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20 OCTOBER 11 NOVEMBER
GREGORY
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SULLIVAN+STRUMPF / SYDNEY
18 NOVEMBER 22 DECEMBER
Judy Darragh | Build up | 1 22 December 2017
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Judy Darragh, Papercraft 2017
STARKWHITE PRESENTS LAITH McGREGOR & DANIE MELLOR
Julia Gorman, Energy Field in a Field of Energy, 2017, acrylic on plywood, 112 x 215cm
SOPHIEGANNONGALLERY.COM.AU
how long must we live right before we dont even have to try
w w w. ar tcol l e ctor. n e t. au 7
CONTENTS 82
OCTDEC
PROFILES 2017
Anne Noble: Throwing light 128
The lauded photographer interrogates our Art Collector
complex relationship with the natural world.
Editor-In-Chief
Words by Briony Downes.
Susan Borham
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran: An uprising 134 Publisher
Alison Kubler talks to one of the most Beatrice Spence
engaging and exciting artists practicing in Editor
Australia right now. Emma ONeill
WWW.GAGPROJECTS.COM
GAG@GREENAWAY.COM.AU
ADELAIDE
Tarryn Gill
23 NOVEMBER - 13 DECEMBER
T 08 8331 8000 E mail@hugomichellgallery.com W hugomichellgallery.com
MAVIS NGALLAMETTA
MY COUNTRY SIX NEW PAINTINGS
21 September - 15 October 2017
Small Horse Creek, 2017, natural ochres and charcoal with acrylic binder on linen, 272 x 201 cm
CONTRIBUTORS
Jacquie Manning is a Sydney based Dr Andrew Frost is an art critic, Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung is an art
photographer with a practice focused on broadcaster and lecturer. history and gender studies graduate
portraiture and lifestyle photography within from The University of Sydney. Having
Dr Ashley Crawford is a cultural critic
the Arts. She is regular photographer for worked at galleries across Sydney and
and arts journalist based in Melbourne.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Carriageworks Melbourne, his research interests lie in
He is the author of a number of
and The Sydney Opera House. postcolonial readings of Australian art.
books on Australian art, including
Andrew Stooke is an artist and writer Transformations: The Work of Sonia Kate Britton is a writer and curator
based in Shanghai and London. Much of Payes and Spray, The Work of Howard based in Sydney.
his recent work has been in the form of Arkley. Professor Sasha Grishin AM, FAHA is
collaborative performance.
Louise Martin-Chew is a freelance arts an emeritus of the school of literature,
Brigitta Isabella is an art writer based in writer. languages and linguistics at the
Yogyakarta. She is a member of research Australian National University. He has
collective KUNCI Cultural Studies Centre Jane ONeill is a freelance curator published 17 books and more than
and part of the editorial collective of the based in Melbourne. 1,000 articles.
new peer-reviewed journal Southeast of Nic Brown is an Adelaide-based artist Hayley Megan French is an artswriter
Now: Directions in Contemporary and and writer. She is and artist living in Sydney.
Modern Art published by NUS Press, also Collections Manager at Flinders
Singapore. University Art Museum and lecturer at Amelia Winata is a writer and curator
Adelaide Central School of Art. based in Melbourne.
Feeling Garrulous Terrors is an artist
and writer living in Los Angeles. Briony Downes is an arts writer living Jane Llewellyn is an Adelaide-based
in Hobart. freelance writer and former editor of
Lucinda Bennett is a writer and curator
Art Collector.
based in Aotearoa. She is the 2017 Damien OMara is an artist and
curatorial intern at Dunedin Public Art photographer based in Brisbane. Emily Nathan is an art critic, culture
Gallery, prior to which she was a curator writer, translator and editor based
at The University of Aucklands Window Paris Lettau is an arts writer based in between Paris, Copenhagen and LA.
project space. Melbourne. He is currently a sessional
tutor in art history at the University of Tai Mitsuji is a writer and curator,
Jane OSullivan is a freelance art writer Melbourne. who holds a Masters (with distinction)
and journalist based in Sydney. She has in Art History from the University of
written for publications including the Chad Alexander is an artist and Oxford. He has previously written for
Australian Financial Review, Artnet, Art photographer born and based in Belfast. a variety of domestic and international
Guide, Ocula and Artist Profile. She is Coen Young is a Sydney-based artist. publications, including Art and
a former editor of Art Collector. Australia, Art Monthly Australasia,
Ingrid Periz is an art critic and curator Art Guide Australia and The
Alison Kubler is a curator and writer based in New York. Sydney Morning Herald.
with more than 20 years experience based
in Brisbane. Zan Wimberley is a freelance Russell Kleyn is a photographer
photographer specialising in the arts based in Wellington, New Zealand.
John Neylon is an Adelaide-based art across portraiture, performance, artwork His portraits are included in the
writer, curator and art critic for The and install documentation. permanent collections of the National
Adelaide Review.
Portrait Gallery in London and The
Tess Maunder is an independent
Helen McKenzie is a freelance writer and art New Zealand Portrait Gallery in
curator, writer, editor and researcher
adviser. Helen also conducts international art Wellington.
currently based in Brisbane, Australia.
tours for Art Collector magazine.
Dr Natasha Cica is director and
Sammy Preston is an arts writer, editor,
Tracey Clement is an arts writer and artist CEO of Heide Museum of Modern Art
and curator living in Sydney. Sammy
based in Sydney. in Melbourne. She was the founding
is the arts columnist at Broadsheet
director of the global consultancy
Maja Baska is a freelance photographer Sydney, and contributes regularly to
Kapacity.org, and has been recognised
based in Sydney. local and international art journals.
by the Australian Financial Review
Carrie Miller is a freelance writer based in Emily Cones-Browne is an arts writer and Westpac as one of Australias
Wollongong. living in New York. 100 Women of Influence.
WALSH Preview:
Tuesday 17 October, 5-7pm
Image: Whare Waka (detail), 2017, oil on unstretched canvas, 1230 x 1820mm
OLSENGALLERY.COM
F U T U R E A R T E F A C T S
ALEXI FREEMAN + TESSA BLAZEY + JANE BURTON
oct 12-nov 18 | 2017 | CRAFT VICTORIA | watson place | melbourne
KARLA DICKENS
HUNG, STRUNG AND QUARTERED
Lawrence Pennington
30 September 21 October 2017
under the rocks and stones, 2017, oil on linen, 167 x 228 cm (detail)
John aslanidis
gallery9.com.au
9 Darley St, Darlinghurst
Sydney +61 2 9380 9909
info@gallery9.com.au
Amber Koroluk-Stephenson
Shadows on the Wall
Ian Paradine
Morphing the Idol
November 1 December 2
2017
N
anda\Hobbs Contemporary will relocate and accessible parking. We, along with our artists CBD clients. Its also on the drive path for people
from the Sydney CBD to a new gallery and clients are really excited to be part of such a coming into town from the airport. The proximity
space in Chippendale in late October vibrant arts precinct and around the corner from to other great galleries in the area is a big bonus
this year. The move out of their city White Rabbit Gallery, Hobbs says. and with Sydney Contemporary now exhibiting
location, to a larger space in Meagher The director continues we have actually wanted annually at Carriageworks, more collectors are
Street, Chippendale has been long-awaited by this space for six years, so to finally have it and be discovering the area.
gallery directors, Ralph Hobbs and Raj Nanda able to extend our exhibition program and present After a building refurbishment the new space
and their artists. the artistic vision of our artists is a dream come opens with a show by Paul Ryan in late October.
It is a building that has waited its whole life true. The Chippendale space became available as Hobbs says, It will be our first show with him and
to be turned into an exhibition space. It has a the lease of their King Street premises expired and we are super excited about what he has planned and
great sense of light and space soaring ceiling the disruption caused by the light rail development how the works will look in the expanded space.
heights, timber beams and concrete floors with in the City was getting worse. Helen McKenzie
doors opening onto two streets. Being street level Hobbs is enthusiastic about the move from the
and out of the CBD is new for us allowing us city to Chippendale. Its a little edgy and raw, NANDA\HOBBS CONTEMPORARY,
to open on Saturdays, have greater public access which we like but not too far from the city for our 12-14 MEAGHER STREET, CHIPPENDALE.
TARNANTHI:
FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY ABORIGINAL & TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER ART
t means to come forth or appear in the
B
y almost any standards its remote. Sitting washed away with the first summer rains, they were The project provides a much-needed opportunity
roughly 600 kilometres south-west of Alice captured through a series of six stunning large format for senior artists to lead young artists and art workers
Springs, its an arduous drive through desert photographs now available to the rest of the world. This on bush trips, encouraging direct cultural exchange and
land. It is also home to artists from Nyapa- is a very old idea, an idea that came to us through our adding another dimension to the working patterns of
ri, Kanpi and Watarru communities of far ancestors, said Stevens in an interview with curator the art centre, adds art centre manager Benji Bradley.
northern South Australia. Sitting at the base of the at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Nici Cumpston. Painting on Country combines ancient stories and drawing
Mann Ranges, the Nyapari Community act as host I used to camp near these rock holes with my father techniques with cutting edge photographic technology,
to the Tjungu Palya art centre where a radical project and he told me Dont leave this ngurra (home) its up allowing the Tjungu Palya artists to highlight the stag-
has been underway. to you to stay and look after this dreaming So I was gering diversity of their desert home. And Stevens is far
Painting on Country is a recent undertaking that has thinking I might show some of this special place and from finished communicating his cultural history, he
given the artists of Tjungu Palya an opportunity to work our stories and let people know how important these says. Now you have seen the drawings, our next project
directly with their native landscapes. The project was sites are for my family. will be about inma (ceremonial dancing). We want to
born when senior lawman, Keith Stevens, Pitjantjatjara make a movie about a big ceremony at each community
man born at Granite Downs, began a discussion with his with costumes and everything else. In each movie we
fellow artists about reigniting opportunities to work on will perform a different inma, one for Watarru, one for
Country in the way that his ancestors had traditionally
when they roamed and dreamt about the surrounding
WHITEFELLAS ARE SEEING Kanpi and one for Nyapari. All the children and families
will be involved. Maybe you can see it next year.
Nyapari, Kanpi and Watarru lands. Whitefellas are
seeing all our work on canvas but we want people to see
ALL OUR WORK ON CANVAS Ashley Crawford
w w w. ar tcol l e ctor. n e t. au 25
UPFRONT
NEWS &
EVENTS
W
ith its initial conception born out of Success aside, Olsen and co-owner Emerald Australian artists who dont disrupt the general
an experiment, the incredibly positive Gruin still expected to have to top up the bank art conversation.
response towards Olsen Gruins first account to keep things rolling. To my surprise, the We wish to create a platform by which there is
chapter is the stuff New York City gallery is running profitably sooner than expected. less condescension and more appreciation for our
success stories are made of; their The hoards of people coming through has astounded very talented Australian visual artists. It would be
recent move into a bigger, higher-ceilinged, light- me considering we are a new entity in a bountiful foolish to concentrate exclusively on them... [but]
filled gallery space in Manhattans Downtown art city, Olsen explains. we are giving these artists an assimilation into the
Orchard Street a strategic match for the patience, ...New York has a lot more confidence in regard milieu of world art, Olsen explains.
perseverance, timing and serendipity the city often to paying good money for the avant-garde, he notes. We are not trying to prove anything here, we
demands from transplants. [Its] certainly a less judgemental environment just hope for intellectual and visual respect where
The response was so overwhelming that it became being the son a famous artist father, Im enjoying the respect is due... We are a laconic laid back nation,
obvious there was a place for us [here], says Tim anonymity that New York provides me and the escape who believe in ourselves and are prepared to work
Olsen, renowned Australian gallerist and co-founder from tall poppy syndrome that often interferes with hard, especially when we know we have something
of Olsen Gruin. It was never my aim to establish the perception of the gallery back home. to offer.
a marsupial Australian Antipodean art outpost, Weary of the increasing homogenization of
Emily Cones-Browne
but with a few American and European artists who galleries reflected at recent art fairs, Olsen Gruins
showed interest in us, it seemed that the style of our curatorial goal is a 65 per cent focus on European // Installation view, Stephen Ormandy.
operation was embraced. and American art, featuring only the most pertinent COURTESY THE ARTIST AND OLSEN GRUIN, NEW YORK,
03 - 28 OCT 2017
STAR GOSSAGE
Andrew Sullivan
THE BIRDS OF EARLWOOD
25 October - 19 November 2017
GALERIEPOMPOM.COM
2/27-39 ABERCROMBIE ST
CHIPPENDALE NSW 2008
+61 430 318 438
Andrew Sullivan
Brown Goshawk (detail), 2016,
oil on linen, 82 x 71 cm.
