2010 Exhibitions //
Click here to see 2011 archives »
Gallery One
02/12: DIFFERENCE &
REPETITION
Group Show
18/11: DUOSCOPE
Sarah Breen Lovett + Yvette
Hamilton
04/11: POST EXHIBITION BLUES
Mark Gerada
21/10: POST EXHIBITION BLUES
Mark Gerada
07/10: REALITY VS ILLUSION
Group
23/09: SEVEN
Corrie Ancone
09/09: TENMOREGIRLS PRESENT
GIRLS AROUND THE
WORLD
Group Show
26/08: REFLEX 2: A show of mechanical poetry
Group Show
12/08: THIS WAY
Jack Randell
15/07: GANG
Rudy Ardianto
01/07: ARE WE THERE YET
Group Show
03/06: SUPERSET
Group Show
20/05: ORGANIC MECHANICS
Marcus Dillon
06/05: MAKE BELIEVE
Group Show
22/04: FOOD&COMPANY
Group Show
08/04: 585: VOLUME 2
Group
25/03: FAMILIAR FABLE
Lauren Hewitt
11/03: ARMAMENT
Dan Simon
25/02: MCA STAFF SHOW
Group
11/02: FIDELITY
Group
Gallery Two
02/12: PHOTO WORKS ON PAPER
Anna Fraser
18/11: SOME ART
Benjamin Mccready
04/11: CONSTRUCT
Laura mclean +
Melody Williams
21/10: OTHERWISE THAN BEING
Sue Saxon
07/10: FIRES I HAVE LIT
Skye O'Shea + Tamryn Bennett
23/09: A PUPPET SHOW FOR
GEORGE STREET
Jesse Cox
09/09: LADDER THEORIES
Angela Morrell
26/08: REFLEX 2: A show of mechanical poetry
Group Show
12/08: NEW WORK
Rohan WIlson
29/07: SEE-SAW
5 Mentors & students
15/07: GANG
Clare Perkins
01/07: TRAVERSE URBANA
Justin Hevey
03/06: STRANGER THAN KINDNESS
Beth Josey
20/05: ORGANIC MECHANICS
Marcus Dillon
06/05: NOISE IN MY HOUSE
Marcelle Robbins
22/04: FACE OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Hermoine Macura
08/04: OCEAN DIALOGUES
Anna Zarasyan
25/03: FROM ME TO YOU
Michelle Heldon
11/03: BIRD BRAIN
Andrew Ensor
25/02: MCA STAFF SHOW
Group
11/02: FIDELITY
Group
Gallery Three
02/12: THE EYE'S MIND
Julia Kennedy Bell
18/11: EXOTICA
Kathryn Sieber + Michelle Clark
04/11: ECONOMIC MIRACLE
Fiona Wolf
21/10: EMPTY VESSELS
Adrianne Tasker
07/10: SATELLITES & SHIPWRECKS
Andrew Ensor
23/10: ANAMNESIS
Group
09/09: FELICITY, PASSION &
RAPTURE
Donna Page
26/08: REFLEX 2: A show of
mechanical poetry
Group Show
12/08: FEATHERLUTION
Andrew Ensor
29/07: SEE-SAW
5 Mentors & students
15/07: GANG
Group
01/07: PROLIFERATION
Kath Fries
03/06: TELL TALES
Jasmin Dessmann
20/05: CITY WEST LINK
Group
06/05: PORTRAITS ON HOMELESSNESS + SCHIZOPHRENIA
Nadia Janis
22/04: FOOD&COMPANY
Group
08/04: WORDS & PICTURES...
Jonathan James
25/03: VERSION
Court Williams
11/03: TA'AHINES & SENORITAS
+ GESTURE INSTRUCTIONS
25/02: SUBSET
The Photogroup
11/02: FIDELITY
Group
Keeper Gallery
02/12: A MATTER OF SCALE
Carol Faulkner
18/11: THE BOX PROJECT
Group Show
04/11: MARKED
Sonya Scott
21/10: TOUCH, PAUSE, ENGAGE
Group
07/10: CAST OFF: CONTEMPORARY
JEWELLERY
Group
23/09: PARKING DAY:
RECONFIGURED
&company
09/09: DOWN CHARM STRANGE
TRUTH BEAUTY
Duke Frost
26/08: SAY YOUR PIECE:
31 brooches by 31 artists
Group Show
12/08: HIDDEN FACETS
Katherine Wheeler
Abby Seymour
29/07: FIRST & LAST
Group
15/07: CAPPUCINO WILDERNESS
SAFARI
J.D Reforma
01/07: 32DEAD FOR JEWELLERY
Origin
03/06: RE: PRODUCTION
Group
20/05: POCKET FULL OF POSIES
Catherine Struckings
06/05: ACCESS
Group
22/04: MATERIALISE 2
Group
08/04: MATERIALISE 1
Group Show
25/03: PRECIOUS METALS
Group Show
25/02: HOMEWORK
Mark Vaarwerk
2 Dec - 14 Dec 2010
A MATTER OF SCALE - CAROL FAULKNER
Keeper Gallery
An exhibition of wearable vessels that explore the space between the known and the unknown.
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2 Dec - 14 Dec 2010
DIFFERENCE AND REPETITION - KASANE LOW, LINELLE STEPTO & PRISCILLA BOURNE
Gallery 1
Difference and Repetition can always be represented as extreme resemblance or perfect equivalence, but the fact that one can pass by degrees from one thing to another does not prevent their being different in kind. (Deleuze 1994) Three
artists, Kasane Low, Linelle Stepto and Priscilla Bourne explore the idea of repetition and difference through their sculpture and installation. Using a flower motif as a starting point each artist begins the laborious task of repeating only to find that each has come to a very different conclusion of difference; for Low it has led her to questions of Being, for Stepto it has become a kind of fantasy future, and Bourne has found herself in a land of strange hybridity.
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2 Dec - 14 Dec 2010
PHOTOGRAPHY WORKS ON PAPER - ANNA FRASER
Gallery 2
For about 7 years I have been taking photos of things that havebeen left behind - a cross processing project taken on my almostolder than me, 35mm camera, with results far from pixel perfect.
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2 Dec - 14 Dec 2010
THE EYE'S MIND - JULIA KENNEDY BALL
Gallery 3
My practice so far has explored the aspects of how abstraction can convey the relationship between the universal and personal experience. In particular utilising generic forms and particular textures to develop a personal language of individual logic. Thereby a set of differential marks, values and colour can be conveyed. These qualities of difference, sensation and emotion become sites of interaction between the logical and the emotional, of the sensory and perception and construct reflective spaces for the mind.
By balancing the intuitive and the intellectual via abstraction, the work goes beyond the surface and creates an internalised view of the world. The work has a formal logic that goes beyond what you see in order to search for connections within the world. It recognises the duality of living in two worlds and relates a state of disequilibrium, a state of flux, one that is closer to being. One’s own existence with it’s own peculiarities becomes the subject, reflected in the work and serves as a model for self encounter.
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18 - 30 Nov 2010
THE BOX PROJECT - GROUP SHOW
Keeper Gallery
Curated by Jasmine Matus
Unique works made by eighteen contemporary jewellers from Australia and New Zealand using unexpected materials they received in a mysterious brown box. An unusual ear plug neckpiece, shuttlecock earrings and brooches sprouting living grass adorn Gaffa Gallery’s walls amongst many other delightful pieces.
Curator Jasmine Matus conceptually revisits her childhood busy box, a box full of collected items brought out on rainy afternoons to inspire the making of imaginative objects. Twenty years later, The Box Project involves professional jewellers using complex materials and techniques to bring to life this intriguing past.
‘Working with a limited palette of things you would never choose yourself is quite a challenge but sometimes the best things come from foreign places’ ⎯ Sharon Fitness
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18 - 30 Nov 2010
DUOSCOPE - SARAH BREEN LOVETT AND YVETTE HAMILTON
Gallery 1
duoscope is an immersive installation by Sarah Breen Lovett and Yvette Hamilton. The installation transforms the gallery space into a forest-like environment, created by projected moving imagery and photographic works accompanied by a soundscape composed especially for the installation by L.A sound artist Greg Reeves.
