Eko Negroho – Lot Lost @ Art Gallery of NSW

This exhibition features a diverse set of artworks in several genres. There is a few paragraphs of the blurb I found helpful.

With its distinctive fusion of styles and influences, the art of Eko Nugroho defies categorisation.

Working across drawing, painting, sculpture, animation and embroidery, this acclaimed Indonesian artist draws inspiration from Javanese traditions such as wayang theatre and batik, as well as street art, science fiction, comic books and other forms of popular culture.

His immersive installation Lot lost 2013-15 takes us to the streets of Yogyakarta, the artistic and revolutionary capital of Indonesia where Nugroho has been based for the past two decades. The work presents a finely attuned, darkly humoured and – as always – wildly imaginative look at everyday life and politics in Indonesia.

The works vary from cartoon style creations on the floor to large single colour statues that look like Michelin men, through crocheted or needle point rug hangings. When I was there there were lots of young kids creating in the space inspired by the artist’s work.

http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/eko-nugroho/

Pics below gives a sense of Negroho’s art

Frida And Diego @ Art Gallery of NSW

Until October 23 2016

I finally got to see the exhibition of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. I knew little of them before the exhibition and was touched by their story embedded in the gallery. It focused on them and their relationship and some of their work – photography, self portraiture and painting.

The sad thing to me was the lack of reference to Rivera murals. Early in the exhibition I pieced together that this was the Riviera that was renowned for political murals. Here we had an exhibition on the man and there was one on show.  I realise these things are big and can;t be transported. However they could have at least mounted a set of them on a flat screen so at least we could have seen them. Sad Face.

http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/frida-kahlo-and-diego-rivera/

Pics that show the vibe of this exhibition

Art of Parts @ Art Gallery of NSW

Collage plays a part in lots of great art. The Art Gallery of NSW has put together a small exhibition of some wonderful works from their collection over time. One of the lovely features of this exhibition is the variety and different styles.

There are a couple of Rober Klipel pieces that show the diversity. One is 796 – a hard metal free standing sculpture of collected elements and another is Philadelphia – a wall mounted collage of black and white photograph of many metal elements..

The one in the exhibition that I have loved for many years is the Tony Albert – Head Hunter. Having grown up in the fifties my world was full of heads of Indigenous people stamped on household items. My relationship with this artwork has changed over time but my love for it and its confronting nature has not faded from my fist seeing.

There are heaps of others but these three are the ones I love most.

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Ships, clocks and stars: The Quest for Longitude @ Australian National Maritime Museum

5 May – 30 October 2016

One of the hats I wear is that I am a Middle School History teacher. We study the Middle Ages and the voyages of discovery so the idea of an exhibition about The Search for Longitude combined professional learning and fun.  The Australian National Maritime Museum is the right place for this exhibition and their exhibitions are always thoroughly researched and intelligently mounted.

I am in awe of this exhibition. It intelligently tells the story of the quest for an accurate way to establish longitude while sailing around the world. They track the scientific integration with government quests to solve the problem. There is a marvellous textual and pictorial narrative of the larger than life characters involveed and the intense competition and rivalry between people involved in the quest.

The bit I liked the most was that they had working examples of the various clock like devices and lots of other instruments such as sextants. I was riveted to the wonderful text panels and other display materials

The saddest part of this exhibition was there was a ban on photography in side so I have only included two pics taken of the publicity materials on the way up to the area where the exhibition was held.

This was a great experience and it is an exhibition at the right place.

Website page

http://www.anmm.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/on-now/ships-clocks-stars

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Through a different lens – Harold Cazneaux @ Australian National Maritime Museum

2 September 2016 – 5 February 2016

I have seen many exhibitions including the work of Harold Cazneaux. Eagerly I went to this one because the crisp targeted beauty of his photographs is something I never tire of.

This exhibition is a fabulous bringing together of the great many photographs he took of the Sydney harbour during his life time. His photos record the work life of ordinary people on the harbour. He lived through the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and that is recorded here. Sydney has always been a working port and there are lots of ships of various kinds being loaded, unloaded, travelled in and repaired. The harbour is a recreation site and Caszeneaux records that aspect as well.

Black and white photos have a grimy look to them but they record an era that was hard working, and functional with not a lot of attention to glossing things up.

There are some sample pics below but it was great to see all 100 on the wall. Two delightful features of the exhibition were the matching on about 10 panels of current day colour shots of the same place in some of Caszeneaux’s shots and a historical timeline blending his life with contemporary events.

Webpage with sample pictures

http://www.anmm.gov.au/cazneaux

Some of my pics

Telling Tales – Excursions in Narrative Form @ Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney

The blurb for this show on the MCA website.reads:

Telling Tales: Excursions in Narrative Form explores the varied, inventive approaches taken by leading Australian and international artists to narrative form. Using diverse materials including light, fog and hand-typed text, their works pick apart conventional story-telling approaches to reconsider ideas around structure, duration, repetition and fragmentation.

Breaking away from a traditional linear format, their works instead offer cyclical and open-ended stories, narration through non-verbal communication or silence, and mysterious, incomplete narratives constructed through fragments and clues. Questions around authorship, truth and fiction emerge through some artists’ works whilst others embrace oral histories and live durational events, including shadow puppetry and opera, to convey their stories.

The items on display are remarkable in the range of ways in which they engage narrative and text. There is a remarkable of set of  Indonesian shadow puppets. There are villages with landscapes made from piled up letters. There are poems from cut and pasted text. There are maps on which journeys are drawn out to show where the traveler went. There are delightful paintings made using coffee instead of paint.

Some sample pics are below.

 

Community is everything – Amnesty International @ Tuggerenong Arts Centre

In July this year there was a great exhibition at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre that told a set of hopeful stories of indigenous young lives. The blurb is in this link given and some pictures from the exhibition are below.

Exhibition opening. All welcome!

Ancients – Brett Carpenter @ Tuggeranong Arts Centre

One description of this exhibition reads “Ancients is a solo exhibition of photographs and watercolour works on canvas exploring the natural, cultural, and magical. Artist Brett Carpenter was born and raised on the south coast of NSW. He is a proud Yuin man and his work reflects his deep spiritual connection to his land and culture.

There are some images below to show the type of works on display”.

 

Helen Geier – Coming Storm @ Beaver Galleries

15 September – 2 October 2016

Geier has created some rich, layered complex images through which according to her blurb she wants to represent the dramatic changes that are happening and are coming in the past certainties of our society.  Titled “Coming Storm” her paintings layer fractures over other images and lay alongside confusion and stability. There are layers behind with holes cut through so you get hints of what lies beyond.

There is a level at which what is being expressed is important but without discounting that aspect, these artworks are stunningly attractive objects rich with texture and delightful earthy colours.

There are sample pics and gallery materials below.

Fusion – Clara Hall @ Beaver Galleries

15 September – 2 October 2016

Mostly I look at art before I read much about it. Sometimes when I read blurbs I have a rethink, other times I sit in disbelief and other times I have that Ï knew it!” moment. The blurb for this exhibition speaks of dual inspiration of yoga and landscape. Every object in this exhibition fits that bill. The sleek extended muscles of yoga poses interposed with the smooth sinewy look of much that occurs in nature is believably present in all these works.

The primary material for most of these is bronze but there is a presence of Corten steel and one particularly beautiful piece is in wood.

Pictures and gallery images below