Photo: Docqment
UPFRONT
MONEY SULLIES
I
n a post-truth world, all realities are very unimpressive truth of an artists career.
possible. Artist James Little exploits these While this practice is longstanding among
possibilities through his Instagram-based emerging artists who struggle to catch a break,
project in which he creates digitally ma- what is new is that those with extensive experi-
nipulated exhibitions of his work by ence and representation by high-end galleries
transposing it into existing gallery photos. feel the need to fudge the truth. Editors, writ-
These are then posted online as documenta- ers and critics all report finding half-truths
tion of real exhibitions. These fabricated and outright lies on artists CVs. These in-
images elicit real responses from the contem- clude artists falsely claiming to be in impor-
porary art world, from likes on social media to tant group exhibitions to winning prizes and
expressions of interest by galleries wanting to receiving grants. While these lies can be eas-
show Little because of his successful exhibi- ily fact-checked it seems that, in a post-truth
tions. Little calls this process credentialism world, artists are no longer concerned with
whereby the legitimacy, the cultural value and something as irrelevant as facts.
the perception of the work is heightened by While from an artists perspective the truth
the context in which it is viewed. may seem unimportant, the impact on collec-
Littles project may seem fanciful but it can tors can be significant. It is not so much the
be read as a cautionary tale. The practice of artists actions that may affect collecting prac-
creating a false reality surrounding an artists tices but rather the complicity of the galleries
career is more commonplace than you might that support them. If galleries have falsified re-
think. If you Google how to write a fake art- sumes on their website then collectors assume
ists CV you will come across the blog post, this to be an endorsement of them. Galleries,
How to write an artists CV when you dont of course, have a good reason to tolerate this
have much (or any) experience. As this article dishonest practice: it inflates the cultural and
correctly notes, crafting a CV when you are a therefore financial value of an artists work.
new or emerging artist can be a bit of a Catch Collectors therefore need to be savvy in re-
22. When you apply for an exhibition, say at searching an artists background, including
an artist run space, you are asked to list your checking any claims about major awards such
experience, but your lack of experience is the as prizes and grants. Unfortunately, its no
very reason why you are looking for opportu- longer possible to just take what is said about
nities to exhibit. an artists career at face value. It may seem like
This problem has a solution. There is an its not a collectors job to be fact-checking an
increasing tendency for artists resumes to be artists CV, but in an age of fake news, its in
artificially inflated if not shamelessly falsified their interests to do so.
to seem more impressive than the sometimes Carrie Miller
w w w. ar tcol l e ctor. n e t. au 31
UPFRONT
AGENDA
S
ince its release in May this year, the French fashion house fails in distinguishing how
RETURN TO OWNER Chanel Boomerang has stirred fiery debate
about Indigeneity, consumerism and
appropriating a surfboard is distinct from that of a
socially entrenched and culturally significant object
The accessorisation of Indigeneity the intersection between the two in the like a boomerang. The luxury brand did not respond
reached new heights with the release of 21st century. Lacquered jet black with an to Art Collectors questions regarding the matter and
the Chanel Boomerang. Eugene Cheung accent of exposed wood, the boomerang refused to provide an image.
is embossed with the signature white From the oversaturation of Indigenous art in
unpacks the issue.
crossed logo of the Chanel brand a symbol so the art market to the consequent oversupply and
deeply coded as a sign of affluence and prestige. normalisation of counterfeit Aboriginal motifs in
Yet, since its release, the Chanel Boomerang has been souvenir shops, Australians have played and continue
rightly criticised as an insensitive and ignorant to play a colossal role in how international businesses
decontextualisation of the boomerangs cultural (whether in fashion or otherwise) understand how
origins, which to many obliterate Aboriginal they can rightly interact with and alter the meaning
heritage and accessorise Indigeneity for the high- of objects like the boomerang. I wont continue to
end consumer. critique Indigenous appropriation and the socially
Created as part of Chanels new collection where toxic effect it has because there exists a trove of
functional, everyday items such as surfboards and literature that better articulates and expounds this
tennis racquets are given new meaning and elevated issue. Instead, I want to unpack the cultural factors
to a supposedly refined status of high culture, the that have led Chanel to manifest this boomerang,
and the reasons the accessorisation of Indigeneity
remains such a widespread and endemic issue in
both Australia and the international market.
I was recently advising a client who upon my
suggestion to purchase a painting from the
Warlukulangu artist community deemed it a clich
to have a piece of Indigenous art in his living room.
In a self assured and matter of fact way, the collector
declared to me, Its almost a stereotype to have
Aboriginal art in an inner city apartment. As an
Dear Chanel,
art dealer with left leaning sensibilities, you learn
to balance your own confusion and anger against
I would like to know whether you would like to give opportunities for your own commercial gain. You
comment on your recent Chanel Boomerang incident, tacitly smile and mumble a passive yet strongly
wherein you have been subject to global criticism about charged, I see, and you close the deal with an
racial insensitivity and cultural appropriation. Many see the agreeable, decorative landscape painting.
boomerang as an ignorant and kitsch decontextualisation of In the closely related field of fashion, US fashion
a sacred object to Australian indigenous communities. Could
house Rodarte was embroiled in controversy similar
to the Chanel Boomerang during its 2013 Autumn
you offer a perspective on this interpretation?
collection. An assemblage of dresses were hung off
the frames of tall, slender white women, who strutted
Kindest, down the catwalk likely to be ignorant that the motifs
Eugene wrapped around their bodies were harvested from an
array of Indigenous communities; each with distinct
customs, spiritualities and painting practices. Yet,
Rodarte conflated their designs as being drawn
from Australian Aboriginal Art, disconnecting
Indigenous individuality and saturating on a
global platform a clichd and reductive aesthetic
of Indigenous creativity.
Yet, non-Indigenous people profiteering from
Indigeneity arent just isolated in the glitzy
worlds of art and fashion. The depreciation of
Indigenous artistry is arguably most obvious at
I
n whats been considered resoundingly sad news, While this may seem a good thing and for a small
Sydneys Watters Gallery will close next year number of artists who have managed to become social
after 54 years of operation. Director Geoffrey media stars it has been what many fail to consider
Legge identified the changing nature of the art is the long-term benefits of gallery representation.
world as the primary reason for the closure: Galleries like Watters take the representation of
Weve discovered that our energies have not their artists very seriously, demonstrating commit-
really been great enough for the demands of ment and loyalty, regardless of the market. This allows
the art world we find ourselves in. There are new artists time and space to develop their practice and
challenges and possibilities which younger people to experiment when needed.
can exploit with confidence and enjoyment. Now that art exists in a global market place it is at
When contacted by Art Collector Legge elaborated the whim of larger forces, unprotected by the gallery
on this change. At the gallerys inception it was very system. This may be somewhat ameliorated by the fact
much a place where one hung paintings or displayed that the internet enables galleries to have international
sculpture and waited for people to drop in, he re- reach. Instead of being confined to state borders, art
members. In the age of the internet, however, many commerce is a genuinely global enterprise. Galleries
people do their gallery visiting via their computer therefore have commercial opportunities that werent
screen. For Legge, it is just not the same. We spend available to them in the past. In reality, however, this
many days without a single visitor. There seems little reach has coalesced into a few mega-galleries that hold
point in maintaining a presence in the hope that the balance of power.
someone may, possibly drop in. For those who believe in the emancipatory power
Theres no doubt the internet has disrupted the of the digital age, the internet can be seen as a force
way art is marketed and artists market themselves. for good in the art world, a place where artists have
The digital age has been an emancipating cultural equal access to power and influence. For romantics,
force, allowing artists to connect directly with their the internet is a place where authentic experiences of
audiences. Moreover, the web democratizes the con- art go to die. As Geoffrey Legge puts it: There was
ventional hierarchy of represented versus unrepre- something very exciting about being with someone
sented artists and emerging versus established ones. in the presence of artworks. The engagement with
Now anyone can become popular and successful people was very important. Our clients became friends
through a direct appeal to the public. and there was a lot of interaction between visitors.
From this perspective, galleries are increasingly People talked about the works they were looking at.
obsolete. The new wave of collectors feel confident This is one of the things I miss most about the new
to purchase work directly, they dont need the digital age.
imprimatur of the traditional white cube. These
collectors utilise different networks to determine who WATTERS GALLERY, SYDNEY WILL CLOSE AT
they buy: social media, art fairs, buzz at openings. THE END OF 2018.
Image: Detail left to right Magnolia, 2017, oil on linen, 122 x 192 cm, Into the Mist 2017, oil on linen 122 x 122cm
ASHLEIGH GARWOOD MAY
409b George Street
Wa t e r l o o N S W 2 0 1 7
MASSING www.mayspace.com.au
10 OCTOBER TO 4 NOVEMBER
info@mayspace.com.au
t. + 61 2 9318 1122 SPACE
Ashleigh Garwood, FORM#1 2017, silver gelatin print, edition of 3 + 2AP, 60.5 x 50cm
UPFRONT
EXHIBITION
IN
CAHOOTS
Six artists travelled to remote art centres
across Australia to work alongside the
locals. In Cahoots is the exhibition that
resulted from this ground breaking project
and according to Jane OSullivan it
proves that collaborations can go far
beyond any single artists horizon.
W
hen we talk about artist residencies we often
just focus on what the artist gets out of it, and
how their horizons or career opportunities
have been expanded. Whats often forgotten
is what they give back. Fine, if were talking
about a residency in Paris, but its a different
story if its with a remote Aboriginal
community. There have been too many times where artists
fly in, fly out and fail to give credit, but a new exhibition
project at Fremantle Arts Centre is helping change that.
1.
In Cahoots, which opens in late November, is a sprawling
exhibition. There are woven objects bursting from car doors,
kinetic sculptures counterbalanced by stones, carved bowls
like rotund ant hills and even photographs of kids dressed
up as Star Wars characters. For a project involving six artist
residencies, there are certainly a lot of objects, and a lot of
artist names, in the final cut. But thats part of the point.
The idea developed after Fremantle Arts Centres major
exhibition We Dont Need a Map: A Martu Experience of the
Western Desert, which saw several large collaborative pieces
commissioned from Martumili Artists. We learned a lot
from that process about how to help facilitate these kinds
of cross-cultural collaborations, says Erin Coates, the
coordinator of In Cahoots and an artist herself. Because they
can go terribly wrong...it can be exploitative.
In Cahoots hands the reins to six art centres, five in remote
Western Australia and one on Victorias Mornington
Peninsula. Each centre nominated an artist they wanted
to work with and the choices speak to their vastly different
needs and interests. Buku-Larrnggay Mulka, for example,
wanted Curtis Taylor to come up to work with filmmaker
Ishmael Marika a matching of two rising stars. Baluk
Arts, the centre on the Mornington Peninsula, needed an
artist who could respond and work with its diverse group
of artists. They found multidisciplinary Western Australian
artist Neil Aldum, whose skills span engineering, sustainable
1.
development and a host of visual arts mediums. 1.
1. // Tony Albert, Lucy Lewis Mitchell Fremantle Arts Centre then worked with the Arts materials found around the area to make community
and David Collins, Warakurna Starwars Law Centre of Australia to develop a framework for angels. When Albert returned, he brought with him
#1, 2017. C-type print, 100 x 150cm.
COURTESY: THE ARTISTS, WARAKURNA ARTISTS,
the visiting artists, essentially a code of conduct. a load of metalworking tools and extra hands in the
ALICE SPRINGS AND SULLIVAN+STRUMPF, SYDNEY. (Other arts organisations can now access a version form of David Collins, a documentary photographer,
2. // Fire from Martu burning Country, of this toolkit too, through Arts Law.) A major part and Joel Spring, a young Aboriginal architect.
East of Parnngurr Community, 2017. was about listening to communities, and being led We brought things like angle grinders and rivet
COURTESY: THE ARTISTS AND FREMANTLE ARTS by them at every step. Another was repeat visits. All of tools and drills with metal drill bits, and set up various
CENTRE, FREMANTLE.
the In Cahoots artists began with a week to familiarise stations so if someone wanted something cut that
3. // Video still of Baluk Arts artists themselves, then returned for a longer stay. As Coates they couldnt cut themselves, they could bring it to
collecting stones from Shoreham Beach, explains: Collaborating is really challenging. It the cutting station...manned by myself, David or Joel.
Mornington Peninsula, 2017. VIDEO: NEIL
ALDUM. COURTESY: THE ARTISTS, BALUK ARTS,
doesnt necessarily click straight away. We were physically doing a lot of that more labour
MORNINGTON PENINSULA AND FREMANTLE ARTS It made travel costs more expensive, but it also intensive work, he says. Senior artist Eunice Porter
CENTRE, FREMANTLE. changed the way artists approached their time. Tony Yunurupa was one of the early adopters, getting
4. // Coolamons made by artists Elsie Albert, for example, used his first week at Warakurna into the new tools with scary vigour and mustering
Dickens, Yangkarni Penny K-Lyons, Artists to ask with open hands what they wanted from community-wide enthusiasm for the project.
Trent Jansen, Mayarn Lawford, Eva him. That ended up being much more collaborative The idea grew and became something where we
Nargoodah and Gene Tighe drying in the
than me responding to them or just doing my own remade the whole community, as Albert puts it,
sun, 2017. PHOTO: ERIN COATES. COURTESY:
THE ARTISTS, MANGKAJA ARTS, FITZROY CROSSING
work while I was there, he says. The centres artists capturing different elements of its architecture, like
AND FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE, FREMANTLE. told him about a past project they had done, using water towers, as well as football players, community
2.
w w w. ar tcol l e ctor. n e t. au 41
objects to pair with woven tjanpi objects made
by Papulankutja artists.
Haseltons own practice is attuned to the
histories and resonances of everyday materials.
She has wrapped found objects like polystyrene
packing foam and metal handles with yarn,
for example. There are obvious parallels here
with wrapped and woven tjanpi objects, but its
clear that materials and process are just starting
points for what could be some very interesting
conversations. The finished work Haselton is
envisaging marries two mediums in uneasy
partnership: one very grand, and associated with
the canons of fine art, and the other unassuming
and tied to the decorative, though stronger and
more enduring than it looks.
