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Arthur + Corinne Cantrill: The Film's the Thing
Arthur and Corinne Cantrill, arguably Australias most important experimental filmmakers, have been making films since 1959, when they worked on films on child art. They bought their Bolex camera in 1960, and their first experimental films followed in 1961-62. Films like Mud, Kinegraffiti, Galaxy and Nebulae, were more or less stylised or abstracts with sound-tracks inspired by musique concrete experiments. In the years that followed, they made a large number of films, published 100 issues of Cantrills Filmnotes and gave innumerable screenings of works by themselves and other experimental filmmakers. Included is an edited version of an interview conducted by Warren Burt via telephone on 2 September 2006.
Bernard Smith: Reluctant Icon
Generations of art students have been encouraged to read his books on the history of Australian art. He has been revered, rejected, loved and loathed by young and old. Julie Copeland of ABC Radio Nationals Sunday Morning Exhibit A has interviewed Bernard Smith many times over the years, about his books, his art criticism, his autobiography. In the lead up to his new books publication The Formalesque, and on the occasion of his 90th birthday in October 2006 she asked him to recap for Artlink readers, how the varied influences of his early life came together to produce Place, Taste and Tradition in 1945 when he was 29 years old.
Joan Brassil: Force and Tension
Joan Brassil was a rare spirit, a charismatic and immensely generous artist. She died at age 86 on 19 April 2005. Anne Sanders interviewed Brassil in July and August 2004 questioning her about her remarkable practice, her collaborations with scientists and her views on the cosmos. How did she conceive of the nature of art and what makes a person become an artist? Key figures here discussed include Malevich, Darwin, John Pollack and Brian Robinson.
Pioneering Gallerists: Bruce Pollard
The spirit of Pinacotheca burst forth in 1967 with Bruce Pollards opportunistic purchase of an elaborate seafront mansion at St Kilda, Melbourne. After three years Pollard was prompted and moved into a large raw, multi-level former factory in Richmond where Pinacothecas era erupted with an exhibition of large works by Peter Booth, Mike Brown, Peter Davidson, Bill Gregory, Dale Hickey, Robert Hunter, Kevin Mortensen, Ti Parks, Robert Rooney, Rollin Schlicht and Trevor Vickers. This article goes on to briefly explore the success of Pinacotheca and the many artists who emerged and blossomed here.
Donald Horne: The Power to Transform
While Donald Hornes contributions as a writer and public intellectual are widely known, his contribution to our understanding of the importance of culture in the lives of ordinary people is less so. He was someone who was moved by symbolism and ideas. He publicly championed the importance of cultural life something no other chairman of the Australia Council, with the possible exception of Nugget Combes, has attempted. Artlink asked Deborah Mills to unpack the ways in which Horne operated in this arena.
Art and literature: A chapter in the autobiography of Donald Brook
Growing up in a diffe,ent wo,ld: this chapte, in octogenarian art theorist and philosopher, Donald Brook's autobiographical writings sheds light on the early adulthood of this super-gifted individual. It follows an earlier chapter on his childhood and adolescence. Depravity in Wharfedale published in Artlinlc Vol 25#3 (2005).
Reunion of Mildura Directors
A small performance piece was created for the recent 50th anniversary celebrations of the Mildura Arts Centre which brought together six of the seven directors who have overseen the development of this remarkable regional arts complex since 1956. The extraordinary historical line-up of directors was a highlight with each providing personal insights into the galleries collection and their time at the helm. The presenting directors were Rex Bramleigh, Eric Westbrook, Tom McCullough, Michel Sourgnes, Ian Hamilton and Julian Bowron.
Joan Kerr: Unfinished Business
Art historian critic, essayist, heritage consultant, the late Joan Kerr was writing of the Irish-Australian women who passed though the Hyde Park Barracks wondering whether their presence was effectively mediated into the Irish Famine sculpture. Furthermore she added we dont want to remember them solely in piety as what has melted away in dismemberment and loss. Ironically Joan could be prophetically setting out the appropriate moodscape for her own memorialising. In the words of her husband who has compiled a partisan and intimate memoir of this distinguished artworld figure, Joan had a natural capacity to prick pretension and kick against the pricks of perceived injustice
Minyma Tjukurrpa Canvas Project Kintore
Minyma Tjukurrpa is the Pintupi term for womens law or story. When the older women of Kintore saw members of their immediate family painting at the Ikuntji Womens Centre at Haasts Bluff they instigated a painting project which was to become known by that name. These same women went on to paint for Papunya Tula and are now represented in public galleries nationally and internationally. This article documents the history of the Ikuntji community, the links between the Pintupi from the Walungurru area and Haasts Bluff and the dancing and painting practices of these twenty-five senior women.