Through this installed forest, the artists explore layers of dialogue occurring at the intersection of 'interior' and 'exterior'. This dialogue is explored at both a physical and metaphysical level – exterior forest imagery infiltrates the gallery's interior, while the interior mindscape is reflected in the forest imagery and installation. The resulting installation reflects an expanded scope of vision, incorporating the duality inherent in the outward and inward view.
Sarah Breen Lovett is a film installation artist whose work seeks to engage experiential awareness of our surroundings. Yvette Hamilton is a photomedia and installation artist who explores the liminal realm between space and consciousness. The overarching theme of their collaborations revolve around concepts of interior/exterior dialogues within the architecture of space and mind.
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18 - 30 Nov 2010
SOME ART - BENJAMIN MCCREADY
Gallery 2
Some Art, Benjamin Mccready’s first solo exhibition in Sydney, brings together the artist’s interest in a lot of things, stuff and such (including, but not limited to: the internet; science fiction movies; pictures of cats; traditional and contemporary painting and sculpture and things that fly). As an installation, the works in Some Art reflect Mccready’s penchant for the eclectic. A series of 4, billboard-like, ‘ten-second’ paintings project a kind of anti-camouflage and act as backdrops to picturesque prints affected by some vaguely techno-seismic activity, while spray paint dusted waste objects make sculpture out of not a lot. Hammer with wind swept ice cream redistributes polyurethane around a hammer and 4 EVA EVA figure-of-eights away, trusting that its 12-volt motor will keep it going ad infinitum. And then there is Art Sculpture. Art Sculpture, like Hammer with wind swept ice cream, is an experiment with polyurethane - an attempt to translate digital effects to RL (internet slang for real life). Mccready is a skilled graphic designer and his process generally begins on screen with research (he is an obsessive collector of digital imagery), sketches and mock-ups. However, the artist eschews tech savvy effects in his finished work, opting instead for ‘nostalgic’ photoshop processes and hand-built translations from 2D to 3D. During the making of Some Art, Mccready suffered an extreme allergic reaction to polyurethane. He is not dead.
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18 - 30 Nov 2010
EXOTICA - KATHRYN SIEBER AND MICHELLE CLARK
Gallery 3
Wandering through the world opens many vistas, portholes, snapshots in time. The world is a bountiful place. The eyes can see and hands can touch, feel the earth’s bountiful offerings. Kathryn and Michelle offer inspired interpretations of these snapshots, and have manifested tangible moments through portholes of their imaginations.
While all that glitters is not gold (or silver!), Michelle and Kathryn combine the earth’s offerings to shine as adornments and places for special objects. The most treasured offerings are simple in nature. As each person is unique, so are the pieces we make. No two are the same. The energy and animation of the pieces that have been created especially for this exhibition are emboldened by their uniqueness.
Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Something that delights and pleases becomes a treasured heirloom, admired by all. Seek and you will find. Each piece is purposeful - contemporary yet enduring; enlivening yet reassuring of what is possible.
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4 - 16 November
MARKED - SONYA SCOTT
Keeper Gallery
Marked by Sonya Scott is a solo exhibition exploring the relationships between intimate friends and strangers.
Each item in this body of work tangibly expresses the markings we leave on one another through the medium of gypsum chalk.
Oftentimes a phrase, remark, meeting or physical link is intangible and leaves little physical trace, instead leaving us with a mental residue. Marked seeks to illustrate the intimate contact points between friends and strangers and the subsequent ricochet affect as we interact, converse and engage with one another.
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4 - 16 November
POST EXHIBITION BLUES - MARK GERADA
Gallery 1
Anticipating the Aftermath...
Sydney artist Mark Gerada takes an at once ironic and serious look at the creative process in his latest series 'Post Exhibition Blues' showing at Gaffa from October 21st to November 16th 2010. Referring to the sense of disappointment or unfulfilled expectation that many artists experience following exhibitions, Gerada's 'Post Exhibition Blues' series sees him tackling his Post Exhibition Blues in the best way he knows how: with yet another exhibition.
As Gerada explains; "At first intended to be a joke, upon reflection I realised that this Post Exhibition Blues phenomena has parallels in all our lives. From post-natal, post-graduation, post-party, post-wedding or post-travel blues, to the deep grief after the loss of a loved one, we are often emotionally unprepared for the aftermath of monumental life experiences and the reality of loss and endings."
Exploring the innate connectedness of grief and loss with life and beginnings, Post Exhibition Blues takes a light-emitting underwater cave that links the Inland Sea and the Mediterranean Sea in Gozo, Malta, as its central image and motif. Alluding to the many passages we all travel through in life, paintings, light boxes, videos and sound pieces centre on softly glowing vortexes to create shimmering, pulsating reincarnations of Gerada's otherworldly experience in the cave.
Dancing between light and dark, life and death, comfort and discomfort, sanity and insanity, quiet and chaos, this series of over 40 works unite mediums and disparate concepts. Photocopies of found images and photographs from within the cave are subtly layered, while melodic and discordant vocals hauntingly amplify the rhythmic and mesmerising effect of the at once revelatory and concealing visuals.
Although based on a range of difficult experiences, a sense peace emerges from the works " I hope that by translating raw, confronting and terrifying ideas into simple meditative forms this series can inspire some peace and acceptance of these realities" says Gerada. Adopting an approach of awareness, anticipation and acceptance of Post Exhibition Blues, and an understanding that perfection is unobtainable, this powerful exhibition is an at once celebratory and cathartic gesture. However the question remains: will Gerada experience Post Exhibition Blues after Post Exhibition Blues?
markgerada.net
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4 - 16 November
CONSTRUCT - LAURE MCLEAN + MELODY WILLIS
Gallery 2
The term 'construct' is explored as both a verb and noun in this exhibition
of work by Laura McLean and Melody Williams. Approaching sculpture from
an architectural perspective, the artists have used materials and processes
associated with the planning and construction of buildings to examine how
ideological constructs 'come to ground' in physical forms.
Examining the notion of the nation state as an ideological construct,
McLean deconstructs elements of the flag, a physical and graphic symbol of
nationality. Although new, the materials used have been 'aged'. The fabric
is faded and frayed, the wooden frame worn. Presentation is lacking in
ornament. Is this the romanticism of modernism?
Williams' practice oscillates between architectural proposals, representational
and conceptual painting, interactive installation and recent dabbling in digital
fabrication… Many messes in many labs… These constructions express the
blur that occurs in the life of an oscillator - mashed-up aesthetics, tooling,
vocabulary, values and infinitesimally self-referential translations back and
forth from hardware to software to hardware. They are the tumbleweeds that
roll through her workshop, studio and laptop, gathering.
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4 - 16 November
ECONOMIC MIRACLE (Das Wirtschaftswunder) - FIONA WOLF
Gallery 3
Produced in postwar Germany, the Clack is a result of the German Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle) of the 1950’s.
The allies were restructuring Germany back into a modern state incorporating the newest technologies. Agfa took advantage of the economic boom to create the Clack as a camera for the millions who prospered from the high tide.
I have used the Clack in an unconventional way to capture industrial motifs like the Australian muscle car. Loved and created by a nation, it has established itself as a status symbol of the booming Australian Economy.
The use of analog film processing and printing to create this work is a craft not unfamiliar to the process of creating a new machine or object.
By winding the 120 mm roll film manually multiple exposures and a seamless negative achieve the effect of various perspectives and details within the powerful images of cars, planes or other industrial machinery.
As a product of economic and creative growth in its homeland the Clack captures the beauty of these industrial machines in an abstract and surprising way.
Proudly sponsored and supported by FUJI Film Australia and THE LIGHTHOUSE LAB.
