewed his interrogator at that point in time."

The "monstrous result" was a picture of a guy wearing a hat... One can easily sympathise with Benjamin, suddenly struck with the realisation he's got a lot of work to do before the show and a bloke in a hat turns up to ask him questions. As the deadline for the show loomed, Benjamin started to have second thoughts about the book - did he really need a text after all? Couldn't it all just be pictures? Meanwhile, the artist was going through Van Gogh-like emotional turmoil:

"More worrying, however, was his diminishing enthusiasm for Jason Benjamin, a creeping self-loathing that tumbled out in an increasingly fraught and shapeless series of late-night telephone conversations, during which he revealed he'd been sleeping in his studio ("the chamber", as he was now calling it), going days without seeing his wife or children."

Luckily for Benjamin, he's a professional and got the job done, but sadly for Marx, this also meant in the end there was no story, no suicide and no murder. Instead, the SMH story concludes with Mrs. Benjmain ruminating on her husbands obsessions:

"Jason's wife, Annie, speaks of "the bad time" last year, as if referring to some beaten disease. She still wishes he saw more of his family - he's in the studio from the crack of dawn to the dead of night. Not even she is allowed in there."

Labels: old media, painting, personalities

ceci n'est pas... (this is not...)
Sara Meltzer Gallery
525 - 531 West 26th Street New York, NY
Wednesday, June 27 - Friday, August 17
Opening reception June 27, 6 - 8pm

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runway
ISSUE 9 CHANGE

SYDNEY LAUNCH
Wednesday 20 June, 6-8pm
Firstdraft Gallery
116-118 Chalmers St, Surry Hills

Featuring performances by Agatha Gothe-Snape, Pete Volich & Brian Fuata. Also launching THE INVISIBLE ART PODCAST



FEATURING: James Avery & Eleanor Avery, Elizabeth Reidy, Zanny Begg, Dougal Phillips & Sam Smith, Karen D’Amico, Jess Johnson, Alex Lawler, Helena Leslie, Andrew Frost, Mimi Tong, Jason de Haan, Paul Donald, Amanda Rowell, Jesse Stein, Kuba Dorabialski, Kathryn Gray, Emily Hunt & Raquel Welch, Marita Fraser, Clare Lewis, Michael Lloyd, Anneke Jaspers, Squatspace, Elise Routledge, Mark Brown, MOP.

AVAILABLE: From June 20 at all good galleries and bookstores and online at www.runway.org

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Just letting you know I’ve got an exhibition coming up very soon. It’s at the brand new MOP Projects space which is at Shop 2, 27-39 Abercrombie Street, Chippendale. The opening night is the 28th of June and the show runs till the 15th of July. I am very pleased to be the first artist to show in the lovely new Gallery 1 space and hope you can come and enjoy what should be a great opening night. Otherwise I hope you can come and see the work during the run of the show. I’ve really enjoyed making these works and hope you enjoy them too - Halinka


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RICK AMOR
SCULPTURE & DRAWINGS 2007
23 June – 19 July 2007



Liverpool Street Gallery is pleased to announce Rick Amor’s forthcoming exhibition Drawings & Sculpture 2007 to be held 23 June – 19 July 2007. The exhibition will consist of a selection of eight charcoal drawings and a new bronze sculpture Figure in a landscape, measuring 3 metres high. These works depict subjects as diverse as quiet coastal townships with wind-whipped cypress trees, solitary figures in space, sunlit ruins at evening, claustrophobic streetscapes and an arresting self portrait.

Resolute in his depiction of urban landscapes and suburban coastal fringes as places of poignant isolation, Rick Amor’s paintings, drawings and sculptures resonate with a brooding disquiet. Like shards of memory or fragments of dreams, the images with their solitary human inhabitants and decaying urban structures, draw the viewer in leave one feeling strangely detached; disturbed by the searing loneliness of his vast open spaces.