Ernest Orel: Master of the Press
The relationship of the artworld with the world of mass production printing has always been a very important one. Graphic designers and their clients have been blessed in Adelaide by the presence here of Ernest Orel whose commitment to quality, attention to detail and willingness to experiment has helped and inspired many people and set a very high benchmark for the whole of Australia. Here Irene Previn looks at the prominent career of Ernest Orel now aged 74 and the outstanding achievements of his printing company Finsbury in the production of environmentally friendly products and processes.
Gwen Leitch Harris 1931 - 2006
Gwen Leitch Harris, born 1931 in Burnie, Tasmania, was raised in a matriarchal household where her artistic gift was sensitively realised. She studied painting at Hobart Technical College under Jack Carrington Smith who recognised her talent. Gwen described herself being like Adelaide& a well-kept secret and in her gentle unassuming manner, revealed aspects of her remarkable life. Hellen Fuller here pays homage to the life and career of a remarkable woman and artist.
City of Perth PhotoMedia Award
City of Perth PhotoMedia Award Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) 5 October - 5 November 2006
Eleanor Avery: Boomtown
Boomtown Eleanor Avery Blacklab, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane 26 August - 13 September 2006
Primavera 06
Primavera 06 Curated by Aaron Seeto Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 13 September - 19 November 2006
A Man's World
A Man's World John Beard, Gordon Bennett, Jon Campbell, Adam Cullen, Andrew Curtis, Dani Marti, Noel McKenna, Euan McLeod, James Mellon, Glenn Morgan, Ben Morieson, Charles Robb, Gareth Sansom, David Wadelton Curated by Frank McBride Museum of Brisbane 18 July - 19 November 2006
video/performance nights at Downtown
Local Video & Performance Nights McKay/Siebert & Viv Miller; Shimmeeshok; Emma Northey & Stephen Roedel 6, 20, 27 September 2006 Downtown Artspace, Adelaide
Irrunytju Arts
Irrunytju Arts: Senior Artists from Irrunytju 12 August - 9 September 2006 Raft Artspace, Parap, NT
Louise Weaver
Taking a Chance on Love: Selected Works 1990 - 2006 Louise Weaver 9 July - 27 August 2006 McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria
Alicia King: i'm growing to love you
I'm growing to love you Linden, St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts Victoria, Melbourne 18 August - 24 September 2006
Life is Getting Longer
Life Is Getting Longer Michael Bullock (Aus), Eleanor Crook (UK), Nick Devlin (Aus/UK), Jon Jones (UK), Justine Khamara (Aus), Steven Rendall (Aus/UK) Curated by Steven Rendall VCA Gallery, Melbourne 1 - 24 June 2006
Clifford Frith: perpetuating the bloodlines
Pat Hoffie talked to Clifford Frith, about his life as an artist and a teacher, about where and how your essential focus is born and shaped and the possibility of passing some of this on to students and others. She has admired and watched his way of working and living for two decades and as Frith continues to outlive in energy and inventiveness so many younger than himself she probes into how this came to happen. He is a prolific artist, moving between painting, sculpture and drawing.
Art History For Artists or For Others
Thomas looks at the role of Australian art history within many of the countries leading undergraduate art courses. Discussed in relation to art museums and globalised art practice. Artists featured in this text are Robert Macpherson, Rover Thomas, Sydney Long, David Hansen, Tommy McCrae, Howard Taylor, Hossein Valamanesh and Tony Tuckson.