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21 October - 2 November
TOUCH, PAUSE, ENGAGE
Keeper Gallery
Group show
Touch, Pause, Engage is an introductory snapshot of contemporary NZ
jewellery for the Australian community. This innovative jewellery
showcase is designed to reset the trans-Tasman rivalry between our
rugby-loving brothers and sisters. Opening night, October 21st will also
mark the release of an accompanying publication.
Touch, Pause, Engage, invites a diverse team of fifteen NZ jewellers to
submit inventive and inspired works. Although many of the makers'
practices focus on different issues and are expressed in diverse forms,
the side is fit and game ready. The roster is comprised of talented
individuals with different skills and strengths who make a target of
pushing the experimental aspects of their jewellery practice. The
captains look forward to an exciting match. Who wants it?
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21 October - 16 November
POST EXHIBITION BLUES - MARK GERADA
Gallery One
Anticipating the Aftermath...
Sydney artist Mark Gerada takes an at once ironic and serious look at the creative process in his latest series 'Post Exhibition Blues' showing at Gaffa from October 21st to November 16th 2010. Referring to the sense of disappointment or unfulfilled expectation that many artists experience following exhibitions, Gerada's 'Post Exhibition Blues' series sees him tackling his Post Exhibition Blues in the best way he knows how: with yet another exhibition.
As Gerada explains; "At first intended to be a joke, upon reflection I realised that this Post Exhibition Blues phenomena has parallels in all our lives. From post-natal, post-graduation, post-party, post-wedding or post-travel blues, to the deep grief after the loss of a loved one, we are often emotionally unprepared for the aftermath of monumental life experiences and the reality of loss and endings."
Exploring the innate connectedness of grief and loss with life and beginnings, Post Exhibition Blues takes a light-emitting underwater cave that links the Inland Sea and the Mediterranean Sea in Gozo, Malta, as its central image and motif. Alluding to the many passages we all travel through in life, paintings, light boxes, videos and sound pieces centre on softly glowing vortexes to create shimmering, pulsating reincarnations of Gerada's otherworldly experience in the cave.
Dancing between light and dark, life and death, comfort and discomfort, sanity and insanity, quiet and chaos, this series of over 40 works unite mediums and disparate concepts. Photocopies of found images and photographs from within the cave are subtly layered, while melodic and discordant vocals hauntingly amplify the rhythmic and mesmerising effect of the at once revelatory and concealing visuals.
Although based on a range of difficult experiences, a sense peace emerges from the works " I hope that by translating raw, confronting and terrifying ideas into simple meditative forms this series can inspire some peace and acceptance of these realities" says Gerada. Adopting an approach of awareness, anticipation and acceptance of Post Exhibition Blues, and an understanding that perfection is unobtainable, this powerful exhibition is an at once celebratory and cathartic gesture. However the question remains: will Gerada experience Post Exhibition Blues after Post Exhibition Blues?
markgerada.net
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21 October - 2 November
OTHERWISE THAN BEING - SUE SAXON
Gallery Two
Sue Saxon is concerned with the experiences, exchanges and ethics of human relations. In her multidisciplinary practice, which incorporates large-scale installations, figurative mosaics, painting and sculpture, the artist explores the representation and experiences of the Other within the context of contemporary society and world events. The artist uses everyday objects, including materials commonly associated with food and cooking, to reference cultural beliefs, familial events and social histories. She employs labour intensive techniques and processes, which leave a physical, personal mark on the finished artwork. These are works that have a human quality, inviting us to meditate on our relationship with others, and to consider our actions outside the gallery.
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21 October - 2 November
EMPTY VESSELS - ADRIANNE TASKER
Gallery Three
Disambiguation; the process of resolving conflicts that arise when a single term can possess more than one meaning. You could imagine, that through Tasker's methodical and laborious process of weaving (the verb weave itself being ambiguous) she is mulling, dissecting, processing and ultimately resolving the myriad of thoughts that pool together and collect themselves in her mind, the way that thoughts are wont to do.
Empty Vessels is ironically a cup runneth over, with contradictions and double entendres - and too, double whammy's, with the conflation of what are traditionally two iconic artistic staples - the woven textile and the still-life. With her unassuming cheerfully coloured renditions (of what are actually modelled from very un-cheerful empty wine and spirit bottles) Tasker remixes the old and the old, somehow creating the refreshingly new. Along the way also posing questions about social and cultural perceptions and norms.
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7 - 19 October
CAST OFF: CONTEMPORARY JEWELLERY
Keeper Gallery
Curated by Naomi Stewart
24 contemporary jewellers from Australia and New Zealand explore
traditional and non-traditional casting techniques in this group
exhibition of recent work.
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7 - 19 October
REALITY VS ILLUSION
Gallery One
Can you hold an illusion in your hands? Or are illusions held only with
the eyes? Is a reality a hard and fast truth or a construct of the mind?
Reality and Illusion...an ambiguous combination of two ideals strongly
opposing the other, yet oftentimes embodying the very essence of what they
are not.
Felicity Cain, Rita Clinquart, Catherine Chandler, Chris Ditsas, Ears,
James Looker, Sean O'Connell, Joanne Piper, Tamahra Prowse, Sonya Scott, Penny Snars & Kimberly Williams.
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7 - 19 October
FIRES I HAVE LIT
Gallery Two
An exhibition by Skye O'Shea and Tamryn Bennett
'Fires I Have Lit' is an exhibition of the 'comics' collaboration between
visual artist, Skye O'Shea, and writer, Tamryn Bennett. This
interdisciplinary collaboration comprises a series of process shows that
explore the creation of a non-traditional comic book that combines
painting and poetry. The objective of 'Fires I Have Lit' is to create a
3-dimensional comic book through a combination of painting, installation
and text. This exhibition will invite audiences to interact with the
works, exploring the comic making process and how text and image interact
to inform each other.
'Fires I Have Lit' orbits the world of artists and their muses. These
artworks reference myths of madness, memory and the power struggle between
inspiration and creator played-out in studios for centuries.
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7 - 19 October
SATELLITES & SHIPWRECKS
Gallery Two
A solo exhibition by Andrew Ensor
The exhibition of drawings examines and contrasts the heights of human
achievement in space exploration with the despair of maritime disasters.
We find ourselves caught between the empty void that is the sky and the
deep abyss of the sea looking for answers to life's mysteries in the murky
darkness. The ocean and outer space form the backdrop of human endeavor in
both its triumphs and tragedies, creating a sense of isolation for any
that venture too far towards success or failure.
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23 September - 5 October
PARKING DAY - Presented by &company
Keeper Gallery
An interactive installation from the recent PARKING DAY is reconfigured
for exhibition.
Presented by &company, new work by Marion Gelbart, Sarah Spackman &
Harriet Watts.
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23 September - 5 October
SEVEN - Corrie Ancone
Gallery One
7 Scapes, 7 Dreams & Illusions, 7 Urban Ends & The 7 Deadly Sins.
Rich photographic art conveying the surreal, the inbetween, the ambiguity
of human form, the lusciousness of nature & the allergoric windows in
urban surrounds.
In line with life's 7 cycles, this photographic exhibition serves up 7
scapes, 7 dreams & illusions, 7 urban ends & an interpretation of the 7
Deadly Sins.
Different photographic techniques are employed to conceptually convey
lifes' paths, the trepid journey, the myths, the legends & what remains..
Drawn to texture & the body, the images are soulful, poignant, painterly,
& sometimes surreal & suggest a hidden connectedness, in a seemingly
random environment.
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23 September - 5 October
A PUPPET SHOW FOR GEORGE STREET - Jesse Cox
Gallery Two
'A Puppet Show for George Street' is a sculpture/installation capturing a
24-hour snapshot of the city's main street. The main sculpture is
comprised of over 30 small tin figures made from recycled oil tins
collected from surrounding restaurants and cafes. Looking at the
sculpture from the front the colorful figures represent the varied
characters that walk the pavement of George Street - bike riders, street
sweepers, businessmen and women, skater boys and cleaners. A pair of
lovers and an angel wing clad wanderer.