Born in Frankston, Victoria in 1948, Amor completed a Certificate of Art at the Caulfield Institute of Art in 1965 and from 1966 to 1968 studied at the National Gallery School, Melbourne where he received an Associate Diploma of Painting. He has been the recipient of several Australia Council studio residencies which have allowed him to work in London, New York and Barcelona. In 1999 he was appointed as the official war artist to East Timor by the Australian War Memorial. Rick Amor has held over 40 solo exhibitions of his work since first exhibiting at Joseph Brown Gallery in 1974. A major survey exhibition of his paintings was curated by McClelland Gallery, Melbourne, in 1990 and toured various regional galleries in Victoria and South Australia throughout 1990 and 1991. In 1993 another exhibition mounted by Bendigo Art Gallery toured Victoria and Tasmania, celebrating his work as a printmaker and graphic artist. An important exhibition of Amor’s bronze sculpture was undertaken by Benalla Art Gallery in 2002, including many maquettes never previously exhibited. In 2001 The Miegunyah Press published his biography The Solitary Watcher: Rick Amor and his Art, written by Gary Catalano, and in 2005 Amor’s work was again the subject of a major survey exhibition at McClelland Gallery & Sculpture Park. Rick Amor is represented in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, and numerous State Gallery, Regional Gallery and University collections throughout Australia.

LIVERPOOL STREET GALLERY is located at 243A Liverpool Street, East Sydney NSW 2010

Image (above): Rick Amor Maquette for sculpture, Figure in a landscape, 2004-2006 bronze, edition of 6, 51.5 cm high, installation variable (see attached image of the large Figure in a landscape 2007 in progress at Perrin Foundry, Melbourne)

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You are invited to the opening of the exhibition

A COUPLE OF HOURS OUT OF SYDNEY

featuring GABRIELLE COLLINS, ISABEL GOMEZ, MICHELLE HUNGERFORD AND LEO ROBBA
on Saturday afternoon 23 June 2007 from 2 to 4pm

with a special performance by the choir Another Roadside Attraction


image: Leo Robba, ‘flametrees’, oil on canvas, 900mm x 1020mm, 2007

at the DAMIEN MINTON GALLERY
JUNE 20 TO JULY 7, 2007

Drive, in any direction, a couple of hours out of Sydney and you will be engulfed by unique landscapes. What you will also find are contemporary artists who live away from the centre of the Sydney art industry, creating their own sense of place. This exhibition acknowledges the growing number of artists who turn their back on the stereotypic notions of regional isolation.

Gabrielle Collins lives in Tamworth and creates her own world of urban landscapes that evoke but are not specific to any location.

Isabel Gomez lives in Newcastle and paints in the field a few hours at a time recording the Newcastle Harbour and immediate landscape.

Michelle Hungerford lives in Tamworth and evokes the countryside of that region.

Leo Robba lives in Springwood and spends time drawing and painting numerous regional locations including Dungog in the Lower Hunter area.

DAMIEN MINTON GALLERY
61-63 GREAT BUCKINGHAM STREET
REFERN
open wed to sat 11 to 6

Labels: announcements, press releases

For those of you who have always wanted to live like a successful millionaire artist but just didn't have the ackers, well, now you have the chance to live just like Tracey Moffatt - and in her house. In a surprise email to The Art Life, we can no almost exclusively reveal that Moffatt's Australian residence is up for rent - and it's a steal!

Dear Roslyn Oxley artists and art lovers,

I would be thrilled to have any of you stay in my Sunshine Coast house. It is very peaceful there and the beach directly across the street is beautiful and stretches forever. Below is the link for the house just click on it. The Century 21 agents are very nice and helpful.

All the best,

Tracey Moffatt

From the low low price of $1,490 a week during the off season to a a cool $3,500 a week during Christmas, you too can enjoy all the amenities of Moff's architect designed, gun shaped seaside pad. The house with stunning ocean views boasts: 1 Queen bed - 1 Double bed - Fully equipped kitchen - Laundry facilities - 1 Bathroom - Powder-room - Ocean Views - Balconies - Bath - Airconditioned - Ceiling fans - TVs - DVD - Stereo - BBQ - Carport. As the Century 21 web site explains, the house has:

"Superb Ocean and Natural Landscape Views with Direct Beach Access. This sophisticated brand new beach house offers quality and every modern convenience. Only minutes walk to miles of unspoilt beach. 34 Wavecrest is stunning and private, the perfect combination for the ultimate holiday escape. Pet friendly on application."

If you're thinking of heading up to Noosa for the Xmas season, you'd better hurry as Moffatt's beach shack is booked solid from December 15 2007 to February 7 2008.