Missing in the History Wars
This text presents thoughts on the near-death state of the public presentation of historical Australian art and art history missing in action in the history wars? Key figures discussed are Eugene von Guerard, Louis Buvelot, Judith Brett, John Howard, Desmond and Bettina MacCaulay, Frederick McCubbin, Ken Gelder and Jane Jacobs. Links to Your Gallery and My Virtual Gallery are provided. http://abc.net.au/rn/arts/deepend/features/gallery/gallery2005/gallery/default.htm http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/ed
Judy Watson: Selected Works 1990 - 2005
University Art Museum University of Queensland, Brisbane 26 November 2005 - 5 February 2006
Strange Strolls
Strange Strolls Curator: Perdita Phillips Participating Artists: Begum Basdas (Istanbul), Paulo Bernardino and Maria Manuela Lopes (Lisbon), Viv Corringham (London), Robert Curgenven (Katherine), Lawrence English (Brisbane), Aaron Coates Hull (Wollongong), Minaxi May (Fremantle), Roxane Permar (Shetland Islands), Perdita Phillips (Fremantle), Virve Pulver and Aili Vahtrapuu (Estonia), Ric Spencer (Fremantle), Kieran Stewart (Perth), Dorothee von Rechenberg (Switzerland), and Walter van Rijn (Netherlands) 18 November - 18 December 2005 Moores Building, Fremantle
Adam Costenoble: The Chamber
Adam Costenoble: The Chamber 17 - 27 November, 2005 Pelt Gallery, Sydney
Tides Apart: Pippa Dickson and Justy Phillips
tides apart Pippa Dickson and Justy Phillips 3 - 23 December 2005 Inflight Gallery, Hobart
Plots from the Left
Plots from the Left A series of installations based on the notion of collecting and collections Penny Malone and Shaz Harrison-Williams Moonah Arts Centre, Moonah, Tasmania 1 - 14 December 2005
Round-tables and Square Holes: Recovering Ground
Examines the fragility of the cross-institutional and inter-disciplinary debate. Raises issues of political intervention, globalisation and indigenous and non-indigenous identity and aesthetic. Refers to key figures Joan Kerr, Daniel Thomas, Mary Eagle, Narelle Jubelin, Michael Riley, Ross Gibson, Ricky Swallow, Patricia Piccinini, Tracey Moffatt, Dawn Casey, Terry Eagleton, Ian Burn, Djon Mundine, Diane Moon, George Lambert, Will Dyson, Ruby Lindsay, Christobel Pankhurst, Clive Bell, Roger Fry, Barbara Campbell, Raquel Ormella, Regina Walters, Joanna Callaghan, Martin Mischkulnig and Esme Timbery.
Art History in a Post-Medium Age
Marshs article is largely in response to Bernard Smiths article In Defence of Art History (I&II) published in Art Monthly 2000. Smiths essays were part of a larger debate between art historians and those aligning themselves with either the new art history, or postmodern methodologies associated with cultural studies or virtual culture. Marsh refers to the works of key figures such as Rosalind Krauss, Hal Foster, Peter Greenaway, David Lynch, Caravaggio, Lyndal Walker, David Rosetzky, Versacci, Clement Greenberg, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Jean Baudrillard, Walter Benjamin, Thomas Crow and Marcel Proust.
On Radical Revisionism
This text looks at two key paintings by Melbourne magic realist artist Julia Ciccarone, which come from a 1996 show at the Robert Lindsay Gallery called Fictitious Voyages. These works are illustrations of the text A New Discovery of Terra Australis, or, The Great Southern Land, originally published in 1676 by one Gabriel de Foigny. These images are deconstructed in relation to past and present histories and what Butler believes are two major attitudes concerning the way things are seen and valued. Other artists here referred to include Gordon Bennett, Colin McCahon, Mondrian, Michael Stevenson, Scott Redford and Mikala Dwyer.
The Necessity of (Un)Australian Art History for the New World
McLean examines the current state of art in Australia as both a positive force and one essentially unAustralian. As he states There may be plenty of interesting artists from Australia but few aspire to make Australian art. McLean looks at the work of artists Tracey Moffatt, Gordon Bennett, John Citizen, Henri Matisse, John Peter Russell, Tony Nathan and John Mawurndjul in an attempt to address some of the issues surrounding the case for unAustralian art.
Dictionary of Australian Artists Online 2006
Respected educators, artists and curators took part in a no-holds-barred workshop coordinated by Dr Vivien Johnson on the teaching of Indigenous art at tertiary level. Appropriation of imagery, bicultural education and the delicate balance between serving the market for overseas students and the need of local and indigenous students were among the issues discussed.
Indigenising Art Education
Far from being at the forefront of Art History/Theory curricula, Indigenous art is frequently missing or relegated to the margins. Kleinert explores this fact through looking at the results of a recent report by Gregory Leong, Bronwyn Power, Penny Mason and Belinda Wright into the percentage of indigenous art material taught in Australian art schools. Furthermore this text focuses on a few recent initiatives which have attempted to strengthen the content of local art education in Australia.
What Should Australian Art Historians Teach?
Grishin looks at the earliest teachings of Australian art history in Australian universities, commencing in the year 1946 with gradually diminishing staff and resources in more recent years. This text further examines some of the pressures against and valued roles of Australian art history in education institutions. Key figures referred to are Sidney Dickinson, Bernard Smith, James Mollison, Wally Caruana, Robyn Maxwell, Bea Maddock and William Morris.