The simple figurative forms capture the aesthetic of shadow puppets - and
the sculpture is accompanied by a short video where the figures perform in
a shadow puppet show.
The exhibition is also displaying a number of maquettes and puppets from
the artists studio that have been used in the making of the final piece.
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23 September - 5 October
ANAMNESIS - Group
Gallery Three
A group exhibition featuring: Chris Lapa, Cherry Piper, Justin Gloor and
Nick Benson
The concept of Loss and Memory stems from unintentional correlations seen
in the work of a group of like-minded Photomedia artists.
All works look at how the function of memory in recalling past events and
moments in time alters our perception of ourselves as singular entities
and collectively as a society, shaping our perception of the past, present
and future.
The use of Photomedia exclusively for this exhibition uses the mediums
association with memory to showcase the representation of each artist's
vision in a coherent manner. Being a physical record of past events (real
of imagined) allows for associations in the viewers mind regarding their
own perception of memory and loss.
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9 - 21 September
DUKE FROST: UP DOWN CHARM STRANGE TRUTH BEAUTY - Solo by Duke Frost
Keeper Gallery
Recently, Duke Frost has begun an obsession with Quantum Physics. He
enjoys quark particles as they come in six flavours: up, down, charm,
strange, top (truth) and bottom (beauty). He also makes a habit of
collecting words, taking long romantic strolls in the park and offering
elderly passengers his seat on the train.
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9 - 21 September
TENMOREGIRLS PRESENT: GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD
Gallery One
Majella Beck, Jenny Daskalakis, Andrea Iglesias, A Mi Kim, Natasha Marcus
Taylor, Jasmine Matus, Radka Passianova, Bernadette Trainor & Janis
Valdivia
The Ten More Girls collective is an internationally faceted group of
female artists who believe that they can make the world go round by
creating beautiful unique jewellery & objects.
For the third year in a row they are uniting to hold an annual exhibition
of contemporary wearable; art. The collective consists of ten female
designers and makers who met while studying at the Design Centre, Enmore
and who are committed to exhibiting every year to promote and nurture the
medium in their local community and beyond.
Having steadily built a buzz around their work in their previous shows,
'Girls for Boys' 2008 and 'Girls Against Gold' 2009, the girls continue to
explore contemporary themes through 'Girls Around the World'.
This year's theme, Girls Around the World reflects the group's interest in
diverse cultures, their love of travel and issues such as globalization,
international politics, the environment & human rights. Their stories
expressed through wearable artworks will be fabricated from contemporary
and traditional materials and promise to challenge perceptions and capture
the imagination.
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9 - 21 September
LADDER THEORIES - ANGELA MORRELL
Gallery Two
A ladder can promote a feeling of fear and uncertainty. Simply by the
placement of ladders in disconcerting situations my small sculptural
vignettes teasingly describe how the act of climbing up or down a ladder
can nurture a feeling of irrationality. They bring into play underlying
meanings, they become metaphorical statements.
The works are peppered with poignancy and humour determining a variety of
success, fear and failure theories.
The principle theory is that climbing a ladder will take you on a route to
success. Ladders placed in certain positions can be unsettling and
superstition decrees that walking under them must be avoided at all costs.
They become mysterious objects, which lead us to question and rationalize
why they are there at all.
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9 - 21 September
FELICITY, PASSION & RAPTURE - DONNA PAGE
Gallery Three
Donna Page's practice has a literary foundation; in this instance a novel
from the beginning of modernity, Madame Bovary, and more particularly, the
main character Emma Bovary. Emma is a young woman who tries to bring her
own experiences and life closer to that of the glamorous, romantic
characters in the novels she reads, falling into debt and despair when
this gap cannot be filled. Like Emma Bovary, many of us still believe that
through consumption of the accoutrements of the glamorous life, we will
indeed be glamorous and experience fulfillment on a deeper level. So
desire is not really for the thing itself, rather it is for what it will
allow us to become. This for Page is the nature of the modern dilemma of
desire – a confusion of surface with substance, and of consumption with
fulfillment.
Felicity, passion and rapture is an attempt to give this experience of
desire a physical presence, for if it exists regardless of the desired
object or subject itself it has a life and therefore form of its own. The
work consists of a series of related small scale sculptural objects and
related works that exist in a self-enclosed system of desire – both
desirable and desiring. Their scale and sensual materials invite the
viewer to get closer and encourage an intimate relationship with the work,
as well as incite in the viewer a desire for the objects themselves.
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26 August - 7 September
SAY YOUR PIECE: 31 brooches by 31 artists
Keeper Gallery
All participants were given the same brief; to create a brooch out of an
existing piece of jewellery.
In most cases the artists had no prior knowledge of the piece they were
given to adapt, whereas some artists chose to use a piece of jewellery
they sourced themselves.
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26 August - 7 September
SAY YOUR PIECE: 31 brooches by 31 artists
Galleries One, Two & Three
Winner of the 2009 Canberra Art Critic's Award, featuring:
Geoffrey Farquhar-Still, Ella Barclay, Chloe Bussenschutt, Sarah Firth,
Nicci Haynes, Daniel Lorrimer, Marina Neilson, Sean O'Connell, Heike
Qualitz, Matthew Smith & Alan Rose.
Gaffa Gallery presents Reflex 2: A Show of Mechanical Poetry, an
award-winning exhibition of mechanical oddities curated by and featuring
work from celebrated contemporary sculptor Geoff Farquhar-Still.
On view from 26 August until 7 September, this interactive exhibition
displays kinetic sculptures displayed in an "absurd, delightful and
slightly sinister manner".
A quirky mix of Jules Verne-meets-Myth Busters, Reflex is an exhibition
that actively explores both modern science and and mechanical poetry. All
ten objects on view require the active participation of gallery visitors
to make the exhibition come to life.
Bringing together 11 artists and machine makers from around Australia,
Reflex is an opportunity to engage with the poetic possibilities of
machines and their hand cranked, 12-volt, gravity-activated personalities.
Some machines spin at the turn of a handle or the flick of a switch,
revealing their nature with a cacophony of sound and movement. Others will
rise and fall gently only to rise once more while others will crash,
springing back to life at the flick of a switch.
"To look with the eyes is one thing, to feel with the hands, another thing
entirely. Objects have form, color and scale but they also have weight,
resistance and sound. The point of the exhibition is to bring together
artists to create machines which serve no purpose other than to bend the
mind into new shapes and to walk away filled with wonder at their
brilliance," says Farquhar-Still.
Over the last five years, Geoff Farquhar-Still has worked on large-scale
interactive sculptures, including with Harris Hobbs Landscape Architects
on four urban parks in southern Canberra. He has exhibited in group and
solo shows in NSW, VIC and the ACT, receiving numerous awards. At present,
Farquhar-Still is exhibiting at Canberra Museum and Art Gallery show
'Something in the Air', an exhibition of artists working with found
objects, which includes work by Robert Klippel and Rosalie Gascoine.
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12 - 24 August
HIDDEN FACETS
Keeper Gallery
Hidden Facets is a collaborative exhibition between Melbourne based jeweller Katherine Wheeler & printmaker Abby Seymour. By working together they are able to form a dynamic body of work that plays off each medium with a solidity between object based three dimensional & two dimensional paper work.
Image from Abby's blog.
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29 July - 3 August
FIRST & LAST - GROUP
Keeper Gallery
Pushing the boundaries of traditional materials, methods and forms, jewellery makers and designers reveal their artistic journey – showing both their debut pieces and their most current exhibition work. Raw, naive but optimistic pieces with solder joins and unsophisticated finishes disclose the artists' formative work, but these are placed right beside their most recent contemporary items. It's the makers' chance to reminisce about their early days and contemplate their future directions. Twenty jewellers – both emerging and established – from Australia and New Zealand display their collections, including work by Jasmine Matus, Melinda Young and Sonya Scott. The exhibition is curated by Zoe Brand, a Sydney-based maker, wearer and viewer of contemporary art jewellery.