Labels: hyperreality, personalities, real estate

First, the bad news. Our planned updates from Venice never eventuated because of a number of logistical reasons. The most pressing problem was the Serene Republic's lack of net cafes, the second problem was that there was no time to stop drinking free booze offered by desperate arts funding bodies from obscure countries and thirdly, the streets there are full of water. So instead of our updates, we'll be doing a full review of La Biennale in the fullness of time.

We got off the plane and walked into the launch party for The Art Life TV show, the first episode of which went to air last night. While we were in Venice we had been forwarded a number of the press previews and, in the words of The Sydney Morning Herald's Clare Morgan, it felt like "poachers turning to gamekeeping". Morgan's witty opening line was very apt since our charges are much like wild animals - namely, artists and the people who like art. As we did press interviews there was a lot of talk of the various critics we've discussed over the last four years. Martin asked if we thought they'd take their chance for some pay back. We we a little worried because although we'd pointed out it was never really personal, you know, people have feelings too. But there's been nothing but silence on that front. Meanwhile we knew our real audience - the readers of this blog - might not take too kindly to a TV show that isn't actually aimed at the art world, but is in fact aimed at a general audience with an interest in art. We know the people who leave comments here can be brutal and so we feared the worst. Instead we've found that some of our harshest critics actually liked the show. For example:

"Comic potential... a stroke of genius!" - Ian Milliss

"Originality, wit, [a] spark of artistic whimsy!" - Whistler's Uncle Teddy

It's so nice to see Milliss and Teddy coming out of retirement to leave such flattering comments. Instead of cheap shots aimed at settling old scores, we got reasoned, reasonable and well thought out comments instead. Hope you like the rest of the series just as much! Others meanwhile offered more detailed feedback on the finer points of making a TV show. Long time friend of the blog Fulanito observed:

"It was great to see contemporary art getting a bit of air-play last night... i sincerely hope it continues. on the whole it was entertaining, but obviously as a first show perhaps there is a bit of refining to do. most importantly for me was the question of rhythm. in terms of the length of each take etc the editing was spot on. my problem was more with inconsistancy in the amount of time dedicated to each artist or section of linking narration. While an intro, first artist, link narration, second artist, link narration, third artist then conclusion type format, (with a similar amount of time spent on each artist, and a similar amount of time for the narration bits) would perhaps be overly structured i feel like the show needs to move at least a bit toward that pole. in one school thought good editing is something that you don't notice, and i found myself noticing the shifts between sections at various points."

The real audience of course are the people of Australia. They are paying their 8 cents a day for quality ABC programing and we did our best to give it to them. In a true democracy the only franchise you have is your vote, and thusly the people of this great country cast their votes last night by switching on their TVs.

The Art Life scored well in the ratings with 299,000 viewers tuning in. We are assured that this is a good result and we're incredibly flattered anyone watched. We kicked the arse of the show on at the same time on SBS - 51 Birch Street - that scored a mere 151,000 viewers. But beating up on SBS isn't clever or smart and besides, when you look at the 1,029,000 people watching the end of Numb3rs on TEN, the 960,000 watching Crossing Jordan on Network 7 or even the 334,000 watching an ancient repeat of Comedy Inc on Nine, our little show was a distant fourth. Still, it's nice to get into the same business as Eddie Maguire. We dare to dream!

Labels: ratings, reader comments, tv show

Per i nostri sins ci hanno dato un'altra missione e quando finito, non desidereremmo mai un altro... Quello è di destra, SQUADRA la vita di arte che è sul blag internazionale espresso a Venezia! Non abbiamo rubato via in Anna Waldman 's importante trasport- sul bagaglio di mano per "spese pagate a viaggio" l'esperienza di Biennale più grande di mondo. Quella è giusti, dato che sette giorni glorious e cinque notti del fitful noi volontà che fa un giro della città del serene per vedere come gli artisti australiani modellano in su. Eccetto c'è ne unforseen le circostanze, 'mishaps' di volo o il abscence dei caffè del inernet, aggiorneremo tre volte questa settimana. Prego soggiorno sintonizzato!