Blindspot: Regional Art Histories in Australia
Holmes focuses on Ian Burns essay regarding the exhibition Popular Melbourne Landscape Painting Between the Wars to explore the nature of the regional landscape as it is depicted and analysed in Australian art and art theory. Discusses the works of: Penleigh Boyd, W.B. McInnes, Arthur Streeton, Harold Herbert, W.D. Knox, John Rowell, Will Rowell, Kenneth Clark, Stephen Bann, Geoff Parr, Marion Hardman, Max Angus, Olegas Truchanas, Peter Dombrovskis, Hamish Fulton, Mario Merz, Ger van Elk, Jan Dibbets, Richard Long, Mark Boyle, Nikolaus Lang, Raymond Arnold, Bea Maddock, Caspar David Friedrich, David Stephenson, Anne McDonald, Paul Zika, Wally Barda, Virginia Coventry, Adrian Hall, Old Mick Tjakamarra, Max Tjampitjinpa, Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, Don Tjungurrayi, Dick Pantimatu Tjupurrula, Greg Burgess, Norman Day, Jennifer Hill, Michael Viney, David Keeling, Richard Wastell, Tim Burns, Tim Morrison, Geoff Dyer, Kenny Gregan, Michaye Boulter, Sue Lovegrove, Jan Senbergs, John Caldwell, David Hansen, Lynne Andrews, Leigh Hobba, Philip Wolfhagen, Tim Burns, Martin Walch, Christl Berg, Nick Waterlow, Victoria Hammond, Tim Bonyhady, Margaret Scott, Edward Colless, Heather B Swan, Mary Knight and Peter Timms.
Chronologically Unsound
In 1982 Ian Burn wrote an incisive essay for the exhibition Popular Melbourne landscape painting between the Wars. The exhibition, curated by Doug Hall for the Bendigo Art Gallery, included a range of landscape paintings by artists such as Penleigh Boyd and W.B. McInnes.
Indigenous art: how should it be taught?
Respected educators, artists and curators took part in a no-holds-barred workshop coordinated by Dr Vivien Johnson on the teaching of Indigenous art at tertiary level. Appropriation of imagery, bicultural education and the delicate balance between serving the market for overseas students and the needs of local and indigenous students were among the issues discussed.
Painting Ghosts: 'Australian Women Artists in Wartime'
Book Review: Catherine Speck Painting Ghosts: Australian Women Artists in Wartime Craftsman House/Thames & Hudson, 2004 ISBN 1 877004 22 7 HC, 239 pp, 121 illus, rrp AUD $70
Istanbul Biennale the 9th Istanbul Biennial
Istanbul is wonderful, especially when a major contemporary art event the 2005 9th International Istanbul Biennial - complements Ottoman glories, the odd bit of 5th century Christian Emperor Justinian, eponymous baths, acres of bazaar, and an elegant gloss on life.
2005 JamFactory Biennale
2005 JamFactory Biennial JamFactory, Adelaide 19 November - 19 February 2006
Vital Signs: Creative Practice and New Media Now
Exhibition Review: Convenor Lyndall Jones School of Creative Media, RMIT with the Australia Council, Australian Film Commission and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image ACMI, Melbourne, 7 - 9 September 2005
St Sebastian: Fiona Tan
Fiona Tan Anna Schwartz Gallery Melbourne International Arts Festival 8 - 22 October 2005
Doldrum, Nicholas Folland; Gloria Novi Saeculi, Genia Chef
Gloria Novi Saeculi (Glory of the New Century), Genia Chef Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide 7 October - 5 November 2005
Gleaning Relational Aesthetics
The term Relational Aesthetics was first coined by Nicolas Bourriard, French curator and, since 1999, co-director with Jerome Sans of the Contemporary art centre Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Relational art doesn't produce a product but focuses on relations between audience members, events and ideas.
Depravity-in-Wharfedale
Founded as recently as 1888 the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wharfedale was by reputation the biggest madhouse in Western Europe, and Brooks small village lay huddled beside it. Brook tells the story of living in sin, celebacy and the wall that proposed a division between madness and sanity.
Qin Ga: 'Miniature Long March'
The Long March A Walking Visual Display is an international collaboration involving over 250 Chinese and international artists taking place along 20 sites of the historical Long March. Each site was chosen for its symbolic import; the Long March was tatooed onto Qin Ga's back transforming his body into both an artwork and a Long March object.