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12 - 24 August
THIS WAY - JACK RANDELL
Gallery One
Recently awarded a studio residency at Thirning Villa in Ashfield, this exhibition showcases the resulting body of work and comprises of seventeen paintings and one video from Jack's new Sydney studio.
"These new pictures feature simpler production values than with my large-scale CarriageWorks video/paintings of 2008. The paintings are smaller in size and respond to the smaller exhibition space at Gaffa. The new paintings take cues from road signage, the common vernacular of any road trip. The overt coding of traffic symbols become checkpoints in the loss and anticipation that occur simultaneously for the seeking traveller. What do any of our codes reveal and what do they conceal?"
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12 - 24 August
NEW WORK - ROHAN WILSON
Gallery Two
"Appropriation takes some vigorous steps. I bought a painting at auction - thanks to Martin, Chetan, and Shauna. It already was an appropraited, textured, layered copy anyway. It was signed RWilson - perfect."
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12 - 24 August
FEATHERLUTION - ANDREW ENSOR
Gallery Three
The Wright brothers were wrong. An exhibition of illustrations. A solo exhibition of contemporary drawing works by Andrew Ensor
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29 July - 3 August
SEE-SAW - 20 STUDENTS, 5 MENTORS, 1 STORY
Galleries 1, 2 & 3
The art of story telling is a collaborative effort. A story can go back and forth between people, constantly evolving as they each add imagination, embellishments and flourishes. Collaboration also isn't a foreign concept in design. Through design we take the same back and forth process of storytelling beyond a verbal exchange into more visual and tangible outcomes.
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15 - 27 July
CAPPUCINO WILDERNESS SAFARI - J.D. REFORMA
Keeper Gallery
In Cappuccino Wilderness Safari, J.D. Reforma reflects upon the bourgeois tendency to "life-stylise" – re-contextualising the artificial construct of suburbia by extracting from within it specific elements for re-constitution into a fictionalised narrative of "the wild". He cites the celebrity-filled tabloid magazine, the idyllic model-home, and the branded takeaway-coffee cup as functional entities within this elusive "wilderness" safari, where the twin-concerns of celebrity and status are the designated and much sought-after "game". In elevating them to trophy-status, he proposes that through a totemistic (not simply consumeristic) dedication to such objects, the urban bourgeoisie attempt to transcend the supposed stasis of their position.
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15 - 27 July
GANG - RUDY ARDIANTO
Gallery 1
A collection of works made during Rudy's recent years living in Java-Indonesia (2006 - 2009). The works are an exploration into the realms of power with a re-occuring reference to seats: the seat of power, the devil's throne, the wheel chair, the 'Green' chair. Through this work Rudy explores the undercurrent movements, both political and cultural, flowing in contrary directions to the mainstreams of power.
GANG is an exhibition showcasing the depth of creative networking between Java and Sydney over the last decade. Gang is a celebration of the past, present and future of a wealth of collaborative exchanges that have occurred through the creative networks active in 'Gang Festival' (Sydney) and its sister festival 'Festival Mata Air', based in Central Java. This exhibition also marks the inaugural launch of 'Gang Installations', a new art installation company and the birth of the next phase in Gang Collaborations.
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15 - 27 July
GANG - CLARE PERKINS
Gallery 2
This exhibition of paintings is a collection of buildings - real, imagined and remembered: re-presented as slightly skewed likenesses in paint on canvas and board. Terraces, warehouses and other industrial spaces in the Chippendale, Redfern and Newtown areas inspire the paintings. History and the memory of life etched into the surfaces of the buildings present rich emotional and textural reference for paint application and as we witness the transformation and homogenisation of our urban landscape these paintings capture some of the character of our city's disappearing history.
GANG is an exhibition showcasing the depth of creative networking between Java and Sydney over the last decade. Gang is a celebration of the past, present and future of a wealth of collaborative exchanges that have occurred through the creative networks active in 'Gang Festival' (Sydney) and its sister festival 'Festival Mata Air', based in Central Java. This exhibition also marks the inaugural launch of 'Gang Installations', a new art installation company and the birth of the next phase in Gang Collaborations.
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15 - 27 July
GANG - GROUP
Gallery 3
Shannon Johnston, Clare Conroy, Johan Marais Piper, Deni Pancatritana - Taring Padi Collective (Java-Indonesia), TUK Collective (Java-Indonesia), Elizabeth Russ, and Installation by Marty Jay.
GANG is an exhibition showcasing the depth of creative networking between Java and Sydney over the last decade. Gang is a celebration of the past, present and future of a wealth of collaborative exchanges that have occurred through the creative networks active in 'Gang Festival' (Sydney) and its sister festival 'Festival Mata Air', based in Central Java. This exhibition also marks the inaugural launch of 'Gang Installations', a new art installation company and the birth of the next phase in Gang Collaborations.
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1 - 13 July
32DEAD FOR JEWELLERY - ORIGIN
Keeper Gallery
'Like concrete clashing concrete, so did the bus and the people on it, as they collide into the water of the river below. Like a stone being thrown into a lake the bus disappeared in the freezing unforgiving water. And quickly, just the same way as the bus had, the screams vanished! 32 had died.'
Video installation reporting the story and process behind the project 32Dead For Jewellery by Joao Vaz.
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1 - 13 July
ARE WE THERE YET? - GROUP
Gallery 1
A group contemporary object art & design exhibition showcasing artists who
work with a variety of mediums and processes.
Georgia Graham, Alexandra Darby, Eliza Mok, Corrine Snare, Kenny Son, Jane Godbold, Ilana Thorpe, Rob Stewart, Eleni Antoniou, Claudia Citton & Angela Porritt
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1 - 13 July
TRAVERSE URBANA - JUSTIN HEVEY
Gallery 2
Having traveled extensively through out Europe while living in London,
Cuba, China and across Serbia Russia Justin's photos capture places in
urban and country landscapes along with its diverse people and its
cultures.
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1 - 13 July
PROLIFERATION - KATH FRIES
Gallery 3
This new installation by Kath Fries fills the gallery space with hundreds
of feathers. The gallery space will appear to be bursting at the seams as
hidden stuffing spews forth and strands of feathers trail down the walls
and explode out of the cracks between floorboards. The artist will tend
the installation daily and viewers will be able to see it change and grow
over this period.
A publication titled Feather will also accompany the exhibition. For more
information please visit www.kathfries.blogspot.com
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20 May - 1 June
A POCKET FULL OF POSIES - CATHERINE STUCKINGS
Keeper Gallery
A Pocketful of Posies explores the microscopic; the unfamiliar - yet ubiquitous life-forms that surround ; invade ; reside and act upon us.
Rows of delicate handkerchiefs reveal and celebrate the complexity and aesthetic beauty of a hidden menace.
The familiar becomes unfamiliar and the unfamiliar known.
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20 May - 1 June
A POCKET FULL OF POSIES - CATHERINE STUCKINGS
Keeper Gallery
A Pocketful of Posies explores the microscopic; the unfamiliar - yet ubiquitous life-forms that surround ; invade ; reside and act upon us.
Rows of delicate handkerchiefs reveal and celebrate the complexity and aesthetic beauty of a hidden menace.
The familiar becomes unfamiliar and the unfamiliar known.
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3 - 15 June
RE: PRODUCTION - GROUP
Keeper Gallery
Adorning almost every surface of a room, re:production is an exhibition of roughly 500 images that document the practices of a diverse range of contemporary jewellery makers.
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3 - 15 June
SUPERSET - GROUP
Gallery 1
Asim Aly-Khan, Caroline Foldes, Mirjana Tann, Patrick Gilling, Philippa Margan, Andrea Klucis, Bryan Cummins, Mim Stirling
This is the SuperSet. Photographic artworks by eight Sydney photographers.
From microcosm to macrocosm – worlds through a lens.
An exhibition by The Photo Group.
