Faded Crush – UK Frederick @ M16 Artspace

2-19 March

Rock music holds and endless fascination to all sorts of artists both in musical styles and visual. UK Frederick created a marvelous video collage of amateurs who have recorded themselves singing bubble gum hits of past decades. The takes on the songs were attractive in their range and style and recreate a sense of the possibilities that were there in the original simple song.

The exhibition includes some stylised arrangements of monochrome rock star images to add ambiance to the room. This was a delightful re-exploration of a past era through its images and sounds.

Images below.

Polarising Light – David Keany Georgly Potopalsky @ M16 Artspace

9 – 26 February 2017

This show is in the darkened gallery 2. It is a gorgeous combination of fluid coloured images that are apparently delivered by slides and some electronica music. It is wonderful to watch this and listen as it flows past.

The Band Played On @ National Library of Australia

The National Library of Australia runs great historical document exhibitions. The Band Plays On was an exhibition that showed the sheet music and ephemera connected with World War One popular songs. The famous and popular songs are on the walls in the music etc. An exhibition like this is uniquely able to give a sense of the sentiment at the time on issues such as nationalism.

A few pics below of the exhibits

 

Marking the spirit John Forrester Clark and Tobias Oliver Clark @ Nishi Gallery New Acton

19 Aug – 11 September 2016

The power of black and white art comes through the focus on line and form through the absence of colour. The art of the father and son Clark exhibition is gloomy in tone and fuzzy in definition. Tobias works in charcoal and John uses oil and charcoal.

Some pics below and the gallery sheet in parts

Scores – Manuel Pfeiffer @ M16 Artspace

16 June – 3 July 2016

The corridor gallery of M16 has a great advantage in that it gets you close and focused on the art on the wall – You have no choice of standing at a distance. The works in the Manuel Pfeiffer set celebrate the interplay between art and music. The images are beautiful in themselves but the weaving into the image of musical score makes for another layer of interest.

I really loved the stark colours and the layering of images within the works. There a few of my favourites reproduced below from the phone camera.

http://www.m16artspace.com.au/now-showing/

Wendy Saddington @ Canberra Museum and Gallery

I was a teenage rock fanatic.Wendy Saddington was one of my idols. She sang blues with an awesome power and passion. There were lots of bands she collaborated with but in the presence of all she shone. It was wonderful to see a retrospective of her career in the open gallery of CMAG. The exhibition spans much more of her talent than I was aware of and I enjoyed the learning.

The web page for the exhibition

http://www.cmag.com.au/exhibitions/wendy-saddington-underground-icon

 

David Bowie Is.. @ Australian Centre for the Moving Image

16 Jul – 1 Nov
This exhibition was a truly great experience for me. I saw the three concert visit David Bowie made to London in the 18 months I lived there in my 20s. When I heard this was on in London some years ago I even priced the cost of flying there so the delight when told it was coming to Melbourne I was ecstatic
In my humble view Bowie is one of the greatest creative people in the last 50 years. The exhibition confirmed me in the view. It took me just 210 minutes to get through. The costumes, the dance steps, the videos, the music, the films, the collaboration, the ephemera, the lyrics, the interviews,the collaborations, and the list goes on.Always creating new personas aways setting new trends and always with a unique take on the times.
I am deeply grateful to David for over four decades of enjoyment and to the V&A for their role in creating this exhibition.
Surprisingly for such a great media user there was a no photography policy. I sneakily took a few of the costumes they are only a tiny fraction of what is there at ACM?I
Website page with lots of limits and a few pics and ephemera below.
http://www.acmi.net.au/bowie?gclid=CPCf0Y7jxsgCFQqAvQodCx4J2A

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