Here Come the Jets
Current trends in image reproduction, addressed through the introduction of giclee technology and industry. Neylon deals with issues of prints authenticity and some of the controversial debates surfacing within Australias art community.
Philanthropy, Sponsorship, or Dinner?
On July 29 2005 the Prime Minister, John Howard, was guest of honour at the annual Australian Business Foundation for the Arts (AbaF) Awards Dinner. Joanna Mendelssohn reports on the event.
Biennials of the World: Myths, Facts and Questions
In recent years, in the rarefied world of high art, in the places where international curators meet and work, amongst critics, commentators, artists, sponsors and collectors there has been no subject more widely discussed than that of the international recurrent exhibition. While Stephanie Britton recognises that the more closely it is examined the larger and more complex the subject becomes she has set out to tackle some of the essential ideas and questions surrounding these exhibitions. Includes two double fold out charts exclusive to Artlink: 1) a map of the world showing all the current biennales and triennials plus a new analysis of the 112 most frequently invited artists; 2) a star chart titled Artlink's Intergalactic Guide to the Curators of International Biennials and Triennials which lists the most frequently employed curators on these events and which events they have worked on.
An Inauspicious Occasion
In May 2005 Brisbane lost a landmark. Wendy Mills water sculpture On this auspicious occasion, commissioned in November 1998 as part of a major refurbishment of Brisbanes Queen Street Mall and a broader attempt to achieve a more culturally sophisticated city, came down in the dead of the night.
Public Interrogations
Architecturally-trained artist Richard Goodwin regards built and urban spaces as his performative stage. He has sought out parks, passageways, plazas, under and overpasses and other connective, forgotten and in-between spaces to insert an often absurdist mark of his presence.
Give Wings to the Arts
This article outlines a radical new model for arts funding in Australia which will seek to adequately address many of the economic and creative necessities of young and established artists. Hall clearly sets out the proposal for the model, pointing out the four wings which would come into place to assist various sectors of the creative industries including Visual Arts, Literature, Crafts and Composition and Choreography and would replace both existing Fellowships and New Works Grants.
New Museum Creates Cafe Society in Shenzhen
At the end of January 2005 in the He Xingning Art Museum in Shenzhen, a conference was held to coincide with the opening of the first dedicated Contemporary Art Museum in China named OCTA Contemporary Art Centre. The conference was essentially looking at the major issues confronting contemporary art in China as it goes through yet another dramatic evolution.
Sculpture by the Sea
Artists and the public converge on Cottesloe Beach, Perth for the WA incarnation of the famous Bondi Beach event, 17 - 28 March 2005
Barney and Tibby Ellaga
New paintings from SE Arnhem Land at Raft Artspace, Darwin, 1- 23 April, 2005
The Dreaming Festival
The Dreaming Festival, director Rhoda Roberts, Bush Galleries, Woodford, Queensland, 10 13 June 2005
Pantjiti Mary McLean: A Big Story
Pantjiti Mary McLean: A Big Story, Paintings and drawings 1992 - 2005 Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc., Adelaide 7 May 7 August 2005
22nd Telstra NATSI Art Award
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) 13 August - 23 October 2005
Intimate Transactions 3:2005
QUT Creative Industries Precinct, Brisbane The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne 25 - 30 April 2005
Ghost River Paintings
Jo Darbyshire Span Galleries, Melbourne 1 - 19 March 2005 Gallery East, North Fremantle 13 May - 5 June 2005
Pitch Your Own Tent
Curated by Max Delany Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne 23 June - 27 August 2005
Fremantle Print Award 30 Years Later and Still Standing
One of the many pleasures of running an annual award for excellence in printmedia is the thrill of unpacking the entries and encountering a work that takes your breath away. That thrill can evaporate when the judging panel dismisses the favoured work, or simply die away amongst the endless piles of entries waiting to be processed before you.
Degenerates and Perverts
Degenerates and Perverts: The 1939 Herald Exhibition of French and British Contemporary Art by Eileen Chanin and Steven Miller, with an introduction by Judith Pugh Miegunyah Press, 2005, RRP $69.95 Reviewed by Paula Furby
Michael Jagamara Nelson Gives It A Go
Michael Jagamara Nelson is an artist who love - maybe even needs - a challenge. As Johnson examines, he has had his fair share. With his first painting, a piece he did for his uncle Jack Wayuta (a senior custodian for the Flying Ant Dreaming for Yuwinji) going unrecognised as one of his own for fifteen years, Michael Nelson made his mark in the indigenous art scene after his big break from Daphne Williams of Papunya Tula Arts.