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3 - 15 June
STRANGER THAN KINDNESS - BETH JOSEY
Gallery 2
CURATED BY SIX WOLVES
Six Wolves is proud to present 'Stranger Than Kindness' a new collection of works by artist Beth Josey, curated by Six Wolves.
The title 'Stranger than Kindness' is not an everyday phrase, however, kindness is no longer an everyday happening. Josey has produced a collection of works that much like the kindness of a stranger are not part of our everyday world. These paintings do not convey the everyday thoughts of the everyday person. Josey shifts us all from our familiar, safe places to a confronting, mysterious underworld.
'Stranger than Kindness documents a world of scattered thoughts, disturbing dreams, and hallucinations of fears that we usually hide from each other and even ourselves."
A sense of gothic obscurity is achieved throughout this series of work, with Josey¹s use of classic mediums of oils, acrylic and ink. With a blend of portraiture and surrealism, Beth has created a gothic aesthetic, exploring the fragmented nature of the individual and the contradictions inherent in all people.
Kristen Perich and Adam Browne have developed Six Wolves, a creative agency Six Wolves has fast become a staple part of the Sydney production and casting scene for both the fashion and art industries.
'Stranger Than Kindness' is an invitation to a collection that is admittedly strange, but no stranger than kindness.
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3 - 15 June
TELL TALES - JASMIN DESSMANN
Gallery 3
This exhibition follows the tradition of narrative construction or the way a story is told, something which has influenced how we interpret information since the spoken word, the written script, and the recognition of universal symbols.
Drawing its meaning from religious stories, classical mythologies, to urban folklore and rumours of superstitious happenings, the works in Tell Tales make use of ambiguous interplays between symbols, settings, characters and contemporary events. It presents to us stories of our own minds making.
Referencing the saying "the tell tale signs" and the act of "telling tales" this exhibition applies the inevitable potential for exaggeration and deception which comes with the process of reiterating information many times. Like film stills disenfranchised from a greater whole, each work suggests a narrative beyond what is seen in a single frame. A question of what is seen and what is not seen.
Aesthetically evoking early woodcuts and print etchings which often provided the pictorial depictions for myths and instructional manuscripts, we see gothic figures and stunned animal characters playing host to scenes both familiar yet obscure, in a masquerade of a mundane fable.
Here the act of deciphering and interpreting through the confusion of origins, allusions, and other didactics becomes the challenge of memory, trivia, or déjà vu. Where the familiar scene becomes the unfamiliar, and where the proverbial formula for interpreting a story is recognised as obsolete.
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20 May - 1 June
A POCKET FULL OF POSIES - CATHERINE STUCKINGS
Keeper Gallery
A Pocketful of Posies explores the microscopic; the unfamiliar - yet ubiquitous life-forms that surround ; invade ; reside and act upon us.
Rows of delicate handkerchiefs reveal and celebrate the complexity and aesthetic beauty of a hidden menace.
The familiar becomes unfamiliar and the unfamiliar known.
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20 May - 1 June
ORGANIC MECHANICS - MARCUS DILLON
Galleries 1 & 2
Having had an ongoing dialogue with glass for many years I continue to remain curious about the new forms that emerge when I have spare time in the studio to play. Hands-on material manipulation is essential to my practice, its how things can be shaped and formed as I'm exploring a variety of methods of working with materials that bring out qualities that I feel attracted to. By exploring processes of manipulation, whether through artisanship, or the use of industrial processes, I delight in the discovery of innovative ways of interpreting glass in combination with a variety of other materials.
As well as being driven by the direct manipulation of materials, my work is informed by principles appropriated from such areas as engineering, physics, chemistry, cosmology, archeology and architecture. Each piece is intended to epitomize a hard-edged industrial object, all the while alluding to the biomorphic structure of a functioning entity. The commonality and focus is where form and structure becomes one, where all elements of construction are exposed and composed to create a singular sculptural form.
By working with modules and components I'm allowing for the development of relationships between these elements where old forms are able to generate new forms through processes that might suggest germination, hybridization, or absorption. These dynamic and multifarious compositions reveal fervour for mechanical geometry while suggesting a sense of organic growth and evolution. Each element is simple in its own right, yet contributes to fashion a shift towards greater complexity in the combination and collision of components. The intent - a single entity conceived as a functioning system of interdependent autonomous parts.
Constructed with a play between interior and exterior space, I am interested in exploring the tension between what is revealed and what is concealed; how windows link interior space with exterior place to create shifting sightlines; how space is compressed and movement directed; how at times something is hidden, and at times exposed. A window is a charged site, the place where interior and exterior negotiate. The circular opening is its oculus and becomes the source of surveillance.
Considering the forces within nature - its physics, mechanics and chemistry, these formations are representations of the energy, life and space both within and around us.
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20 May - 1 June
CITY WEST LINK - GROUP SHOW
Gallery 3
The city west link is a road that links the west to the city. In this photography exhibition you will see two photographic essays by two photographers. One by George Voulgaropoulos, about the Children of Auburn in West Sydney & one by Richard Payne focusing on the city of Sydney. What links the two photo essays is that they both show Sydney in an unfamiliar light.
Georgeʼs essay is a Sydney that most people will never see. This series provides a glimpse into the life of the next generation of Australians living in Auburn, peering behind the veil of this little-known side of society. Will this next generation of Australians hold onto their cultural heritage? Or will they be overwhelmed by the pressure to assimilate? The body of work parallels Georgeʼs journey as a photographer, as an observer of a culture, mirroring his own experiences as a 2nd generation Australian.
Richard's essay is of the urbane environment, a summary of stone, metal and glass that covers everything in its path leaving nature suppressed but not defeated. Once a city is erected the people come to nest.
www.fotorich.com
About George Voulgaropoulos
A freelance photographer who currently works as both a staff photojournalist locally in the western and inner-western suburbs of Sydney (Torch, Auburn Review, Cooks River Valley Times) as well as Milk & Honey Photography. The winner of the ACMP Editorial Emerging Photographer award 2009, George is establishing himself as a documentary photographer.
www.lightbound.com.au
About Richard Payne
Professional Photographer based in Sydney Australia. Running a full time commercial business "Richard Payne Photography". Also shooting personal projects, street photography, doco and fine art.
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22 April - 4 June 2010
MATERIALISE 2 - GROUP SHOW
Keeper Gallery
Marina Antoniou
Catherine Buman
Kate Davey
Felix Gill
Sarah Hilyard
Natalie Lehrer
Kristen Nicole
Nikola Steggles
Naomi Stewart
Emily Thomas & Joao Vaz
Lead by recent graduates Naomi Stewart and Sarah Hilyard, emerging contemporary jewellery and object makers from Sydney take the stage in an exhibition showing their recent works.
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22 April - 4 May 2010
FOOD&COMPANY - GROUP SHOW
Galleries 1 & 2
Samantha Denmark
Jacqueline Chan
Lauren Esdaile
Lucy Hall
Katherine Heise
Jefferton James
Anna Kalloudis
Sarah Long
Charmaine Ng
Gemma O'Brien
Clare O'Flynn
Rochelle Pauw
Elizabeth Reed
Naomi Taplin
Harriet Watts
Hayden Youlley
Co-ordinating curator: Anna Lise De Lorenzo
Creative curator: Anne-Louise Dadak
Exhibition assistant: Sarah Long
Design Laboratory installation by Anne-Louise Dadak
Food&Company presents works by 15 emerging designers and artists responding to food&company. The show is an investigation into the shared experience and storytelling imbued in the objects we eat from, cook with, the places we dine, the company we keep and the ephemera that's left behind.
The installation of this exhibition is interested in providing an insight into the processes and ideas that feed into the designs and artworks on display. Think of it as a shared meal made from home-grown vegetables, based on a passed-down recipe. This meal engages the diners in a richer experience than the flavours of the meal itself.
Works include ceramics, furniture, illustration, photography, tableware, textiles and more in installations that aim to trigger ideas, interactions and discussions.