At Mangkaja Arts, furniture and object designer
Trent Jansen began by sitting with Rita Minga
to hear Kimberley stories and mythologies,
particularly around a creature said to lurk among
the anthills. The resulting carved coolamons
are giant, embedded with human hair and the
colour of dust; they recall both the form of this
lumpen Jangarra figure and the dirt mounds he
hides behind. They are unsettling objects, deeply
wedded to place. Another part of the project 5.
involves rusted metal sourced from abandoned
cars in the area, and there are plans for Johnny
Nargoodah and his son Illium Nargoodah to
travel to Jansens studio on the New South Wales
south coast to continue to refine these objects
into furnishings, tables and chairs.
Car parts also turn up in work made on
Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiros residency
at Martumili Artists. Working with the master
weaver Thelma Judson as well as Kumpaya
Girgiba, Rachel Handley and Karnu Talyor,
they have produced a series of car doors with
organic woven forms bulging out of the windows.
The additions give these rusted, desert emblems
of decay a pulsing, new beat of life. Its these
sort of odd, syncretic harmonies that show
collaborations have always had a potential that
goes far beyond any single artists horizons.
LAW CENTRE OF AUSTRALIA TO DEVELOP A FRAMEWORK 6. // Work in progress by Trent Jansen and
Mangkaja artists Elsie Dickens, Yangkarni
Penny K-Lyons, Mayarn Lawford, Eva
FOR THE VISITING ARTISTS, ESSENTIALLY A CODE OF Nargoodah and Gene Tighe, 2017.
PHOTO: TRENT JANSEN. COURTESY: THE ARTISTS
AND FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE, FREMANTLE.
CONDUCT A MAJOR PART WAS ABOUT LISTENING TO 7. // New works by artists at Warakurna
for In Cahoots, 2017. PHOTO: DAVID COLLINS.
COMMUNITIES, AND BEING LED BY THEM AT EVERY STEP. COURTESY: THE ARTISTS, WARAKURNA ARTISTS,
ALICE SPRINGS AND SULLIVAN+STRUMPF, SYDNEY.
7.
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DESPARD GALLERY
1987-2017
QUICK
BLING
16 Nov 1 Dec, 2017
WE ARE MOVING...
to 12 14 Meagher Street
Chippendale \ NSW
in late October
nandahobbs.com info@nandahobbs.com
UPFRONT
OPEN DIALOGUE
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UPFRONT
OPEN DIALOGUE
MODERN LEXICON
Decoding contemporary artspeak for the
discerning reader. Your guide: Andrew Frost.
are now all over the place websites, Facebook, etc. Influence
And then when you throw in the whole slew of culture I GOT OFF FACEBOOK THREE The literal definition of influence is the capacity to have
writers and pundits - everyone from Rebecca Solnit an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of
to McKenzie Wark you realise its pretty unusual YEARS AGO BECAUSE I someone or something, or the effect itself. In an art world
not to be online. As to what that all actually adds up context, it has three distinct applications. In the first
to is another question does all this branding create COULDNT STAND THE instance, influence is something an artist acknowledges.
real world opportunities for writers and artists, or is The artist draws up a wish-list of the names of artists
it just a really concentrated microcosm of how the CONSTANT ART WORLD from whom they think they have drawn concepts
and/or stylistic techniques, a list that is then
world is now? All show and no go?
WHINING ABOUT WHO HAD circulated to journalists, critics and collectors with the
understanding that any discussion of the artists work
CM: I take your point, but what Im talking about
is not just online and Facebook where you have the A LEGITIMATE CLAIM TO should only acknowledge those names. The second
example is where an influence is ascribed to the artists
space to air your opinions thats not so different
to working in the traditional media space but STUFF, WHETHER THAT WAS work by others. Caution is advised here because, even
if such influence is obvious, the artist may vehemently
platforms like Instagram and Twitter where ev-
erythings distilled into 140 characters or a single WHO SHOULD WIN A PRIZE disagree if the stated influence is not on the list. The
third meaning an artist under the influence, being a state
image. There are no breakout social media influ-
encers among arts professionals in Australia and OR BE IN A SHOW OR BE of self-medication until they either a) die, or b) are
properly acknowledged for their place on someone
theres definitely an opportunity. I was watching
an old episode of Channel Nines The Block recent- WRITTEN ABOUT BY A CRITIC. elses wish list.
CONTEMPORARY
ask because so much of what
Ive learned about art has
come from very smart, very
patient people. If someone
ART?
genuinely wants to talk about
One of the dead art, I dont care, Im in. Its
giveaways that when they dont and theyre
someone doesnt just struggling for something
know about to say that it gets tiring.
contemporary art is Oh my sister-in-laws best
that they talk about friends mother is an artist!
As a rule I avoid getting
money. Anyone that She paints cats! Especially
anywhere near contemporary
art with people who dont knows anything if they double down and pull
know a thing about it about contemporary out their phone to show you
as I dont want to be the art knows that you said distant connections
explainer, and why make should never look Facebook page, and their
them feel bad? but at the price list and collection of flat, wall-eyed
sometimes its unavoidable. say: Holy shit, that cats. Seriously, Im not going
Thats different is a paintings worth a to write about that. Oh wait,
giveaway. INGRID PERIZ shitload! CARRIE MILLER I just did... JANE OSULLIVAN
Image. ANTHONY BARTOK, HOME/OFFICE . 2017, acrylic on raw canvas, 153 x 213 cm
UPFRONT
ART FAIRS
PARIS PHOTO
9-12 November, 2017
Grand Palais Paris
ART MIAMI
5-10 December, 2017
Downtown Miami
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UPFRONT
ART FAIRS
Art crowds are set for another surge of art fair fever
this spring with The Other Art Fair (TOAF) taking
up a new location at the Australian Technology
Park. The popular artist-led event marks the fair's
third appearance in Sydney, led by fair director Zoe
Paulsen. From 26-29 October, artwork from more
than 100 artists will be exhibited. Each participating
artist has been chosen by a selection committee of
art industry professionals including; Ramesh Mario
Nithiyendran (artist), Annette Larkin (director of
Annette Larkin Fine Art), Michelle Newton (deputy
director, Artspace) and Rhianna Walcott (gallery
manager, Artereal).
Artworks at the fair are sold directly from the artists
to collectors. The atmosphere is relaxed, vibrant
and exciting, which attracts everyone from first time
buyers to seasoned collectors, says Ryan Stainer,
founder of The Other Art Fair. This year has also seen
TOAF expand to new cities, including Melbourne
and New York.
Jessa Melicor
J
anet Holmes Court knows a thing or
two about change. She was studying or-
ganic chemistry when she met her future
husband Robert and was working as a
science teacher when they got married in
1966. He went on to become Australias
first billionaire. She went on to become
MUSE
a successful entrepreneur, philanthropist, art col-
lector, and one of Australias wealthiest women. So
it is no surprise that in her book, MUSE: A Journey
through an Art Collection, Janet introduces her col-
lection by outlining the central place change holds
for her. Watching the perceptible change is one
of the threads of the collection, she explains. I
dont admire the finding of a formula that works
and sticking with it for 40 years because it makes
the artist successful. I admire the constant striving,
developing and experimenting that artists involve
A Journey through
themselves in.
The title of this book is well chosen. It is indeed
an Art Collection
a pictorial journey that also offers some insights Janet Holmes Court
into how this significant Australian collection was
formed. In addition to investing in risk-takers,
MUSE makes it clear that buying entire shows
by artists they admired was part of the Holmes
Court collecting strategy.
In 1981, while in London, they bought every
work in a exhibition called Mr Sandman, Bring me a
Dream at the Museum of Mankind. This purchase
included works by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri
and other artists from Papunya. This was their
first major acquisition of Indigenous Australian
works, an area that would go on to become one
of the strengths of the collection. As the author
puts it, It was a complete revelation. In 1980s the
couple also purchased an entire suite of batiks on
silk made by female artists from Utopia, such as
Emily Kame Kngwarreye, and most of the works
in a show which featured John Firth-Smith, John
Peart, David Rankin, Robert Jacks, Michael
Johnson and David Aspden.
MUSE is written almost entirely in the first
person by Janet, but an introductory essay by
Following the 1987 stock market crash and Rob- I started life as a chemistry teacher and, if I wanted, I could
still be a chemistry teacher, but I chose not to be. Change is
quite productive beyond just changing your position; it can
make for a richer life. You can understand the world better
erts premature death in 1990, he explains, Janet if you look at it from diferent perspectives. If youre seventy
years old you have witnessed many changes in the world,
and you have to adjust your own thinking.
took over the business and the Holmes Court I dont admire the inding of a formula that works and sticking
with it for forty years because it makes the artist successful.
collection. She restructured both. After selling I admire the constant striving, developing and experimenting
that artists involve themselves in. Scientists do it all the time.
Theres no point in having them otherwise.
w w w. ar tcol l e ctor. n e t. au 63
Peter James Smith 15 putiki street, arch hill
auckland, new zealand
26 September - 14 October 2017
w w w. orexart.co.nz
Opening Tuesday 26 September 5 - 7pm orex@xtra.co.nz
Ata la ya I & II e a rthe nwa re c la y dry-g la ze d a nd printe d 69 c m hig h
ON THE COUCH:
MOVING
AGAINST
THE CURRENT
Louise Martin-Chew talks to Emily
McDaniel, a curator, educator and
writer from the Kalari Clan of the
Wiradjuri nation in Central New South
Wales. This year McDaniel was one
of three judges on the 34th Telstra
NATSIA Awards at the Museums and
Art Galleries of the Northern Territory
(Darwin). Portrait by Jacquie Manning.
What are the compelling issues within Indigenous art in the public domain is cru- emerging fails to recognise the complexity
Aboriginal art regional and urban at cial, to tell the stories of how we got to be of her experience.
this time? where we are now. It becomes a new way of
The issues pertinent to regional Aboriginal mapping a city or understanding a place. Also this year you curated Walan Yinaagir-
and Torres Strait Islander art are as varied The histories of place are embedded in the bang | Strong Women for Firstdraft Gallery.
as those in non-Indigenous art. With such landscape and art is able to manifest them in How important are gender issues?
diverse practices nationally, it is difficult to a physical form, making those stories accessi- Incredibly important. Though there are many
summarise the sector as a whole. But using ble to everyone that connects with that site. contemporary women artists, there is little
the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait recognition of their work. Large scale proj-
Islander Award as an example of current In April 2017 you travelled to Venice as ects, particularly in Sydney, are dominated
Indigenous contemporary practice, I am part of the Aboriginal Emerging Curator by male creatives and artists. I question why
noticing a strong return to language to artic- program are you emerging? that is. There is an aesthetic of strength, and
ulate connection to culture, making powerful I dont feel that that word accurately describes the timely, detailed and meticulous artistic
statements of leadership. The act of being a curatorial practice. Seemingly we could practices of women artists challenge that. I
an Indigenous artist is inherently political be in a constant state of emergence, as your would like to raise the profile of female artists
artists are embracing it as a platform for work is never done as a curator. Early ca- and ensure that they receive the opportunities
self-determination and self-representation. reer curators are doing some of the most their practice deserves.
interesting work at the moment, and I was
Another recent public debate has been fortunate to be alongside many of them on Whats next on your agenda?
about monuments and statues, and their that Venice trip, many of us having at least a It is a privilege to be working currently on
sometimes vexed histories. In 2015, you decade of experience. I find the word emerg- the Sydney Festival, with artistic director,
curated the first public art commission for ing in reference to artists limiting as well. Wesley Enoch. I am curating a project for
the Barangaroo precinct. How important A great example is Betty Muffler who won Barangaroo Headland Park. Apart from that
is public art in telling the contemporary the Telstra Emerging Artist Award this year. I am always collating and collecting stories
Indigenous story? She is a senior woman in her community; and ideas for new exhibitions.
66
THE ACT OF BEING AN INDIGENOUS ARTIST IS
INHERENTLY POLITICAL ARTISTS ARE EMBRACING IT AS A
PLATFORM FOR SELF-DETERMINATION AND SELF-REPRESENTATION...
Real Presence
NOT TO BE MISSED
Our writers present the unmissable exhibitions taking place this quarter.
1.
Ka-ryn Taylor
Implicate Order
Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne
4 October - 26 October, 2017
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UPFRONT
NOT TO BE MISSED
3. 4.
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UPFRONT
NOT TO BE MISSED
1.
Simon Blau
Flawed Narratives
Gallery 9, Sydney
25 October 11 November 2017
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UPFRONT
NOT TO BE MISSED
Though Hossein and Angela Valamanesh are both fascinated with the
natural world the pair is inspired by it in different ways. This exhibition
celebrates their distinctive approach to their respective practices but also
displays their shared vision and aesthetic.
Hossein uses materials often sourced directly from the natural environment
and creates sculptures and installation works that deal with issues surrounding
identity, place and time. Hosseins Iranian heritage is a clear influence on
his work, along with references to the Australian landscape and Indigenous
culture.
The work Takes Two... draws on his 1999 Untitled work made from a lavender
bush from his garden. The lavender branch was lit by an oil lamp which
created a sense of movement and energy. Takes Two... is made from a pair of
Mallee gum branches cast in bronze also has a human like quality to it, it
looks like two figures intertwined.