The Sea Is In Them: Narelle Autio and Trent Parke
Narelle Autio and her partner in life and work, Trent Parke, completed a 16-month journey around Australias coastline in 2004. The two set out to document the culture of Australian coastal dwellers with an exhibition lined up at the Australian Centre for Photography the following year. Baxter speaks of her first encounter with the works of these remarkable photographers and goes on to offer some insight into the profundity encapsulated by these images.
The Poetics of Agoraphobia
Polish/Australian artist Gosia Wlodarczak draws obsessively, as a means of engaging with a biological cognitive bedrock. By drawing out the duration of her being she avoids the burden of memories and hope. This, she thinks, will lighten the weight of ideology that oppresses her with its exaggerated claims of authenticity...Ideology is already manifest in her sence of self, freedom and individual consciousness. It is even there in the languages she lives between; in her name, in her history, a graduate of the Poznan Academy of Fine Arts in Poland, now living in inner-city Perth.
Raw and Cooked Margins
A series of journeys and pilgrimages characterise Paul Hobans life, his account of which is spotted with significant exhibitions, readings, people, music and events. It wasnt until 1993, when he was 39, that Hoban first had a one man exhibition at Greenaway Art Gallery. Radok here paints a clear picture of his work - A sense of surfaces and layers; words - intelligible, unintelligible, back-to-front, upside-down; wrinkles and transparency; colour and pattern; modernism and archaism, and so on. A myriad of conceptual and stylistic devises that exist largely within the margins of art conventions.
What's Mine Is Yours: Touching the Surface of the Practice of Sue Ford
Melbourne artist Sue Fords 2003 photographic series Continuum is a suitable portal through which Stanhope looks at aspects of Fords work, a practice that has consistently evinced strength of vision and a humanistic philosophy, rich in connecting personal and local subjects to the field of national culture, social politics and the nature of individual existence. Continuum looks at the aftermath of bushfires and is aligned with her passionate reflection and documentation of the nature of our being in both time and place. If there is one medium that records time it is photographs - Sue Ford.
That was Then, This is Now: New Work by David Wadelton
David Wadeltons artistic career took a dramatic turn in the years 1997-98 after he purchase an iMac computer. Prior to this time he had been painting hybrid canvases and creating refined pencil and silverpoint drawings that displayed a unique quirckiness that was informed by the artists affection for the culture and language of Pop art. Gott explores the apparent shift in Wadeltons work, from the assemblages of the everyday objects that he first exhibited to his new works; mesmerising, hypnotic, dizzying.
MFC's and Gunter Christmann
Gunter Christmann was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1936. After two years in Canada, he arrived in Australia in 1959 and studied, somewhat casually, at the National Art School, Sydney, from 1962 to 1965. This article looks at the life and work of Christmann, that shambolic figure who, even as he is approaching his seventieth year, shows something of the perpetual youthful student. From his dress and demeanour to his his sloping walk and willingness to talk to the people he knows. A self taught artist, Christmann once saw his work as Geometric Abstraction and now states that the only major difference in style is the lack of intellectual order imposed on the work.
That Strange Quivering of Substance: The Recent Paintings of Catherine Woo
Many years ago the Chinese writer Lin Yutang expressed that, from an Oriental perspective, Western artists always seem to depict objects from the outside, whereas those from China and Japan express their experience of them from within. This Eastern approach is inherent in the culture, not a position able to be merely adopted, and springs in part from religious inheritance, but also from the pictorial nature of Asian written languages. This inherent approach can be found in the recent work of Catherine Woo, expressing some sort of biological affinity. If the paintings can be said to be about anything, it is a the fine balance between energy and rest rather than the apparent subject matter.
On Your (Motor)bike - REVIEW: Reason and Emotion, Biennale of Sydney, 2004, and 2004: Australian Culture Now, Melbourne
Sydney Biennale bad, 2004 in Melbourne good. The artworld's consensus locked in quick and hard. Fair? Of course not. Why compare the two, anyway? Because the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) seemed to set it up that way, by the timing of their show. They certainly took as 2004's model the nationally bound Whitney Biennial and, in particular, the Art Gallery of New South Wales's Perspecta exhibitions (last one 1999) - in turn established to counter the perceived internationalism of the Sydney Biennale.
21st Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
Museum & Art Gallery of the Northen Territory 13 August 7 November 2004