[English trans: "For our sins they gave us another mission, and when it was over, we'd never want another... That's right, TEAM Art Life is on the international blag express to Venice! We've stolen away in Anna Waldman's sizeable carry-on hand luggage for a "no expenses paid trip" to the biggest Biennale experience in the world. That's right, for seven glorious days and five fitfull nights we'll be touring the serene city to see how Australian artists shape up. Barring any unforseen circumstances, flight mishaps or the abscence of inernet cafes, we'll be updating three times this week. Please stay tuned!"]

Labels: announcements, international exhibitions

1 June 2007 MEDIA RELEASE

FreshRedEarth conducts hip hop workshops throughout region for ArtStart 2007

Hip hop workshop facilitators FreshRedEarth in conjunction with The Songroom will hit the road from 2-8 July 2007 across the region including Narromine, Dubbo, Gilgandra, Mendooran, Coonabarabran and Baradine as part of the ArtStart program for 2007.

A joint project between Orana Arts and Arts OutWest, ArtStart is a youth arts and skills program funded by TAFE NSW for young people aged between 12-24. ArtStart’s emphasis is on cultivating the skills of young people who find it hard to access education and training in the arts.

Workshops will cover “The Rap Clinic” (Freestyle rapping / written verse), “Hip Hop Dance Shop” (Dance), “The Drum Clinic” (Percussion and drum kit) and a final jamming session where workshop participants have a chance to combine their newly learned skills.

Facilitators are Paul Mcintyre (Musician), Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore (Visual Artist/Dancer), James Grantham (Performer), Sam ‘The Muel’ Howell (Musician - Drummer) and Mars Tsolakis Aka Mc Mars ‘E-Pan’ (Female Mc).

With prior experience in youth development and services in Melbourne plus training in sound production, coordinator Paul McIntyre is looking forward to this experience in the Orana Arts region, developing solid links with rural communities.

“It is my solid belief that music, art and dance are tools that offer young people a means of expression and an outlet for their experiences that can ultimately result in their positive evolution and contribution to the community of which they are a part.”

Regional Arts Project and Promotions Officer Merryn Spencer is pleased Orana Arts is able to host the program in conjunction with Arts OutWest.

“Hip hop in all its forms is an invaluable means of expression for young people. The variety of the day is excellent with drumming to dance to rhyming verse which is a great chance for skills development. The chance to access facilitators of this calibre is a unique opportunity in our region.”

All workshops are free of charge and will run from 10.00am-4.00pm. Workshop participants must be aged between 12-24. Classes are limited to 20 students. To register your interest for the workshop please contact Orana Arts or the hosting facilities as outlined below.

The tour schedule is as follows:

Monday 2 July 2007: Narromine United Services Memorial Club

Tuesday 3 July 2007: PCYC Dubbo

Wednesday 4 July 2007: Gilgandra Youth Centre

Thursday 5 July 2007: Mendooran Hall

Friday 6 July 2007: Coonabarabran High School

Saturday 7 July 2007: Baradine CWA Hall

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Click to enlarge

* * * *

MSSR is pleased to announce the exhibition of new video work by Marian Drew.

Exhibition opens Friday 8th June from 6pm to 9pm. MSSR is located at 105 Moreton Street, New Farm. Please walk under the house to the back stairs to gain entry to the exhibition space.

After the opening Marian's work can be viewed by making an appointment with MSSR by calling 0422695064 or emailing christopherandthejets[at]yahoo.com

Exhibition runs till Sunday 24 June.

This is the final exhibition for the MSSR project. To all who have supported the project previously, and to all who plan to see it off in style with Marian's work next week, MSSR would like to thank you.

While MSSR does its best to make you feel comfortable it encourages a BYO policy for that to truly take effect.

Beth Jackson has written the accompanying text fro Marians show. It can be downloaded here

MSSR looks forward to seeing you one last time to celebrate Marians three channel video projection.

'I'm the sort of person that projects voices onto dogs, which is ok, except that recently my bordercollie seems to be developing a rather severe lisp. This personification although dangerous I admit, in its simplification and human centric perspective of animals, is for the same reasons a joyous activity. Projecting of one idea over another, I have continued since Bush Projections 1984, when I projected images of urban colours and environments onto ghost gum trees. Home, garden, and travel, has provided rich material for my art practice that shifts between drawing, installation, photography and video, setting up dialogues between media. Drawing a playful and thoughtful engagement between media and sight, forms the basis of my art practice.'