Angela is particularly fascinated by forms and patterns she observes in 1. // Angela Valamanesh, Insect/Orchid
5, 2017. Ceramic, 27 x 12.5 x 4cm.
nature. She doesnt draw her subject matter directly from the natural world
but rather from already mediated representations from science, in particular 2. // Hossein Valamanesh, Garden &
microscopic imagery. Angela is also fascinated with the documentation of Cosmos #2. Gold leaf, bamboo leaves
on board, 68 x 122cm.
botanists and natural scientists from the past. Through her sculptural forms
she blurs the line between science and art. PHOTO: M KLUVANEK. COURTESY: THE ARTIST
2.
1. 2.
Lucy Culliton
Bibbenluke Menagerie
Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
10 October 4 November 2017
If its hanging around the property, shell paint it. Ducks, geese, sheep. Trees, flowers.
Battered old knit toys, iced cakes, cacti, and roosters, as well as decidedly vivid landscapes
in an impressionist style. Lucy Cullitons studio is Bibbenluke Lodge, a 1930s homestead
on the remote Monaro plains in Southeast NSW, and it seems that she rarely wishes to
leave. She famously missed a stunning view of Mt Fuji while busily drawing horses during
a rare flight to Europe. Culliton abandoned graphic design, at the age of 27 and began
studying art at National Art School (formerly East Sydney Tech). Today, her exhibitions
consistently sell out. Culliton is a regular finalist in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman
Prizes and has won numerous prizes, including the 2006 Portia Geach Memorial Award
for her painting, Self with Friends. Her work is represented in the collections of the National
Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Macquarie Bank and Parliament
House, Canberra. Bibbenluke Menagerie is a compendium of portraits of the extended
family she hosts on her farm.
3. Ashley Crawford
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UPFRONT
NOT TO BE MISSED
Avital Sheffer
The Generous Vessel
Anthea Polson Art, Gold Coast
2-15 December, 2017
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UPFRONT
NOT TO BE MISSED
1.
2. // Meredith Woolnough,
The New Neighbours (detail),
2017. Embroidery thread, pins.
Dimensions variable.
COURTESY: THE ARTISTS AND TAMWORTH
REGIONAL GALLERY, TAMWORTH.
1. 2.
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Painting
On
Country
A project by Tjungu Palya Arts at
TARNANTHI: Festival of Contemporary
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art.
13 October 2017
28 January 2018
Colville Gallery
Chen Ping
The Picnic
24 November 13 December 2017
Also Representing
Mathew Armstrong, Julia Castiglioni-Bradshaw, Jason Cordero, Jane Giblin,
Paul Gundry, Leanne Halls, Colin Langridge, Henrietta Manning, Jerzy Michalski,
Milan Milojevic, Ian Parry, Kate Piekutowski, Effie Pryer, Sweet+Shore, Luke Wagner
91A Salamanca Place, Hobart 7000 Tasmania P +61 362 244 088 M 0419 292 626
Macq1T3, 18 Hunter Street, Hobart 7000 Tasmania
E info@colvillegallery.com.au W colvillegallery.com.au OPENING HOURS 10am to 5pm daily
IF I COULD HAVE
IF I COULD HAVE...
Dr Natasha Cica, director and
CEO of Heide Museum of Modern
Art in Melbourne picks 10 works
that she would buy immediately
if she could.
10.
For weekly
updates on whats
available from
leading Australian
and New Zealand
galleries, subscribe
to Art Collectors
digital newsletter
Whats in the
stockroom?
9.
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IN ASSOCIATION WITH
PAPUNYA TULA ARTISTS
KATARRA
BUTLER
NAPALTJARRI
SOLO EXHIBITION
4 25 November 2017
WHAT NOW?
Our writers talk to three artists who
MIRA GOJAK
Your wire sculpture configurations possess
what appear to be free form lines yet they are
about your research and how it ties in with
your practice as a whole?
incredibly sturdy and carefully arranged. There Ive always been interested in the interplay
collectors should know about.
is a sense of weightlessness to them. Recent between notions of boundaries and boundlessness
pieces have used layers of wool wrapped in the construction of a sense of self. Often this
around metal, creating a heaviness that presents in my work as a holding pattern of forces,
contrasts with earlier work. Is there a common hesitations and kinetic gestures that trace the bodily
theme even though these works occupy space apprehension of the seemingly contradictory idea of
differently? the weight of weightlessness, or as Canadian poet
Some of my recent work uses a continuous line of Anne Carson puts it, as clear as complicated air.
wire or steel that meanders in space, its sense of The newer works made while completing my PhD
movement and fluidity obliterating a clear bounded explore the same themes from the opposite direction.
outline. Now the permeability of the work is more
random and active. Depending on where you stand, Intuitive is a word often used to describe your
it becomes a negotiation in, around and through, work and the forms you create are very gestural.
tangled masses, accumulations and escapes. Can you describe the process you undertake to
create a work?
Since 2014, you have been undertaking a I start by considering an immense space, for example
PhD at Monash University. Can you tell me the blue sky and its associations with the immaterial,
1.
w w w. ar tcol l e ctor. n e t. au 89
ARTISTS
WHAT NOW
ALBERTO GARCIA-ALVAREZ
An immersion in culturally significant periods is outdoor wall sculpture at the University of 1. // Alberto Garcia-Alvarez, Crossings, Installation
at Tim Melville Gallery, October 2014.
a distinguishing factor in the admirable practice Auckland; Collective Mind encompassed references
of Alberto Garcia-Alvarez. Born in Barcelona to both minimal sculpture and mathematical 2. // Alberto Garcia-Alvarez, 1982-35, 1982.
in 1928, the artist grew up during the Spanish structures. Garcia-Alvarez has always maintained Oil on wood, 70 x 62cm.
Civil War and as a student attended the Llotja the importance of an uncompromised personal 3. // Alberto Garcia-Alvarez, 2016-88.6,
Art School. He later became one of the founders vision, but over the last five years, there has been a 2016. Water-based mixed media on canvas,
of the FLAMMA group (1948 - 1953), working revival in public interest for his work. 213 x 173cm. Fletcher Trust Collection.
on religious murals and frescoes including the Recent works include an expansive range of highly PHOTO: KALLAN MACLEOD. COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND
Saint Sebastian Chapel in Tossa de Mar. Religious gestural large scale paintings, small assemblages and TIM MELVILLE GALLERY, AUCKLAND
commissions marked a valuable way for the artist geometric sculptures. Like Constructivist imagery, the
to both immerse himself in traditional painting and assemblages bear the traces of religious iconography
to work within a social space. that is reduced to a series of lines. In 2015, Robert
In his studio practice, Garcia-Alvarez was Leonard curated the Crossings series at Wellingtons
exploring tendencies towards abstraction. During City Gallery. And earlier this year, the Fundacio Vila
the counterculture period of the early sixties, Casas in Barcelona mounted a major solo exhibition,
he moved to the United States to teach at the marking six decades since the artists last exhibition
University of California at Berkeley where he in Spain. Garcia-Alvarez is now preparing for an
remained until 1971. Religious commissions during exhibition at Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, opening
this time included the Portland Church and Saint 31 October. When pressed about plans for the
Joachim Catholic Church in Madera. But the artist exhibition, the artist sagely replied, The act of doing
continued to follow tendencies in abstraction too, is for me the essence of the work; an intense moment
exhibiting with minimalists Frank Stella and Brice (hours, days or years) of physical, emotional and
Marden and staging solo exhibitions at San Jos subjective activity. I know what I dont want to accept
Art Centre and San Francisco Museum of Modern in my work, all else is possible.
Art. Upon moving to Auckland, New Zealand in Jane ONeill
1972, he commenced a career in academia where
he became a well-respected mentor for many New ALBERTO GARCIA-ALVAREZ HOWS AT TIM
Zealand artists including Stephen Bambury and MELVILLE GALLERY, AUCKLAND FROM 31
Judy Millar. In 1980 he completed the permanent OCTOBER 25 NOVEMBER 2017. 2.
1.
w w w. ar tcol l e ctor. n e t. au 91
ARTISTS
WHAT NOW
CAMERON ROBBINS
Some artists use paintbrushes, some use had over the years grown to include sound and 1. // Cameron Robbins, Mt Jim Magnetic
Anomaly, Loops, 2011. Giclee or Type-C
photographic emulsion and others use spray video, photography, installation and sculpture, all still
photograph, on rag paper edition of 5 +1
cans. Cameron Robbins uses the wind. Robbins connected to the natural world. Robbins also for the A/P Printed at 120 x 80cm.
is fascinated by nature in all its permutations. I first time committed to a commercial gallery, MARS,
2. // Cameron Robbins, Wind Section
first met the artist in 2003 and even by then his in the Melbourne suburb of Windsor, where Field Instrumental, 6 - 15 October 2014, NW
strange, spindly, spinning metal structures were Lines will be reinterpreted this year and where the Passage, 2013. Wind drawing, duration
popping up on rooftops and across landscapes rooftop already graces one of his manic works. 9 days pigment ink on paper 503.5 x 75
around the country. Architects in particular were MONA was an ideal site for Robbins. His work cm. PHOTO: Rmi Chauvin
enamored with his arcane practice, which I had has always referred to the environment in one 3. // Cameron Robbins, Anemograph,
first seen installed on the roof of Daryl Jacksons form or another. MONAs founder, David Walsh, Crux, 2015, Giclee or Type-C photograph,
architecture firm in Melbournes CBD. These meanwhile has referred to his museum eventually on rag paper edition of 5 + 1 A/P Printed
at 160 x 100cm.
werent static aesthetic objects, they were machines being subsumed by the waters of Hobarts River
often designed for drawing and activated purely by Derwent. Utilising the extremes of humble pencil, COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND MUSEUM OF OLD AND
NEW ART (MONA), HOBART
the whims of the weather. high-end hydraulics and the potent power of
Soon after meeting him, I travelled with Robbins the tides, Robbins illustrated the inevitability of
on an artists journey to the highlands of Victorias Walshs dire prediction with both technological and
Falls Creek in 2006. Robbins would arise early aesthetic grace.
and disappear into the mountains to construct odd
structures that would get to work for him as he
I guess Im trying to connect to landscape, and
to the greater dynamic of the whole climate system;
I GUESS IM TRYING TO
roamed. The results, captured by the thermals, were
delicate and poetic and oddly mysterious.
how patterns move through a particular location,
Robbins says. To me thats the most direct way to
CONNECT TO LANDSCAPE,
Robbins career trajectory began normally enough.
He completed his Bachelor of Arts, specialising in
access the greater energies and forces around us.
Spanning three decades and revealing dramatic
AND TO THE GREATER
sculpture, in 1985. But then, like the breeze, he
seemed to drift always creating and producing, but
shifts in media and approach, Field Lines unveils an
artist whose relevance, for better or worse, could not
DYNAMIC OF THE WHOLE
never quite settling. be more timely. CLIMATE SYSTEM; HOW
That would seem to have changed come 2016. Ashley Crawford
Robbins was curated by Nicole Durling and Olivier PATTERNS MOVE THROUGH
Varenne for a major showing at the Museum of Old CAMERON ROBBINS: FIELD LINES, MARS
and New Art (MONA) in Hobart. Titled Field Lines, GALLERY, MELBOURNE WILL SHOW FROM A PARTICULAR LOCATION.
it presented the saga of Robbins practice, which 21 OCTOBER 18 NOVEMBER. CAMERON ROBBINS
1. 2.
w w w. ar tcol l e ctor. n e t. au 93
TOM ALBERTS
WHAT NEXT
Sammy Preston takes a look at three artists who collectors should keep their eye on.
Whats it about?
Carrolls most recent ceramic and painting
practice resonates in the sacred sites
and dunes and trees of his birthplace a
landscape rich with history and legend;
somewhere he calls his fathers Country.
This year, he returned to this place
between Kintore in the Northern Territory
and Kiwirrkurra in Western Australia,
alongside fellow Ernabella ceramicist 1.
3.
w w w. ar tcol l e ctor. n e t. au 97
ARTISTS
WHAT NEXT
ASHLEIGH GARWOOD
Why pay attention? Whats it about?
Sydney-based artist and photographer Ashleigh Garwoods practice bends the structure and widens
Garwood began 2017 with a residency at the University the scope of the visual world. Layers of information
of Idaho in the Astrophysics Department, deciphering are added, stripped away, and re added. And what is
astrophotography, and the myriad scientific lenses revealed is the potent power of photography to create
used to determine the colour and composition of the and manipulate our own perception. The title of her
universe beyond our sightradio and gravitational upcoming show MASSING, borrows from architectural
waves, weather patterns, and mapping interferences, vernaculara way in which to describe how a buildings
for example. form, shape, and size may be perceived. Here, Garwoods
These composite dimensions and systems of alien landscapes reference the accumulation and erosion
information beyond regular vision are what interests of time and meaning within each image.
Garwood, who is also currently completing an honours
year in photography at the University of Technology, The artist says
Sydney. Photography has such a significant connection to a truth- 1. // Ashleigh Garwood, Retaining
claim, but at the same time images are so fragmented Structure #1, 2017. Inkjet print,
What do they do? and manipulated. That is the space of photography that 120 x 95 unframed. Edition of 3 + 2AP.