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22 April - 4 May 2010
FACES OF THE MIDDLE EAST - A SOLO BY HERMOINE MACURA
Gallery 2
This exhibition features photographic snapshots of various ethnic and religious minorities that call one of the most controversial parts of the world home. From the Bedul of Petra to the Shiaa pilgrims of Iran, Faces of the Middle East documents how some ancient groups continue to survive amidst adversity and a globalizing culture.
Based in the Middle East for the past 7 years, Faces of the Middle East is Hermoine Macura's first photographic exhibition. A prelude to her book on minority groups in the Middle East, to be released later this year, the exhibition is a culmination of almost 5 years of work across the Arab world.
Born and bred in Sydney Australia, Hermoine has directed and produced several documentaries on the Middle East. Her passion to document the "common thread of humanity that unites us all", has led her to some of the Middle East's most dangerous countries, including Iraq and Palestine.
A graduate from the University of Wollongong, Hermoine is currently based in Dubai as a News Anchor and Reporter for Emirates News on Dubai One TV.
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8 April - 20 April 2010
MATERIALISE 1 - GROUP SHOW
Keeper Gallery
Catherine Buman
Carol Faulkner
Angie Lou
Jasmine Matus
Mark McClelland
Mitsuru Soeda
Phillip Srhoj
Jacquie Starr
Minh Tran
Lead by recent graduates Naomi Stewart and Sarah Hilyard, emerging contemporary jewellery and object makers from Sydney take the stage in an exhibition showing their recent works.
Image: Catherine Buman, Íllumine, 2009
Stainless steel, house paint, 550mm (maximum height)
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8 April - 20 April
FIVE EIGHT FIVE: VOLUME 2 - GROUP SHOW
Gallery 1
Elizabeth Ciantar
Erin Cuthbert
Rhonda Dwyer
Alex Greene
Emily Harris
Momoko Hatano
Kirsten Hillman
Ashleigh Hopkins
Sinead Kelly
Alison Moore
Jyoti Peart
Sian Edwards
Elizabeth Reed
James Robertson
Adam Roche
Philippa Thomas
Curated by Momoko Hatano
This is the second group exhibition by a diverse selection of emerging artists and designers.
Their day job is the common thread that connects these artists and provide a space for their creative interactions.
The exhibition showcases their recent drawings, sculptures, paintings, textiles, jewellery and objects.
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8 April - 20 April
OCEAN DIALOGUES - ANNA ZARASYAN
Gallery 2
Having lived in Australia for the last sixteen years, I position myself as an artist, whose expression has translated into a multifaceted mixture of representational and non-representational works. The variety of subjects and technical approaches in my work reflects the way in which I relate to the complexity of the contemporary art practice and the society that generates it.
The theme of the 'Ocean Dialogues' series presented at this exhibition is hardly original. This fact in itself presents a conceptual challenge. What could I add to the numerous voices of those who have already spoken on the theme? How do I make one of the most popular cliché subjects of the tourist oriented galleries' produce to come across meaningful and sincere? How do I create an expression that is romantic without being sentimental? How do I create a nostalgic mood without creating a sense of hopelessness?
The way I have approached the challenge was to create a visual Variation of the Theme. The theme of the Ocean is explored from the various stylistic angles. Combined, they give an answer to one simple question: What is the ocean for me? What has it been for me before I came to Australia? What is it for me now? How could it happen, that the Ocean from the books and movies has turned into a reality that is only a short walk away from where I live? It is truly a miracle I believe…
There is a unifying force that brings together such a widely spread set of styles in my paintings. It is a particular feel that I set to achieve. Regardless of style and the technique used, I seek to create paintings that would speak to the viewer in a soft and gentle voice, that would make a viewer's mind silent, that would make him/her feel calm and grounded; that would balance out the accelerating pace of life that is becoming increasingly intense, noisy and overpowering.
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8 April - 20 April
WORDS AND PICTURES, IT'S AN EXHIBITION! - JONATHAN JAMES
Gallery 3
Jonathan James is a Sydney based artist using art to explore the possibility of fresh perspectives, prompted by open-ended dialogue. Disembodied sentences wait to be subjectively interpreted by each viewer. Nostalgic imagery provides the counter point.
"Song and dance celebrate the classic love affair, mistaking leave taking for something else, as though that leave taking, that walk into the sunset, were a walk into a future together. Of course one takes that other into the future always as a sunny blip in our subconscious but strangely, they're not the one we measure all others by and that relationship is not the one we test others against. That affair becomes a fragment without context, boxed and labelled. Why do we leave it behind? One reason includes the cycle of birth, life and death. Death is inherent in all our daily actions and repeats, spirals, out to our larger narrative also, so we let go the fragments. I suspect our sense of the ridiculous is another reason why we can let go of what may have been 'the one'. Imagine being one of those few couples, we've all seen them, who at fifty, fat and unfashionable, hold hands and make gaga eyes at one another on the street. They appear to have held onto that one who completed them perfectly and it's all one can do not to point and stare." K. Joan Cheaver in The march towards spring, 1978.
This exhibition was inspired by travel brochures, love songs, Sydney's social pages and other sublimated desires.
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25 February - 25 March 2010
ARMAMENT - MARK VAARWERK
Keeper Gallery
"Delve into the garages, spare rooms, bottom drawers, cupboards-below-the-sinks of any home and you will be overwhelmed by mountains of stuff - and most of it plastic. Wasted pens, retired TVs or vacuum cleaners or printers, piles of dirty styrofoam boxes and packaging, shopping bags...
Or a stroll down a busy street, a quick glance in a lunchroom waste-bin, a shortcut down a city alley...
Plastics - discarded, forgotten, superseded, broken. Sifting through this seemingly endless source of raw materials, i transform these everyday materials, utilising simple techniques, into wearable items of jewellery. A small and colourful fragment, new and re-invented, but with still a hint of its less glamorous past." (Mark Vaarwerk)
www.vaarwerk.com
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25 March - 6 April 2010
PRECIOUS METALS - GROUP SHOW
Keeper Gallery
Phoebe Miller
Erin Field
Rae Harvey
Ping Tay
Joao Vaz
Bea Chew
Frejj (Jayne and Julia Flanagan)
Sharon Margaret
"...I look at a piece of fabric and listen to the threads. It tells me a story. It sings me a song." - Iris Barrel Apfel
This exhibition celebrates the use of textiles in the creation of extraordinary adornments.
Curated by Zoe Brand
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25 March - 6 April
FAMILIAR FABLE: DWELL - LAUREN HEWITT
Gallery 1
"This body of work attempts to explore the way the local landscape is represented in the imagination. Capturing locations where sometimes something has occurred, an event, or where there is a hint of a happening, and locations that harbour that potential.
Drawing from the traditions of film noir, the familiar scene becomes the unfamiliar. Suburbia, seen from the car window, what we see everyday passes through our awareness, becoming swiftly invisible and unnoticed. Yet glimpses of these shadowed corners can spark the imagination for a fleeting moment, causing the birth of a brief fable, shortly lived, yet lingering.
I find that the urban landscape at night suddenly becomes a lot more interesting, and open to interpretation than during our everyday passings in the light hours. Trying to capture detail in the darkness, subtleties of shadow and low light for atmospheric scenery that easily impels the imagination. Working in the dark, at night, in obscure places is key to the process. It heightens the senses and the imagination, instils a sense of urgency and vulnerability.
The landscapes I shoot are not grand. I prefer a subtler scale, exploring how our history and memory inform our responses to the places we inhabit. We often do not choose our broader surroundings, they occur as a consequence to the places in which we choose to dwell."
- Lauren Hewitt
www.lauren-hewitt.com
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25 March - 6 April
FROM ME TO YOU - MICHELLE HELDON
Gallery 2
From me to you is an exhibition of new work by Sydney-based emerging artist Michelle Heldon, which investigates the idea of the wind as both a physical phenomenon and as a mythical and romanticised allegory. From the gentle breeze to the devastating gales that create havoc, the wind expanses a spectrum of forces and in turn, elicits a range of responses that veer from the welcoming to the fearful. It is no surprise then that this natural element is the protagonist of a number of mythical stories, or is portrayed in historical and contemporary prose and verse as a messenger of love, a destructive vehicle, a cause for reflection and a signal of change.
In From me to you, Heldon explores the physicality of wind as a counterpoint to the element's role as a conduit between people and places, thoughts and feelings. The title work of the exhibition, a large-scale installation, is the result of the artist's investigations into how one could attempt to map the movement of wind. From me to you (2010) consists of over 1500 hanging beads and plays with both the fragility and power of this elusive matter.
Presented alongside the installation will be a series of small assemblage works that comprise found objects and worked surfaces. In these works the artist continues her explorations of the role of memory in the landscape and presents a more intimate reflection on the wind.
Michelle Heldon graduated with an Honours degree in Fine Arts from the National Art School in 2007. She has participated in a number of group exhibitions including Le Fil (The Thread), Gaffa Gallery; Lure, Allure, Illusion, Gaffa Gallery; Drawing in the City at Night ,Gallery Red; sQuareOne, Mori Gallery; Sax in the City, White Horse Hotel, Surry Hills; Four x Four Stairwell Gallery, National Art School, Darlinghurst; and Harmony With White, Sabaai Gallery, Neutral Bay. In 2008 she was the recipient of the Tom Bass Sculpture Scholarship.
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25 March - 6 April
VERSION - COURT WILLIAMS
Gallery 3
"Playing with historical events and relics, my practice measures science fiction's dystopian threats on modern life by situating shared social spaces as systematic sites of transience and artefact to explore the precarious nature of being a part of a functioning system and the unpredictably and fragility of human co-habitation.
Employing ubiquitous model making techniques and materials, Version explores notions of disembodied co-habitations, avatars, simulated environments and strange encounters in the modern world.
History, situations, appearances and social spaces are reinvented and reinterpreted in order to examine the blurred boundaries that exist between the real and the unreal."
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25 February - 25 March 2010
ARMAMENT - MARK VAARWERK
Keeper Gallery
"Delve into the garages, spare rooms, bottom drawers, cupboards-below-the-sinks of any home and you will be overwhelmed by mountains of stuff - and most of it plastic. Wasted pens, retired TVs or vacuum cleaners or printers, piles of dirty styrofoam boxes and packaging, shopping bags...
Or a stroll down a busy street, a quick glance in a lunchroom waste-bin, a shortcut down a city alley...
Plastics - discarded, forgotten, superseded, broken. Sifting through this seemingly endless source of raw materials, i transform these everyday materials, utilising simple techniques, into wearable items of jewellery. A small and colourful fragment, new and re-invented, but with still a hint of its less glamorous past." (Mark Vaarwerk)
www.vaarwerk.com
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11 March - 23 March 2010
ARMAMENT - A SOLO SHOW BY DAN SIMON
Gallery 1
As an emerging sculptor Dan Simon is fascinated by the construction and usage of our cultures weaponry.
Simon's interest in weaponry ranges from the use of delicate mechanisms and springs within a machine gun to the heavy cast iron barrel of a field cannon. His previous work in this area has only compelled him to further explore the assemblage, physical identity and the relationship weaponry has with the public.
The exploration of various weapons from 17th century cannons, the atomic bomb and firearms to domesticated weapons such as axes and chainsaws has developed a theme within his sculptural practice. Simon's sculptures play on the stereotypes of weaponry that are prevalent in society.
Through the deconstruction of weapons he has discovered an intricate aesthetic in the technical detail and mechanical components of weapons despite the fact that as a whole they are considered an instrument of war or death.
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11 March - 23 March 2010
BIRD BRAIN - A SOLO SHOW BY ANDREW ENSOR
Gallery 2
Although this exhibition has it's origins in ornithology, it is as much about absented minded obsessions as it is feathers and flight.
The work blends pop fantasy and pseudo-surrealism as it examines the things that nest at the back of the mind. It's about escapisms that find themselves still inside the cage, lost to pointless passions and foolish philosophies.
It is a constant thinking of something, anything else.
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11 March - 23 March 2010
TA'AHINES & SENORITAS - PATRICIA ALVAREZ & VIOLA BLOOMFIELD
and
GESTURE INSTRUCTIONS - LEYLA STEVENS
Gallery 3
Ta'ahines and Senoritas
A collaboration in drawing and paint between Patricia Alvarez and Viola Bloomfield
Gesture Instructions
A solo exhibition by Leyla Stevens.
Daily theatrics, everyday interactions and body language. An exhibition combining the use of photography and text.
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25 February - 9 March 2010
THE MCA STAFF SHOW
Galleries 1 and 2
An annual showing of works in mixed media by staff from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
Participating artists:
Ernest Aaron, Gus Boke, Rae Bolotin, Mark Booth, Mark Brown, Ella Condon, Bridie Connell, Sarah Contos, Sally Edwards, Eleanor Er, Rachel Forbes, Seb Goldspink, Margaret Gor, Angela Grimsdale, Jessica Haly, Sahar Hosseinabadi, Chloe Hughes, Biljana Jancic, Garth Knight, Sheridan Knox-Johnston, Ryan Leech, Kerry MacAulay, Antoinette McSharry, Sarah Milgate, Adam North, Jennie Pry, Christina Puth, Ivan Muniz Reed, Che Ritz, Jessica Robertson, Nicola Walkerden and Emma Wise.
Formally opened by Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, MCA Director.
Photos (from top, left to right):
1. Mark Booth
2. Gus Boke
3. Garth Knight
4. Rachel Forbes
5. Jessica Haly
6. Angela Grimsdale
7. Opening night (photo by Strobed, www.strobed.com.au)
8. Opening night (photo by Strobed, www.strobed.com.au)
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25 February - 9 March 2010
THE PHOTOGROUP: SUBSET
Gallery 3
The Photo Group is a collective of 8 photographers each with their own unique aesthetic and style. From fine art to macro and architecture to documentary we explore life and beauty through photographic art. Subset is a collection of recent works.
Featuring:
Asim Aly-Khan, Bryan Cummins, Caroline Foldes, Pat Gilling, Andrea Klucis, Philippa Margan, Mirjana Panich and Mimi Stirling
Photos (from top, left to right):
1-8. Photos by The Photogroup
9. Opening night (photo by Strobed, www.strobed.com.au)
10. Opening night (photo by Strobed, www.strobed.com.au)
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11 February - 23 March 2010
FIDELITY - INAUGURAL RELAUNCH EXHIBITION
Galleries 1, 2 and 3
With our inaugural exhibition Fidelity, we launched our new building on Thursday 11 February 2010.
Using all four gallery spaces, Fidelity featured the following artists:
Ella Barclay, Rohan Wilson, Vernon Bowden, Sumugan Sivanesan, Mark Gerada, Sean O'Connell, Marcelle Robbins, Ben Backhouse, Geoffrey Farquhar-Still, Andrew Lavery, Melinda Young, Mike Turner, Zoe Brand and Kath Fries.
Featured in The Arcade Project, are Emma Elizabeth Designs, Vert Design, Bams & Ted and our very own contemporary jewellery store.
We are thrilled by the move and hope that this significantly larger site will not only bring more artists together, but will expose them to new and wider audiences.
Photos (from top, left to right):
1. Rohan Wilson (background) and Andrew Lavery (foreground)
2. Mark Gerada (paintings on wall), Geoffrey Farquhar-Still (on plinth) and Rohan Wilson (background)
3. Mark Gerada (paintings on wall) and Geoffrey Farquhar-Still (on plinth)
4. Vernon Bowden
5. Zoe Brand
6. Melinda Young
7. Sumugan Sivanesan
8. Marcelle Robbins (on plinth) and Kath Fries (on wall)
9. Mike Turner
10. Sean O'Connell
11. Ben Backhouse (on wall) and Rohan Wilson (background)
12. Rooftop crowd
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