Drew, M. 2006, Projecting Voices, in 'Marian Drew: photographs + video works', Queensland Centre of Photography, Australia, p.87.

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firstdraft

CONDUCTOR - Template
Teo Treloar - On The Multiplicity of Wolves
Nick Strike - Drunk In The Sunk Cinema

Exhibition open: Wednesday June 6 to Saturday June 23, 2007

Opening night drinks: Wednesday June, 2007 6-8pm

Artist Talks (with performance by CONDUCTOR): Saturday June 16 @ 4:00pm

Firstdraft opening hours: Wednesday - Saturday 12-6pm



CONDUCTOR - Template

CONDUCTOR is a performance based collaboration between Michael Robinson and Cy Norman.

Gestural drawing is transposed into an audio signal using graphite pencils to conduct an electrical current. Wired pencils initiate the pitch, timing and duration of sounds which are processed via customised analog electronics in realtime. Through an integration of action (drawn tone), reaction (processed sound) and interaction (new action) a symbiosis is constructed where the sound event and its notation occur simultaneously.

CONDUCTOR are Firstdraft’s fourth studio residents for 2007. Firstdraft’s Emerging Artist Studio Program is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.



Teo Treloar, The Deluge, 2007.
Pencil, Watercolour and Acrylic on Paper.

Teo Treloar - On The Multiplicity of Wolves

On the Multiplicity of Wolves is the latest show by Sydney based contemporary artist Teo Treloar. The show is a critique of the notion that we are culturally under the influence of the image. The work on how is an installation containing over 40 drawings, paintings and a neon text piece, the subjects in the drawings and paintings are all engaged in viewing, reacting or wading through the thick cultural sludge of popular culture while the neon text is a representation of the absurdity engendered in the art work itself. The drawings evoke feelings of isolation, paranoia and melancholy that seemingly fit into current social states of fear and mistrust. The show also represents the personal search the artist has undertaken into some psychological aspects of his own approach into the reading of images. Treloar has taken both historical and contemporary imagery from eclectic sources that range from contemporary news media to Saturday Journals that were printed in the early 1900s. The works are small, detailed and very intimate; Antique ornamental papers and board is often used as the base for the work, the drawings and paintings look old and worn, conversely; underneath the subtlety there is a direct and critical approach aimed towards both the social and personal relationships that we (culturally) share with the image.


Nick Strike, Untitled, 2007. Unspecified materials.

Nick Strike - Drunk In The Sunk Cinema

Strike presents sculptures from 'the realm of the sunken cinema' to explore the carnal density of vision.

An image whereby cinema and diving are conflated so that the dense space of the realm of diving acts, imaginatively, to compress light into a matter.

Given that the end of the brown coal (and cardigan) era is at hand, the resultant press of this space is the common object given a novel turn; a new fuel for thought.

Recall the first atomic fission reactor built in a squash court in 1942. I hope to show how an active, sculptural engagement with matter can result in a chain reaction of associations, a ‘projection’ of ‘historical’ energy
that liberates the participant from the rote response.

Via an active engagement with the work, it is absorbed under pressure and inebriates.

A drunk in the sunk cinema.

Firstdraft
116-118 Chalmers St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
t: +61 (0)2 9698 3665 e: [email protected]
http: //www.firstdraftgallery.com
Firstdraft opening hours: Wednesday-Saturday 12-6pm

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EXPERIMENTA PLAYGROUND
INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL OF MEDIA ARTS
Melbourne Premiere

Saturday 25 August – Sunday 23 September 2007

The Arts Centre BlackBox
100 St Kilda Rd (River Terrace, rear of Hamer Hall)
FREE:: Open daily: 12noon- 8pm
Launch & opening night party: Friday 24 August, 7pm

Escape into Experimenta Playground, an exhibition of the best, new,
innovative and playful artworks and videos by Australian and international
artists. This is art that makes the first move, begs to be touched and invites
your interaction. Immerse yourself in an underwater world and play with sea
creatures, interrupt the inhabitants of a table-top city, discover how your
shadow can take on monstrous characteristics or prepare to witness the
extremes artists will go to in the name of art.


Shu Lea Cheang, Baby Love, 2005.
Installation image of interactive artwork.
Photo courtesy Florian Kleinefenn

More information: www.experimenta.org

Labels: announcements, hip hop, press releases