To construct her images, Garwood blends a great I find really interesting; that you can objectively know a 2. // Ashleigh Garwood, FORM#1,
variety of processesengaging in a number of dark photographic work isnt a depiction of a reality, but at the 2017. Silver gelatin print, 60.5 x
room and digital techniques to produce densely same time it provides a space for reflecting on that. 50cm unframed. Edition of 3 + 2AP.
layered, otherworldly shots. What continues to spur 3. // Ashleigh Garwood, Land3_Editor,
her interest in photography is the ability to experiment You can see it at 2017. Inkjet print, 152 x 127cm
with the expectations and control the conventions of the Garwoods next show, MASSING will be at May Space in unframed. Edition of 3 + 2AP.
medium. Sydney from 10 October to 4 November 2017. COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND MAY SPACE, SYDNEY.
1. 2.
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ARTISTS
WHAT NEXT
JOHN A DOUGLAS
Why pay attention? Dantes Inferno is a loose structural template for emotional, psychological landscape. Because
Interdisciplinary artist John A Douglas has the nine video loops in Circles of Fire (Variations). what do you do? I could have got someone to
entered into a new and exciting chapter of his Desolate sequences were shot on location in the shoot my surgery but I guess I didnt want it to
practice. Hes just been awarded the inaugural Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan and Spotted be too literal.
Create NSW Artists with Disability Fellowship, Lake in Canada, to track the dark transition
and for Douglas what began as an artistic between near death and healing. You can see it at
exploration into, and meditation on, the throws A solo exhibition titled The Nine Circles will be at
of his own devastating chronic illness, has The artist says Chalk Horse gallery in Sydney from 30 November
become a complex flight into the realm of life These works are about my own inner world the until 23 December, 2017.
and death, science, medicine, humanity, and
history.
Whats it about?
The Circles of Fire series charts Douglas mid-
surgery near death experience. Mythology
and cinema become a part of the narrative 1.
2.
3.
A BO RI G I N A L & PAC I F I C A R T I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H
M I M I L I M A K U A R T S, S O U T H AU S T R A L I A P R E S E N T S
unisa.edu.au/samstag
Justine Varga
Michael Cook
Tracey Moffatt 105
ARTISTS
GLOBAL
ALICIA FRANKOVICH
Born: 1980
CONCEPTUALLY,
FRANKOVICH IS
INTERESTED IN DELVING
DEEP INTO CRITICAL
CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT
MOVEMENT, AND HOW
CERTAIN SENSIBILITIES
OR MATERIAL
ENGAGEMENTS MIGHT
PERTAIN TOWARDS A
LANGUAGE WITHIN THE
WIDER FRAMEWORK OF
3.
PERFORMANCE.
w w w. ar tcol l e ctor. n e t. au 107
ARTISTS
GLOBAL
MATTHEW ALLEN
Born: 1981
For many artists, the logistics of international exhibition 5 November, 2017 and with Sophie Gannon Gallery,
are at best costly and difficult, and at worst prohibitive. Melbourne in April next year.
Freight expenses, insurance, travel, accommodation and I have found the scene in Amsterdam to be very
tax costs mount up quickly. So, when opportunity started welcoming, Allen says. It is a small tightly-knit scene,
to knock, abstractionist Matthew Allen decided to take but the galleries are very internationally focused, at-
matters into his own hands, and relocate to Amsterdam, tending fairs, organising artist exchanges with other
seeking to expand his practice unencumbered by the international galleries. In March 2018, Allen will hold
logistical issues so many Antipodean artists face as they his first European commercial solo show with Cinnna-
1. // Matthew Allen, Black Sea Cycle, look to Europe or America. mon Gallery, Rotterdam, a young gallery with a strong
2017. Polished graphite on linen,
20 x 12cm each (4 works). The move has proved a productive one for Allen, with a program and solid reputation at home and abroad.
litany of solo and group shows slated for 2017-18, includ- These opportunities and the move have provided Allen
2. // Matthew Allen, Spectral Variation
7, 2016. Acrylic, oil and resin on
ing YIA Paris and a group show titled Lo sguardo di Narciso with the drive he needs to continue expanding his prac-
paper, 100 x 66cm. (The gaze of Narcissus, which also features Australians tice, both in terms of audiences and form, which has seen
Jonny Niesche and John Nicholson), both with The Flat him pushing the limits of his materials. I am working
3. // Matthew Allen, Untitled II, 2017.
Polished graphite on linen, 20 x 12cm. Gallery (Milan), and a two-handed show at Neon Heater with a technique of burnishing and polishing layers of
gallery (Ohio) with Melbourne-based Becc Orszg explor- graphite powder on linen, he says, which results in
4. // Matthew Allen, Untitled X, 2017.
Polished graphite on linen, 29 x 21cm. ing the pairs radically different yet strangely affinitive a darkly mirror-like, gestural surface, that while being
approaches to drawing, for starters. The artist also shows reflective still shows the traces of its handcrafted process.
COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND SOPHIE GANNON GALLERY,
MELBOURNE. with Sullivan+Strumpf, Singapore from 14 October until Kate Britton
1.
2. 4.
TRACEY MOFFATT
Born: 1960
This year, Tracey Moffatt represented Australia at the Moffatt has said. Passage is a story as old as time itself.
1. // Tracey Moffatt, Mother and
57th Venice Biennale. On view until 26 November, 2017 People throughout history and across cultures have always Baby, from the series Passage,
Moffatts exhibition is named My Horizon, and it comprises escaped across borders to seek new lives. 2017. C Type photograph on gloss
two new series of large-scale photographs, Body Remembers Moffatt first gained international critical reception when paper, 105.5 x 156cm.
and Passage, and two new video works, Vigil and The White her short film Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy was selected for the 2. // Tracey Moffatt, Touch from
Ghost Sailed In. The exhibition is curated by Natalie King, 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Her first feature film, beDevil, was the series Body Remembers,
2017. Digital pigment print on rag
and is commissioned by Naomi Milgrom AO. also selected for Cannes in 1993. In 1997, she was invited
paper, 162 x 244cm.
Moffatt speaks about the concepts behind her newly to exhibit in the Aperto section of the Venice Biennale. A
commissioned work, and how it connects to an international major exhibition of Moffatts work Tracey Moffatt: Free- 3. // Tracey Moffatt, Spirit House
from the series Body Remembers,
audience: Falling was later held at the Dia Center for the Arts in New 2017. Digital pigment print on rag
I wanted the 40s-era, film noir images to read as being of York in 199798. Following this Moffatt has continued a paper, 162 x 244cm.
the past, but the storyline speaks about what is happening rigorous practice at both a local and international level. COURTESY: THE ARTIST, ROSLYN OXLEY9 GALLERY,
in the world today, with asylum seekers crossing borders, Tess Maunder SYDNEY AND TYLER ROLLINS FINE ART, NEW YORK
1.
3.
MICHAEL COOK
Born: 1968
Brisbane-based artist of Bidjara heritage Michael Then the artist presented Mother at Art Basel all these people were relating to it, people saw it
Cook credits a particular body of work with Hong Kong in 2016 with This Is No Fantasy + from their own perspective. That was my first clue I
garnering his ever-increasing global audience. Dianne Tanzer Gallery, Melbourne. The series is was getting through to an international audience.
Having found success at home, including in the made up of photographic vignettes depicting a Since finding this acclaim abroad, Cook has gone
7th Asia Pacific Triennial and 19th Biennale of lone woman, variously seen with empty prams, from strength to strength. He hopes his next body
Sydney, he didnt feel his work had impacted in abandoned play equipment, unused tricycles. With of work, an ambitious film project that riffs on 60s
the way he hoped overseas. It had interest, he this series, Cook seemed to have found the right sci-fi aesthetics, alien invasion and UFOs to speak
says of the major exhibition Indigenous Australia: blend of specific cultural and historical content in to the experience of first contact for Aboriginal
Enduring Civilisation at the British Museum, but this case that the Stolen Generations and universal Australians, will find an international audience.
from expats, not from the English, which was sort resonance, that of adoption, of being apart from With shows in Paris and Art Basel Hong Kong
of surprising to me. People did not know much family. It was a particularly personal work for Cook, in 2018, things are looking promising, but Cook
about Australias colonial history, even in the UK. who was adopted and raised by a white family. It nonetheless remains focused on his roots. Its
Immediately, Cooks politically charged imagery was the first time Id shown work overseas where nice to think your work will be seen overseas, but
about the legacy of colonialism for Aboriginal people hadnt asked me about Australian history, as long as you have local support you can keep
Australians was stripped of some of the power for Cook says. It resonated with a lot of people no going, he says.
which it had gained acclaim in Australia. matter what country theyre from. I realised that Kate Britton
1.
2.
JUSTINE VARGA
Born: 1984
TELSTRA GENERAL
PAINTING AWARD
Matjangka (Nyukana) Norris,
Ngura Pilti. Synthetic polymer
paint on linen, 150 x 198cm. TELSTRA ART AWARD
Anwar Young, Unrupa Rhonda
Dick and Frank Young, Kulata
Tjuta - Wati kulunypa tjukurpa
(Many spears - Young fella story).
Digital print, wood, kangaroo
tendon, kiti (natural glue) and
37 spears. Digitial print: 148 x
176cm. Spears: 280 x 2 x 2cm.
TELSTRA
EMERGING
ARTIST AWARD
Betty Muffler, Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country).
Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 166 x 242.5cm.
WANDJUK MARIKA MEMORIAL 3D AWARD
Shirley Macnamara,
Nyurruga Muulawaddi.
Aged spinifex,
18 x 40 x 32cm.
GUNYBI GANAMBARR
Gunybi Ganambarr is one of the most popular Yolnu Art Triennial NGA (2012), and is a regular finalist in the
artists of the past decade who, while adhering to tradition, NATSIAA awards. His work is well represented in public
has boldly experimented with unorthodox materials and art collections throughout Australia and is included in the
techniques. He was born in 1973 and worked for a dozen Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
years as a builder and only in 2002 started carving in the His Buyku in this years NATSIAA relates to the Yolngu
context of the Buku-Larrngay Mulka Art Centre. In the use of the hollow pole as an ossuary or bone container
following years, he pursued radical experimentation with erected for a dead kinsman, sometimes up to a decade
carved double-sided barks, heavily sculpted poles, incised after their death. The designs on these hollow coffins
barks, sculptures inserted into poles as well as carving relate to the clan markings of the deceased. Ganambarr
into discarded industrial rubber belts. At a time when has allowed the woods natural shape to dictate the form
many were speaking of the decline of Yolnu traditional within, which he has then articulated with ochres and
bark painting, Ganambarr emerged as an adventurous earth pigments. The organic sculptural appearance of the
and provocative artist whose work did not appear to work is enhanced with the optical vibrancy of the surface
violate tradition. design. It is a gentle and memorable piece that invites the
As an artist, Ganambarr has swept some of the major eye to circumnavigate the sculpture.
awards, including the $50,000 West Australian Indigenous Sasha Grishin
Art Award and the Queensland Art Gallerys Xstrata
Emerging Indigenous Artist Award. He has been featured
// Gunybi Ganambarr, Buyku. Earth pigments on
in numerous biennale and triennial exhibitions, including stringybark hollow pole, 163 x 22 x 25cm.
the 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010), and National Indigenous COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND THE 34TH TELSTRA NATSIAA, DARWIN.
PEDRO
WONAEAMIRRI
Still only a young man in his early 40s, Pedro
Wonaeamirri has been painting at the Jilamara
Arts and Crafts at Milikapiti on Melville Island
since 1991, when he was seventeen-years-old. He
worked alongside other noted Tiwi artists, such as
Kutuwulumi Purawarrumpatu and Taracarijimo
Freda Warlapinni, and became a spokesperson
for his people. He is also an artist and dancer,
attaining both a national and international
reputation. He is represented in many national
and international public art collections and his
work played a significant role at Defying Empire,
the third National Indigenous Art Triennial,
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, in 2017.
He has been a finalist at the NATSIAA awards in
2009 and 2012 as well as this year.
Wonaeamirri consciously works within the
Tiwi tradition employing body designs, which
he explains are an extension of ornate pukumani
ceremonial body designs that are found on
Pukumani funerary poles, Yimawilini bark
baskets and associated ritual objects made for
the Pukumani ceremony. There is a rhythmic,
performative aspect to his art with the designs
sung into being. He collects traditional natural
ochres from his country, grinds them himself, and
employs the kayimwagakimi (the traditional Tiwi
iron-wood comb), with a strong field of colour
that is then systematically covered with white
dots applied in neat geometric rows. He paints
on canvas, paper, bark and ironwood poles and is
also an accomplished printmaker who has worked
with the Australian Print Workshop in Melbourne.
Wonaeamirris Mulipinni Amintiya Pwoja
diptych with its body design drawings on paper
at this years NATSIAA is striking in its scale,
presence and the absolute confidence of touch. It
is work which is remarkable, direct and possesses
a mesmerising power.
Sasha Grishin
// Pedro Wonaeamirri, Mulipinni Amintiya Pwoja.
Natural ochres on paper, 120 x 62 x 6cm (2 pieces).
COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND THE 34TH TELSTRA NATSIAA, DARWIN.
