In wider focus Yifeng Tan @ ANU School of Art Gallery

This exhibition consists of three parts. There is “My Apple Series” in which the artist explores apple related themes in a set of 14 small coloured works. Then there are four large remarkable pencil works on paper with complex Chinese influenced themes and interconnected parts. Finally there is a an installation created out of many objects in black and grey into which have been placed remarkable boats out of folded coloured paper. Words fail in trying to explain the beauty in each of these works.
Below are some representative shots of the three areas and a gallery sheet,

Water Land Sky Debra Jurss and Ruth le Cheminant @ Form Studio and Gallery

The pairing of Jurss and le Cheminant in this exhibition is wonderful. Two takes on the natural environment. Two contrasting worlds – one vibrantly colourful the other serenelyblue and icy. Ruth le Cheminant paints large warm canvasses while Debra Jurss creates small glass panels in chunky blues and whites. Jurss has a wonderful way of evoking Antractic landscapes with line and colour fused into the glass. The contrasting impression of the two colour sets on the walls in the gallery is striking.
Below are sample pics from both artists and the gallery materials.

Archibald Prize Exhibition @ Art Gallery of NSW

I love visiting the Art Gallery of NSW. It is great. One of the highlights each year is the Archibald, Wynne and Suliman Prize exhibitions. Some years my view of the winner lines up closely to the prize winner and other times not. This year I was miles away from the Milsom picture that won it. I would not have put it in my top ten. In this post all I am doing is putting the link to the page that has all the jpegs and not include any of my own. It is awesome to be in the space – if you can get to it.
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2015/

The Printed Surface – Ceramics and Print @ Megalo Workshop and Gallery

4-25 July 2015
Almost every gallery space in Canberra put on a ceramics show in the last month or so as part of the ceramics triennial. The current exhibition in Megalo Workshop and Gallery combines print and ceramics in a creative way. Each work integrates lots of skills in both fields. It often surprises me the variety of things artists do with ceramics. There are items on display at Megalo that have a delicateness of paper but I assume are ceramic. The curators have done a great job in making a show in which every ceramic work has a strong print feature embedded in it.
The show is finished before I post this so I will load a big variety of the types of works with this post.

Un-resettling – James Tylor @ Huw Davies Gallery

2=-26 July 2015
Using artificially coloured black and white photographs James Tylor has portrayed the early intervention of humans in the landscape. There is a certain primitive look to the images and the scenes photographed. Ihave included some images and the great explanatory gallery sheet given out in the gallery.

Chatter – Cat Mueller @ M16 Artspace

16 July – 2 August 2015

Cat Mueller has come up with a richly coloured set of works in a collection of formats. There is sculpture and painting, jewellery and collage all delivered in a carnival of bright at times day glow style colours and materials. The works are intensified by being in a corridor filled with natural light. There is a happy and excited feel to every work in this collection.

Below are some samples and the gallery sheet.

on edge – Amelia Zaraftis @ M16 Artspace

Amelia Zaraftis has displayed elements of this in several places over the last year. Her Soft Edges material has been to ANU School of Art and CCAS when I have been there. In this show there is a fascinating walking performance called “No lines” on a flat screen on the floor.
Below are some samples and the gallery sheet.

Doubt, My candles out – Merryn Sommerville @ M16 Artspace

Some artists do not create joy in the viewer. Merryn Sommerville’s creations on exhibition at M16 Artspace are almost haunting in their stark drabness and almost pained expressions in the subjects. Most of the works are black and white with a gloomy tone to the shapes and look. The choice of charcoal, pen and pencil as the means of creation helps with the foreboding look. Below are some examples and the gallery sheet.

Underwater Landscapes – Peter Fisher @ M16 Artspace

July 16 – Aug 2 2015
Our discoveries of the complex exta-ordinary world of underwater vegetation and other life forms has been awesome. Peter Fisher has taken to painting some of these remarkable landscapes (funny term). His exhibition at the M16 Artspace has a watery look but the content of the paintings is complex and is very interesting in its detail. The fact that lots of his subject material was not familiar to me made it all especially interesting.
There are some pics and gallery sheet below.

Wynne Prize Exhibition @ Art Gallery of NSW

Landscape is the most popular form of painting. The Wynne Prize recognises that in a great way. This year’s prize finalists include some remarkable examples of the art of painting the landscape.
My favourite was a work by Kate Shaw called Anthropocene inspired by the artist’s encounter with rock fused with plastic. Further research led to the production of a glorious painting that looks like a combination of cave rock shapes fused with vibrant plastic sparkles and colours. The prize is not just for painting and there is a stunning very large torso of a man carved from a big lump of coal called King Coal by Louis Pratt.
The whole set of the finalists is up on the AGNSW site -ink below
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2015/
Below are my two favourites: