tensions between @ CCAS Manuka

Claire Jackson and Zoya Godoroja-Prieckaerts have collaborated in a show that plays around with issues of the delicate in their practice. The works play with the tensions between various elements and concepts A walk through the space has you looking at suspended uncoloured lightweight fabric constructions, ethereal looking creations in paint and ink on surfaces like paper and gampi silk and several items on Southern ice porcelain.

The blurb below gives you a better sense of the artists’ project and the phone pics sample the delights of the exhibition.

 

Les Blakebrough – Gathering Light @ Beaver Galleries

The blurb of this show begins Les Blakebrough is one of Australia’s most eminent ceramic artists. The work on display makes that claim believable. There are a couple of dozen white ceramic objects on display. The designs are contemporary and subtly decorated. The gallery sheet says that it is all unglazed porcelain but the porcelain itself is so finished that it looks like a high quality glaze. The prices range from $1,800 to $26,000

Some gallery material and sample phone pics are below.

GW Bot – Endangered Glyphs @ Beaver Galleries

7 April – 1 May 2016

I love G W Bot’s art. It is so varied and so classy in lots of different fields. She creates grand hard rusted metal sculptures, bright lively landscapes, small ceramic reproductions of twigs and other objects.

Gallery material sample pics are below:.

Knots and Nerves @ M16 Artspace

14 April – 1 May 2016

Anna Madeleine,Alana Sivel, Amelia Thompson,

Collaborative exhibitions  can work wonderfully and in my view this one does.The three artists have their own sections and a collaborative project in the centre of the gallery. The work flows through fabrics to screens of the cosmos. The artists traverse multi generations through grandparents possessions to very futuristic machinery. There is a delicateness about parts of it and a harsh technological side to it all.

I think it is a very successful collaboration and the gallery sheet and some pics are below.

 

Janet Angus – Surface @ M16 Artspace

14 April -1 May 2016

Janet Angus explains her work as representing psychological space. The products are stark, gloomy, deserted building like objects with layers of gray to black areas..The blurb below spells out her approach to her art and I have included some snaps.

Shan Crosbie – Prove it @ M16 Artspace

Shan Crosbie explores the interplay between animals saved from the slaughterhouse and the media’s reporting of those situations.It emerges from an incident in which a pig escapes from a truck headed to the slaughterhouse and was adopted in a Chinese police station.

The work would have been better housed on a bigger wall in a wider space but it still has lots of power in the corridor gallery at M16 Artspace  the work consists of six dozen of A4 size pictures of a pig in  largely un coloured formats. The sixteen middle pictures have a large red “Prove it” stenciled over them It is a striking huge piece but the elements are sold individually. Judging by the sales spots the most popular pigs are the one covered with red paint.

Pics and galery material are below

Rosalind Lemoh – Animal, Vegetable, Mineral @ ANCA Gallery

Wed 6-Sun 24 April 2016

The exhibition at ANCA focuses on the three elements – Animal, Vegetable and Mineral. The pieces at times are quite confronting – one is a set of blackened bones and flesh, one is a collection of rock and feathers. Every work in the exhibition has a thoughtful combination of elements that pose questions to the viewer such as “why are the brass rhinoceroses standing on a tobacco tin?

Lemoh  has used a wonderful group of material and juxtaposes them with unusual other features. There are timber fruit boxes, axes, a metal fold out tool box as well a sculptural steel and granite fragments.There is an intriguing element to every work in this show,

Pictures and gallery material are below

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral

ANZAC Centenary Commemorative Print Portfolio Project @ Australian Parliament House

17 March – 5 June 2016

There is another element of the flood of commemoration of the Anzac myth in the upstairs gallery at the Australian Parliament. It is a collaborative display of commissioned prints. Each print takes a different perspective on the ANZAC experience. One looks like a ghostly pale reproduction of the roll of honour at the Australian War Memorial. Another picks up on the difficulty of communicating within the experience of war. The artist uses fragments of things which have a connection with Gallipoli and turn them into a code.

“The portfolio consists of 10 prints, one by each artist: Mike Parr (Aus), Fiona Jack (NZ), Megan Cope (Aus), Daniel Boyd (Aus), John Reynolds (NZ), Shane Cotton (NZ), Sangeeta Sandrasegar (Aus), Helen Johnson (Aus), Brett Graham (NZ), Sriwhana Spong (NZ).” (APH website link below)

The exhibition includes the print which is accompanied by a clear artist’s explanation of their take on the Gallipoli reflection. The project and the exhibition is from the Australian War Memorial. There are a sample of phone pics below to give a flavour of the exhibition. The link below is for the APH page for exhibitions.

http://www.aph.gov.au/visit_parliament/parliament_house_art_collection/exhibitions

The Changeover @ Australian Parliament House

11 February – 18 May 2016

There is a delightful pop up exhibition upstairs at the Australian Parliament House to reflect on the 50^th anniversary of the introduction of decimal currency to Australia. It has wall panels featuring the delightful cartoon figure of Dollar Bill and his devotion to educating Australians about the new currency system. There is an abundance of ephemera used to engage the broader public and address issues of understanding and commitment to the project.

The exhibition has family board games, cups, glasses, posters and a single record of a jingle. As expected there are copies of the first sets of coins that were issued with some of the souvenir packs included. The exhibition is created by the Royal Australian Mint. Below are a set of pics that show some of the elements of the display. The link below is for the APH page for exhibitions.

http://www.aph.gov.au/visit_parliament/parliament_house_art_collection/exhibitions

Treaties and Australia: Reflections on 100 Years @ Australian Parliament House

18 March to 15 May 2016

Another popup exhibition at the Australian Parliament House focuses on the International treaties that Australia has worked with over the last hundred years. The exhibition starts with the Versailles Treaty after World War One and ends with the Free Trade Agreement with China signed last year.

The exhibition has some text on the significance and participants of the treaty which is accompanied by photographs of significant moments and artefacts of various kinds. It is fascinating to be able to see significant treaties we hear about in the news fairly constantly, addressed in their context and see the people involved in the forging of such treaties.

A section of the exhibition that was valuable was a part in which the process of treaty making and adoption by parliament works. Helpful and informative.

The display is on in a hallway with huge windows so the phone pics are of limited value. The link below is for the APH page for exhibitions.

http://www.aph.gov.au/visit_parliament/parliament_house_art_collection/exhibitions