David Franks figurative paintings are narrative driven Gallery in Melbourne, and in the same year his inclusion
In his fifth consecutive year as a finalist in the National Aboriginal inaugural exhibition The National: New Australian Art, a collaboration
and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Tiger Yaltangkis large- between the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Museum of
scale painting Malpa wiru (good friends), reveals his mastery of Contemporary Art and Carriageworks. He recently featured in two
controlled chaos. The artist presents a mash-up of Aboriginal major survey exhibitions at the Art Gallery of South Australia, the
and popular culture. His work celebrates rock music and science 2016 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Magic Object and Tarnanthi:
fiction whilst paying homage to his Anangu culture and community Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art in
life in his home Indulkana, located in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara 2015. Yaltangkis paintings are held in numerous public collections
Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in the far north of South Australia. including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Museum and Art
Hybrid creatures created from a medley of self-portrait, Mamu
Gallery of the Northern Territory, Berndt Museum, Parliament
(Pitjantjatjara spirit being), television characters from Dr Who
House Art Collection, RMIT University Art Collection, Western
and The Mighty Boosh, and rock and roll stars from iconic bands
Sydney University Art Collection and Artbank. Yaltangki is
including AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd seem to sing,
represented by Iwantja Arts, Indulkana in the APY Lands and
dance and strut across Yaltangkis canvas-stage, while disembodied
hands wave and clap in time. The motley figures are set against Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, have added the artist to their highly
a relatively subdued backdrop of Ngura (Country), featuring the regarded stable.
Apu Hills and nearby trees and waterholes that are depicted with Nic Brown
a pastel desert-palette of pinks, oranges and yellows. // Tiger Yalangki, Malpa Wiru (Good friends).
Yaltangkis practice is gaining increasing critical and commercial Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 196 x 242cm.
attention nationally. Earlier this year his work was presented in the COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND THE 34TH TELSTRA NATSIAA, DARWIN.
PENNY EVANS
It is pride that informs Penny Evans wall-based sculpture black wall with hair and headdress-like extensions made from
Matriline Yinarr Old girls of the south east. She is a Gamilaraay/ a variety of natural materials. They each feature an aspect of
Gomeroi woman resident in Lismore, and recalls that this the diamond design, and their arrangement also forms three
sculpture was driven, initially, by anger. I was responding to diamonds. Evanss conceptual interests (as a ceramicist and a
appropriation of our Indigenous design work and particularly carver) are highlighted in this work. She said, The diamond
the diamond, which is a powerful symbol for my people. I was represents putting to rest our dead, and is also dissected and
reminded of a story about Major Nunn, who came into the emerges as a butterfly, symbolising rebirth and freedom.
Hunter Valley and Gamilaroi country. They came over the hill
Other references within their rounded shape include cultural
and saw fires burning and the sound of possum skin drums.
fecundity and are hybrid shapes of both Dhinawan (emu)
They saw more than 500 Kamilaroi people with the women
eggs and Waraba (turtle) shells. A clear feminine sensibility is
standing in front, holding carved shields.
not betrayed by an appearance of fierce strength and power.
Each of the ten ceramic masks that make up this work
feature diamond shapes, asserting the inner power and Louise Martin-Chew
resurgence, in the last twenty years, of cultural identity in
// Penny Evans, Matriline Yinarr Old girls of the south
New South Wales. The symbols are Evans interpretation of east. Ceramics, raffia, wire, polypropylene, plastic, bamboo,
nearby Kamilaroi carvings. As a group, these masks in shades 180 x 200 x 16 x 10 cm (10 pieces). COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND
of black and grey exude quiet power and presence, hung on a THE 34TH TELSTRA NATSIAA, DARWIN.
T
he photographic series, created over years of pro-
longed study and observation of a specific subject,
has always been a mainstay for New Zealand-based
photographer Anne Noble. Originally becoming
involved with photography during her time as a
student at Elam School of Fine Arts in the early
1980s, Noble is known for producing exception-
ally large bodies of work, particularly her focused
collections documenting aspects of New Zealands
Whanganui River, Antarctica, and the honey bee.
I like the preoccupation of working slowly on projects for
long periods of time, Noble says. I have just completed a
whole series of works about bees.
It began by chance in my own backyard - I keep bees. My love
of beekeeping just found its way into my work as I observed
bees and came to understand a little of the complexity of the
hive as a living system.
There is no doubt Noble is fond of bees and the natural
world. At Sydney Contemporary 2017, Auckland gallery Two
Rooms exhibited photographs from her 2015/2016 Dead Bee
Portrait series. Devoid of definitive colour and seeped in shadow,
the portraits deconstructed the romanticised image of bees
by focusing on the tiny details and textures of their anatomy
spiky antenna, furry thorax, disembodied wings. Nobles
images carry both a majestic beauty and a brooding melancholy.
The process Noble undertakes to photograph these tiny
subjects is meticulous and hauntingly reverent. Using a re-
purposed electron microscope she learnt how to use in the
1. laboratory of French physicist Dr Jean Pierre Martin, himself
3. 4. 5.
PRISCILLA PITTS
Freelance curator and writer
IM DRAWN TIME AND AGAIN TO THE BEAUTY OF NOBLES
Wellington
IMAGES: THE LUMINOUS SIMPLICITY OF IN THE PRESENCE
I first became aware of Anne Nobles work in
the early 1980s. Two very different groups of OF ANGELS (1988), THE SENSUOUS DEPTH AND SHIMMER OF
work from this period initiated twin trajectories
that have continued to this day. One was her
Night Hawk series, with its tender and playful
HER WHANGANUI RIVER IMAGES, THE EXQUISITE FRAGILITY
eroticism; the other her first photo essay on
the Whanganui river (The Wanganui, 1980-82a
OF BEES WINGS IN HER RECENT WORKS. PRISCILLA PITTS
Two Rooms Gallery began representing Anne Noble the plight of the honeybee and its significance in our international awards and fellowships.
in 2004, when she produced her Rubys Room series. ecosystem. As part of the project, Noble worked While a doyen amongst photographers, Nobles
Jenny Todd describes initially being drawn to No- alongside academics and scientists in Chicago to pro- work also has a wide appeal with international col-
bles methodological approach to photography and duce The Bee Photogram Series and the Dead Bee Portraits, lectors and public institutions. Todd believes this
distinct photographic aesthetic. She fully immersed which Todd describes as a thorough investigation is because Nobles exceptional photographic talent
herself in researching and literally living alongside her into the potential loss of bee colonies worldwide; is combined with an ability to develop narratives
subjects, Todd says, while also producing a formal a haunting and poetic homage to the honeybee. that resonate with both curators and collectors. By
portrait study with a strangely visceral dreamlike Two Rooms Gallery has a reputation for work- being so immersed in her subjects and presenting
narrative, utilising amplified colours and surfaces ing with the most significant New Zealand pho- such a level of research, she draws in the viewer and
that gave the works an abstract quality. tographers. For Todd, Nobles practice is at the shares these stories, while being able to partake in a
Todd notes that Nobles current exhibition, Umbra, forefront of this. She is one of New Zealands broader debate that she presents around our planets
currently on display at Two Rooms Gallery, was ini- most acclaimed photographers and photography biological systems and environmental issues.
tiated by Annes passion for beekeeping and explores academics, and has been the recipient of many Paris Lettau
AN
UPRISING
Charged with themes of politics, gender, sex and
more, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendrans visceral
sculptures are growing in parallel to his ascent
to art stardom. Alison Kubler talks to the artist.
Portrait by Jacquie Manning.
URSULA SULLIVAN
Director
Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney
I WAS IMPRESSED AND CONFUSED AND DELIGHTED AND HORRIFIED ALL IN ONE SECOND. SO
FEW ARTISTS CAN DRAW THAT OUT IN ME, THERE WAS SOMETHING S PECIAL GOING ON. WE
WATCHED HIS WORK DEVELOP FOR A LONG TIME, AND THEN GOT THE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET
HIM AT THEA DELAIDEBIENNIAL AND WE GOT ALONG SO WELL! 6.
U R S U L A S U L L I VA N
BEING IN THE COMPANY OF HIS WORK IS LIKE BEING lustre, 126 x 53 x 42cm.
IN HIS COMPANY: YOURE GIVEN LICENCE TO RELAX, Yellow Head, 2017. Earthenware,
glaze, lustre, 68 x 44 x 24cm.
CHALLENGE YOUR IDEAS AND EXPECTATIONS AND COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND
SULLIVAN+STRUMPF, SYDNEY
LISA SLADE
Assistant Director, Artistic Programs
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
A PRACTICE SHAPED
Louise Martin-Chew looks at how
Teresa Baker channels the feminine
strength of her spirit ancestor. BY SPIRITS
T
here is intensity in the painting of Te- Vivien Anderson has been exhibiting Baker
resa Baker, a visceral appearance which since 2013, with this exhibition her second solo.
draws the eye in and around red and or- Anderson said, Some of her earlier work presented
ange shapes, contained and extended by mechanised imagery like plumbing apparatus,
dotted lines of nuanced yellow, threads alluding to force under pressure, which is part
and lines connecting to each other, of- of her narrative. Her heroine is the Emu Woman,
fering depth, visual nourishment and a from the narrative Malilunya, who shape-shifts
sense of a large narrative within a broad into water and thunders through the subterranean
landscape. She lives in Kanpi, the small cave system underneath her Country to avoid
outstation to which her family moved, within the APY capture by tricky men. Her compositions are so
Lands, to be closer to their Country. It is in a remote dynamic, she explores power through paint and
part of South Australia, about 20 kilometres south movement.
of the border with the Northern Territory, and sits Last year, Baker was selected for the Australian
at the base of the Mann Ranges. Her paintings are Centre for Contemporary Arts Painting. More
focussed on the journey of her pre-eminent female Painting, a survey of contemporary Australian work,
spirit ancestor, Malilu, who is known for strength which included artists such as Angela Brennan,
and independence. Bakers Wynne Prize entry, Minyma Matthys Gerber, Stephen Bram and Vivienne
Malilunya, 2017 depicted the dance of the crippled 1.
Binns. Bakers work was hung opposite that of
Malilu, deserted by her daughters, and her ability to, Karl Wiebke, with three works each. Anderson
nonetheless, gather the bush foods and water she said, It was one of the most beautiful spaces,
needed, albeit with the painful dragging of her leg human behaviour. The artist said, When I paint, in and Teresa was very pleased and proud to see
as she travelled across the landscape. my heart Im feeling it. Maybe that spirits there, maybe her work there. Co-curator of the exhibition,
Teresa Baker is from an artistic family. As a child Malilu is teaching me. I love that Country. When I was Hannah Mathews said, Her work has a distinct
she lived in Kanpi with her grandfather, artist Jimmy a little girl I just felt the pull, the feeling that I had to position and approach to landscape that is shaped
Baker, and her grandmother. She remembers him go there. I feel wiru (beautiful) inside that Country. by her experience and culture as an Indigenous
taking her out to the rock holes as a 12-year-old girl Baker is not a prolific artist, and is also in demand woman. Sometimes made with other women in
where he told her the stories at important sites. Later with her community relying on her for assistance with her family, Bakers paintings express an elaborate
she lived with her mother, Kay Baker, also an artist, governance issues. She works with her daughters and relationship to Country, with female perspectives
in Fregon. She moved back to Kanpi after finishing other girls for whom she cares, showing them what is and songlines. Her landscapes are sometimes
school, and in 2005 began painting at the Tjungu Palya possible with paint at the Tjungu Palya Art Centre. shaped by spirits and other times by machines. The
art centre. I used to sit next to Jimmy Baker, he was Manager Liz Bird said, Teresas style has evolved over dynamism captured in her works is compelling.
a good friend, and watch what he did. He showed me the years. The earlier work emulated the way Jimmy For Mathews, Bakers palette and composition are
painting stories about emu and his Country. In the Baker would put down his dots with high contrast, also very powerful. You can get lost in the paint;
last decade Baker has made significant gains, having but she has shifted into more tonal gradients. Of her works are vibrant and rich, they generously
been a finalist in the Telstra Awards in 2013 and 2016, all of our artists, Teresa has a particular sensibility welcome you into the stories of her Country.
and the 2017 Wynne Prize. This year she has focussed for working with colour. The new body of work is a
on completing work for her solo exhibition at Vivien very confident example of her ability with colour and TERESA BAKER SHOWS AT VIVIEN ANDERSON
Anderson Gallery. composition. She starts anywhere on the canvas and GALLERY, MELBOURNE IN ASSOCIATION WITH
Malilu was known for managing epic conflicts puts detail around what she has put down at the start TJUNGU PALYA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA FROM
between the forces of nature, the environment and and shifts across the canvas in a very beautiful way. 15 NOVEMBER - 9 DECEMBER, 2017.
HANNAH MATHEWS
Senior Curator
Monash University Museum of
Art (MUMA), Melbourne
1. // Teresa Baker.
I had the pleasure of encountering Teresa
2. // Teresa Baker, Minyma Malilunya, 2017.
Bakers work for the first time last year through Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 150 x 120cm.
my role as Senior Curator at Monash University
3. // Teresa Baker, Minyma Malilunya, 2017
Museum of Art (MUMA). One of her paintings (triptych detail) Synthetic polymer paint on
had entered the Monash Collection and I was canvas, 200 x 120cm, 200 x 360cm overall.
absolutely taken with the power of its palette 4. // Teresa Baker, Minyma Malilunya, 2017.
and composition. There was something so en- Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 300 x 200cm.
ergetic and affirming about it. Its a quality I Finalist Wynne Prize Art Gallery of NSW, 2017.
see in many of her works. Bakers paintings PHOTO: SIMON ANDERSON PHOTOGRAPHY. COURTESY OF
hold a sense of resolution, determination and THE ARTIST AND VIVIEN ANDERSON GALLERY, MELBOURNE
HER HEROINE IS THE EMU WOMAN, FROM THE NARRATIVE of New South Wales and her participation in Painting
More Painting in 2016 at the Australian Centre for
Contemporary Art (ACCA), which pretty much
MALILUNYA, WHO SHAPE-SHIFTS INTO WATER AND cemented the respect she has from mainstream
curators. While Bakers work is already highly
THUNDERS THROUGH THE SUBTERRANEAN CAVE SYSTEM coveted, Anderson believes the artist will continue
on a steady trajectory, At this stage, her output
UNDERNEATH HER COUNTRY TO AVOID CAPTURE BY TRICKY is enough to assure her participation in major art
prizes and selected commissioned exhibitions and
MEN. HER COMPOSITIONS ARE SO DYNAMIC, SHE EXPLORES a solo every two years. Her own self-realisation as
an artist is solid, she feels no pressure, she is sure of
her own accomplishments.
POWER THROUGH PAINT AND MOVEMENT. VIVIEN ANDERSON Emma ONeill
N
ike Savvas is a senior Australian
artist, based between Sydney and
London. She is well known for her
large-scale, immersive, colourful,
participatory installations that
have been staged both in Austra-
lia and internationally. Recent ca-
reer highlights include her solo
exhibition Rally, at the Art Gallery
of New South Wales, Sydney, in 2014, her solo
Liberty and Anarchy, at Leeds Art Gallery, UK,
from 2012-2013, and her work is included in
collections including Victoria & Albert Museum,
the British Library, the Tate Gallery Library Art
Gallery of New South Wales and Auckland Art
Gallery, among others.
In addition to important museum exhibitions
and collections, Savvas has also produced several
respected public art projects, often site-respon-
sive in nature. Yet, as an artist, she keeps us on
our toes, once we think we know Savvas, she
re-positions herself again as an artist to keep
things fresh and exciting. On this, she says, I
like to surprise people, to be mercurial. I dont
like to be categorised. As soon as people start
deciding what my works about or classifying it,
I will do something completely different to turn
it on its head.
Indeed, Savvas actively employs surprise as
a strategy in her practice. Conceptually, Savvas
positions herself as a democratic artist, because
of her interest in the role of the viewer in her
work. Her upcoming exhibition Living on a Promise
opens at ARC ONE Gallery on the 24 October
this year. This exhibition will focus on the age
of uncertainty, a timely subject. Savvas wishes to
bring attention to the viewers relationship with
perception, and how it might shift and change
in response to an environment. She says, The
show is about the constructive and changing
perceptions of the individual. Its highly optical
and works with colours that play off each other. It
ELEVATED
is extraordinary, what you can produce in the lab
when experimenting, and placing one colour next
to the other, working with all sorts of perceptual
FREQUENCIES
w w w. ar tcol l e ctor. n e t. au 145
ARTISTS
PROFILE
3.
RACHEL KENT
Chief Curator
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Rachel Kent first encountered the work of Nike 2005; and recently, her suspended work in the main
Savvas in the 1990s, through her exhibitions at entry foyer, called Rally, which comprised around
Sydney independent spaces and at Roslyn Oxley9 60,000 sewn strips of coloured bunting, suspended
Gallery in Paddington. She recalls, in particular from the foyer ceiling (2014). I saw both projects
her anodised aluminium and styrene installations and remember well how visitors responded to them,
from that period, and some of the early X-Ray works. with surprise, joy and of course wonder. There was SUZANNE HAMPEL
I have followed Savvas career since and wrote for her a real sense of play in these works as well as spatial Director
2012 monographic publication Nike Savvas; Full of awareness and public engagement. ARC ONE Gallery, Melbourne
Love Full of Wonder by Black Dog Publishing, London. The curator emphasises the artists significance
Savvas work has always been about colour, light in the broader Australian cultural landscape, The upcoming exhibition at ARC ONE Gallery in
and movement a sense of vibrant opticality and I particularly, in terms of her engagement with Melbourne will feature, six magical sculptures of
find this endlessly compelling, both visually and psy- light, colour and kinetic practice, creating gallery the same dimensions and price. Each work will be
chologically. There is a long global history of artists works, museum commissions and large-scale public priced at $18,000, says ARC ONE Gallery director
who have explored the transformative qualities of installations. As she moves regularly between Sydney Suzanne Hampel. It has been more than a decade
colour, and of movement. Through her works, Savvas and the UK, where she completed her studies and since Hampel first sighted the work of Nike Savvas
combines a strong awareness of art history, as well exhibits regularly, her reputation extends beyond at ACCA in the 2005 show Atomic: Full of Love, Full
as an engagement with popular culture, from street local shores and she is part of a wider global dialogue. of Wonder and found herself mesmerised, Nike
carnivals to decorations and buntings. To see Australian artists positioned centrally in immediately stood out as an artist with an excep-
Kent recalls the artists two major commissioned this dialogue is very important, and in turn draws tional vision and capacity to activate space and
works at the Art Gallery of NSW in recent years her attention to the work of local practitioners by immerse an audience.
vast, room-scale installation of multiple, tiny vibrat- international curators and museums. Since then, the artists exhibiting career has
ing spheres called Atomic: full of love, full of wonder in Emma ONeill developed internationally in tandem with a con-
tinued presence in Australia with numerous sig-
nificant shows in London, Cologne, Dusseldorf
and Amsterdam. Her dynamic installations and
commissions have attracted much local and world-
wide attention. Such commissions include Epic
8000, Nike Town, San Francisco; Rally Art Gallery
of New South Wales; Everlasting, Docklands, Mel-
bourne; Colours are the Country, Macquarie Group,
Sydney; and Reverie, Southbank Centre, London.
The artist has also garnered the Jury Prize (Gold
Medal) at the 11th Triennial of India, Delhi and
various Fellowship Awards. Most recently she has
received a grant to produce a large installation in
the Art Gallery of South Australia for the 2018
Adelaide Biennial.
According to Hampel, Savvas works convey
a playfulness and radiance, making them simply
uplifting and joyful to live with. She employs a
vivid palette and repeated geometric forms in her
practice, which resonates with collectors both
in Australia and abroad who love contemporary
manifestations of colour, light and geometry, either
in spectacular installations or sculptural works.
4. Emma ONeill
5.
Brian Robinson, By virtue of this act I hereby take possession of this land. Linocut, 72.3 x 45cm.
Many of Australia's most acclaimed Indigenous artists come from this region including Sunfly Tjampitjin,
Wimmitji Tjampitjin, Boxer Milner, Eubena Nampitjin and Elizabeth Nyumi. Artists such as Helicopter Tjuungurrayi,
Pauline Sunfly, Mirriam Baadjo and Imelda Gugaman continue this vibrant artistic legacy today.
WARLAYIRTI ARTISTS 0407 1234 78 (08) 9168 8960 PMB 20 BALGO via Halls Creek WA 6770 balgoart.org.au
154 w w w.ar t c ol l e c t or.n e t .au
ARTISTS
DOSSIER
TRAVERSING G
azing at a painting by John Walsh is like teetering
on the edge of an event horizon. Once you are
enveloped in one of the Wellington-based artists
scenes the laws of classical physics no longer
apply. Walsh seems able to conjure up images
from the multiverse, an infinite zone of possibility
in which conventional notions of both space and
time become meaningless.
WORLDS
Take for example his small 2017 painting on
paper, Flying Moa. In this work Walsh pictures a world where
long extinct flightless birds take to the sky. Its a work of pure
fantasy, steeped in myth and magic. Yet, simultaneously, his
streaky turquoise and teal landscape is firmly tethered to the
actual physical presence of the wild weather and dense bush
of New Zealand. It is incontrovertibly a portrait of place, a
Tracey Clement explores how John Walsh bridges the divide picture of reality.
This ability to bridge the divide between two worlds (fact
between the realms of fantasy and reality and of past and present
and fiction, fantasy and reality) with compelling verisimilitude
with compelling verisimilitude. Portrait by Chad Alexander. is Walshs great strength as a painter. It is tempting (if
somewhat simplistic) to attribute this facility to the fact
that Walsh himself comes from two very different cultural
traditions. He is of Maori (Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti) and Irish-
New Zealand decent. Real life, of course, is more complex,
as Walsh explains.
Growing up in my small East Coast community of Uawa
[Tolaga Bay] these influences werent analysed. They were
just there, constant and normal, he says. Those formative
years have never left me. I naturally fell into the Maori arts
movement, it politicised and polarised, but I could never deny
who I was. I was never pure enough to be fully in one camp or
the other. This has had its difficulties and great freedoms.
Born in 1954, Walsh describes himself as one of those
kids who could draw. He enrolled to study art at Ilam in
Christchurch, but didnt complete the course. Art school
wasnt for me, he recalls, I was probably too young. Back
home in Uawa, he gained valuable experience working with
his father painting houses. I learned a lot about how paint
works from those years, he says, brush work, quality, care,
etc. And he taught himself to paint portraits in the style of
the well-known New Zealand painter Charles Frederick
Goldie (1870-1947). Eventually I decided I didnt want
a future of copying, so I experimented until I realised my
sketchy preliminary painting was my thing, he explains. I
was almost 40.
Walshs signature sketchy style reflects his fast-paced
fluid working method. The artist may start with an idea, but
he doesnt use working drawings. Instead, Walsh leaves space
for chance and improvisation. Someone once described it
as jazz painting, he says. We all have our different skills,
experiences and concerns, and the way I work they all find
their way onto the canvas whether theyre there with the initial
idea or not. I might start with an idea, a very loose idea, and
it evolves with the marks, the colours, composition glaciers. This painting documents global warm- to me, he says. Cultural difference in this age of
and adventure. Its quite a quick process so its all ing in action. It is sublime in the true sense of homogenised big business is important. It gives
engrossing. the word, both terrible and beautiful. Walsh is a connection to the other, to hope.
The paintings themselves may happen fast, subtle artist with something to say. As he puts it, John Walsh says he is storyteller at heart, even
but, as mentioned earlier, the end results seem Life on earth is becoming critical and everyone if only to himself. Mine is a particular history
to tell stories that defy a linear sense of time. In is gradually waking up to this. with its own cultural influences, loves and hurts,
Walshs work past, present and future all appear In Migrating Koru, 2003, huge dinosaurs with he explains, I dont expect viewers to understand
to hold sway. In State Asset, 2012, he presents a human heads and tails that resemble the spiral everything I do. But, having said that, he also
landscape of vertiginous misty mountain peaks of an unfurling fern (the koru of the title) stride acknowledges that art is a unique and powerful
and roaring waterfalls, primeval and pristine. It across a watery mythic landscape. This painting medium for getting a message across. Circum-
could also be a current advertisement for New captures the fantastical edge that Walsh is so adept stances change, and you either roll with them or
Zealand tourism. After all, purity is the state asset. at evoking. Yet here too he speaks to contemporary take a stand, he says. Different parts of the brain
But take a closer look and it becomes clear that reality. I mix old stories, gods and other beings are activated when making and viewing art. Painting
the scenic waterfalls are coming from melting with current issues, its all seamless and sensible is visual communication.
1.
OTHER. THIS HAS HAD ITS DIFFICULTIES AND Oil on canvas, 137 x 183 x 3.3cm.
2. // John Walsh, Flying Moa, 2017,
Oil on fortified paper, 35 x 45cm.
GREAT FREEDOMS. JOHN WALSH COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND PAULNACHE, GISBORNE.
2.
MARK HUTCHINS-POND
Contemporary Art Curator
Pa- taka Art + Museum, Porirua City
JOHN GOW
Director
Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
3. // John Walsh, First Star, 2017. I first saw Johns work in a show at the City Gallery,
Oil on canvas, 155 x 100cm.
Wellington called Parihaka. The gallery had reached
4. // John Walsh, Mariner, 2017. out to a cross section of artists to make Parihaka
Oil on canvas.
based paintings. Says John Gow, co-director of
5. // John Walsh, That Guy, 2017. Gow Langsford Gallery, who was stopped in his
Oil on canvas. tracks at the sight of John Walshs two contributions
COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND GOW to the show. The impact of encountering these
4.
LANGSFORD, AUCKLAND. works led me to call Walsh and ask if he would like
representation in Auckland. As a result, we have now
represented John for the past 16 years.
The works in the Parihaka show were of a larger
scale than I had seen before measuring at around
80 x 120 cm. Gow continues. Prior to these, I was
only aware of Walsh working in a small scale. As time
has evolved John has made a series of very major
works some measuring up to 5 metres in length. The
artist has continued to explore the same or similar
narratives of Maori mythology, significant historical
events often caught only in the verbal Maori history
and what I refer to as his dreamtime paintings.
The forthcoming show at Gow Langsford, will
showcase works priced from NZD $7,500 up to
$55,000. Walsh has a wide group of collectors who
support his practice. This along with museums
(particularly Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington)
tends to be his client base. There is usually keen
competition for the key works in his exhibitions. I
know I have my eye on one work in this collection.
Of its appearance on the secondary market, the
director says People seem to hold on to Walshs
work so not a lot hits the secondary market, notes
Gow, however When it does, the works are usually
well supported at auction or sold again by Gow
Langsford Gallery.
5. Emma ONeill
MATT NACHE
Director
PAULNACHE, Gisborne
PAULNACHE operates globally out of home ic storyteller who paints a soon-to-be forgotten and culture and the collectors who acquire his
town Gisborne, the heart of the North Islands New Zealand, melding it with the present and an work rarely stop at one as each piece adds layers
East Coast region. Walsh's roots are in Uawa, unknown future folding time into deft brush- to an overarching and mysterious narrative that
Tolaga Bay a small coastal village further up the strokes. He has become known for depicting myth- only the artist knows. Walsh does little to explain
coast. The region lies beyond New Zealand's ical figures in swathes of teal and azure landscapes, this narrative with words, he stands back, doesn't
main arterial roots and maintains its own heart- seascapes and dreamscapes that mirror essences give much away and lets the stories unfurl them-
beat, mix of modern tribal and bi-culturalisms, of Aotearoa New Zealand. He incorporates my- selves giving viewers a chance to see something
a place where forgotten spirits still move among thologies and fables of his dual European, mostly all their own. These tales reveal themselves anew
communities. Irish and Maori heritage and has them articulate each time we fall into their depths.
PAULNACHE director Matt Nache had long concerns of today." It is the combination of this intuitive storytell-
admired John Walsh's work when he approached Though his work is inextricably linked to home, ing with the artists technical prowess that bring
him after seeing his survey exhibition Flying Solo Nache stresses its universal power. When I took the works to life. I see a current trend
at the Dowse Art Museum in 2009. Although his work to Hong Kong, it wasnt to carve out a in Australian painting of expressionistic heavily
he emerged with a group of contemporary New slice of New Zealand abroad it was to give his applied paint, Walshs use of pulled back oils make
Zealand/Maori artists around the turn of this work greater international context. The display his work comparable on some levels to that of
century, his work always stood alone, says Nache. of two 3 metre loose canvases, Pare To My Place Sidney Nolan.
Now living in Wellington the artist consistently and Marakihau, floated like islands emitting a Nache believes Walshs rise will only continue,
returns to exhibit in Gisborne, happy to keep in gravitational pull amid the international crowd." As an artist, he is a sleeping giant or the world
touch with his home community and be part of In my time I have rarely encountered works is slowly awakening to him. It is a great honour
the PAULNACHE enterprise. that carry so much emotive power. Those who are to work with him.
Of his practice Nache says, Walsh is an icon- drawn to Walshs art have empathy for place, race Emma ONeill
6.
IT WITH THE PRESENT AND AN UNKNOWN FUTURE Private Collection, New Zealand.
M AT T NACHE
7.
TIMELINE
1954 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Born in
Tolaga Bay,
New Zealand
1973-74 1983 1990-1993
Appointed exhibitions oficer
2000
Walsh Childrens book Nanny Mango is published
Attended University of Commissioned to paint new
Canterbury School of Fine works for the meeting house at the Gisborne Museum by Te Papa Press.
Arts, Christchurch Rongopai, at Waituhi, Gisborne and Arts Centre. Regional Participates in Wananga 2000 group exhibition at
representative for the Maori Gisborne Museum and Arts Centre
1976-78 1984
Artists and Writers collective
Nga Puna Waihanga
Produced Goldie-esque
portraits of identities from Produced new artwork of the
historical and contemporary
2001
Begins representation by Gow Langsford Gallery,
Tolaga Bay and East Coast
communities which were community at Tokomaru Bay on
the East Coast of New Zealand
1992 Auckland and exhibits every year in either solo or
exhibited at the Academy Participates in the national group shows
of Fine Arts Wellington and Maori arts survey Taikaka at
Participates in multiple group shows including
the Gisborne Museum and
Arts Centre 1985 the National Art Gallery in
Wellington.
Purangiaho: A Survey of Contemporary Maori Art,
Auckland Art Gallery, Te Maunga Taranaki: Views
Produced new art work in the
Waiapu Community Arts of the Mountain, The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery,
meeting house Waho-Te-Rangi at
Council commissions a New Plymouth and Parihaka, the Art of Passive
Whangara on the East Coast
historical painting by Walsh Resistance City Gallery, Wellington
in Tolaga Bay
1986-8 2002-3
Commissioned by Gisborne
District Council to paint four
murals
1993 Participates in group exhibition This Other World
at Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt
Appointed as curator of
contemporary Ma-ori art at Solo show at Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1978-80 1989
New work commissioned by the
Produces large scale work Pathinder International Mural
Portrait of Tolaga Bay, a Project, New York City, and
project initiated by Walsh for the foyer of the Ministry of
and supported by the Agriculture and Fisheries Head
Maori and South Paciic Ofice, Wellington
Arts Council, and the
Department of Maori Affairs
2003
1978-80 // Portrait of Uawa 2002 // Kaihautu, 2002. 2003 // Te Puku o Hauiti, 2005 // Yes, but one at a time 2006 // Wiremu passes over the
Tolaga Bay. 1978-80. Oil on Oil on canvas, 140 x 196cm. 2003. Oil on board, please, and where are the peak of nesting manaia, 2006.
ten panels 366 x 1829cm. 145 x 122.5cm. Aunties, 2005. Oil on board, Oil on canvas, 140 x 200.5cm
COURTESY: THE ARTIST 89 x 119cm. COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND GOW
LANGSFORD GALLERY, AUCKLAND.
COLLECTIONS: New Zealand Post, Auckland The Wallace Arts Trust Collection, Auckland Art Associates Collection, Auckland
2006
Langsford Gallery, Auckland
2016
Your Friend the Enemy group show tours
2013 to Pa-taka Art + Museum, Porirua
Exhibits two solo Survey exhibition Matakite at Pa-taka Museum,
shows at Gow Porirua curated by Mark Hutchins-Pond
Langsford Gallery, A Mua - The Future, PAULNACHE, Gisborne
Auckland and Page
Blackie Gallery,
Wellington
John Walsh and John
Pule, PAULNACHE,
Gisborne
2007-8
Residency in Antarctica
Begins representation by Page Blackie
gallery, Wellington and show every year
in either solo or group shows
2008 2017
Collaborates with John Pule to create
a work that is acquired by the Wallace 2009 National Bank, PAULNACHE, Gisborne
Arts Trust, Auckland, New Zealand Survey exhibition Flying Solo - Paintings by John Walsh, John Walsh, PAULNACHE booth F11, Art Central, Hong Kong
TheNewDowse, Lower Hutt, James Wallace Arts Trust Gallery.
Begins representation by PAULNACHE, Gisborne and shows
every year in either solo or group shows
2008 // John Pule and John Walsh, 2009 // Marakihau, circa 2013 // John Walsh on the cover of 2015 // HMS Queen Elizabeth 2017 // John Walsh with
Untitled, 2008. Oil and ink on 2007. Oil on canvas, Art New Zealand Magazine. firing on turkish positions during PAULNACHE, Art Central
canvas, 200 x 200cm. Collection of 110 x 240cm. COURTESY: COURTESY: ART NEW ZEALAND. the Dardanelles bombardment, Hong Kong, March 2017.
the Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland, THE ARTIST AND GOW // The Devil, Out Recruiting, 2013. Oil 2017. Oil on board, 90 x 120cm. COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND
New Zealand. COURTESY: THE ARTIST LANGSFORD GALLERY, AUCKLAND. on board, 25.5 x 37.5cm. COURTESY: THE COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND GOW PAULNACHE, GISBORNE.
AND PAULNACHE, GISBORNE. ARTIST AND GOW LANGSFORD GALLERY, AUCKLAND. LANGSFORD GALLERY, AUCKLAND.
www.iaca.com.au
Darnley Island
Indige nous Art Ce ntre Allianc e me mbe rs:
Badu Island Mua Island 1. Badu Art Centre / Badhulgaw Kuthinaw Mudh - Badu Island
2. Bana Yirriji Art and Cultural Centre - Wujal Wujal
Thursday Island 3. Erub Arts - Darnley Island
4. Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre - Cardwell
5. HopeVale Arts and Culture Centre
6. Lockhart River Art Centre
7. Mornington Island Art
Western Cape York
8. Moa Arts / Ngalmun Lagau Minaral - Mua Island
Lockhart River
9. Pormpuraaw Art and Culture Centre
Aurukun
10. Weinum Arts - Western Cape York
11. Wik and Kugu Art Centre - Aurukun
Pormpuraaw
12. Yalanji Arts - Mossman Gorge
HopeVale
13. Yarrabah Arts and Cultural Precinct
Wujal Wujal 14. Gab Titui Cultural Centre - Thursday Island
Mornington Island
Mossman
Yarrabah
Cardwell
IACA programs and events receive inancial assistance from the Queensland Government through Arts Queenslands Backing Indigenous Arts initiative and
from the Federal Governments Ministry for the Arts through the Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support program. IACA supports the Indigenous Art Code.
ARTISTS
CRITIC'S CHOICE
CRITICS CHOICE
Curator and writer Emily russels, Paris and Los Angeles: global cities that host vastly international populations.
Nathan traverses the Atlantic Diverse demographics lend themselves to a colourful contemporary art scene, and the
to hone in on three bustling five creators selected below offer a glimpse into the bustling cultural lives of these three
contemporary art hubs in the cosmopolitan hubs. While the artists might be seen to share nothing but a time period,
and are a veritable smorgasbord of practices, styles, and personalities, there is nonetheless
global edition of Critics Choice.
something powerfully humanistic about each of their approaches to art making a
focus on the things we as living beings share and the poignant truths of ours past, present
and future. In a modern world increasingly consumed by plasma screens and advanced
technology, such work offers a welcome, and reassuring, respite.
CHRISTINA QUARLES
JEAN-MARIE APPRIOU
5.
OPEN HOUSE
3rd Tamworth Textile Triennial 2017 Curated by Glenn Barkley
Tamworth Regional Gallery Ema Shin Devoted Body, 2017. Photo Oleksandr Pogorilyi
466 Peel Street Tamworth
Free Admission
Tuesday Friday 10am 5pm
Saturday Sunday 10am 4pm
tamworthregionalgallery.com.au Visions of Australia
1.
COLLECTING
COLLECTOR
ARTKEEPER:
BRIAN
TUCKER
Do remote artists get ripped off by
the art centres that sell their work?
No, says collector Brian Tucker. He
knows because he is their auditor.
Alison Kubler talks to the art world
accountant about his own collection.
Photography by Damien OMara.
B
rian Tucker needs little introduction
in his home town of Brisbane. He is
best known as the accountant to artists
and creatives whose artworks feature
prominently on his office walls, making
for surely one of the most pleasurable
tax time experiences for visiting clients.
An avid collector and generous donor,
his collecting has pulled focus in recent
years more rigorously on indigenous
art, informed in part by his professional work across
those communities. The passion started Tucker says,
years ago when I lectured on Professional Practice
at the old Queensland College of Art and I went to the
end-of-year graduating students exhibition, to support
them, more than out of an interest in acquiring art. I
did, though, like one work on display and after some
to-ing and fro-ing trying to get the artist to come up
with a price, bought my first work. I thought to myself
this is interesting so started going to student shows,
and exhibitions of (mostly) emerging artists and that
whole process introduced me to art generally, and
contemporary art particularly. I saw collecting art as
a way to satisfy several needs: to enrich my own life,
to help (even in a meagre way) artists, and to let them
know that what they were doing was important.
175
2.
And what of his interest in Indigenous art? I designers. Its very exciting! Tuckers enthusiasm
really became interested in Indigenous art when is infectious, but Indigenous art can present a few
I started auditing a couple of art centres on the challenges to a new collector.
APY Lands. Before that I had no real knowledge Tucker admits Because Ive been going to
or understanding of the world of Indigenous Art. I those communities for many years now Ive
now audit about 40 art centres across the Central come to know the artists quite well, and come
and Western Desert regions, to Arnhem Land, the to appreciate the extent to which the story behind
Tiwi Islands, Kimberley and Pilbara, and from very the imagery is so important, particularly for
remote Communities such as Tjuntjuntjara in those senior men and women. As they grow older,
Western Australias Spinifex Country, to Baluk Arts and more frail, I see in the rawness of their work,
on the Mornington Peninsula. The breadth of styles a sense that these old people know their time is
is quite astonishing, from the familiar dot paintings drawing to a close but there are things they still
of Central Australia, to the carvings and weavings have to say through their art, and the urgency of
of the Top End, to very contemporary photography that telling is reflected in the lack of any subtlety
3.
and drawing from younger Indigenous artists and in colour or brush-strokes.
1. // Brian Tucker.
2. // Billy Cooley, Wanampi Desert
Snake, Maruku Arts.
3. // Emma Lindsay, Hunter/hunted
(pheasant, Queensland Museum),
2015. Oil on linen, 60 x 76cm.
4. // Declan Apuatimi, Munupi Arts.
5. // The office stockroom.
6. // Mary Pan, Tjala Arts.
PHOTOGRAPHY: DAMIEN O'MARA.
6.
Above: Lorenzo Ketchell with giant ghost net sculptures Below left: Hands freeing a ghost net turtle Below right: Ghost Nets of the Ocean Catalogue All images courtesy Erub Arts and Lynnette Grifiths
ERUB ARTS
torres strait
For ghost net sales and enquiries contact
Diann Lui, centre manager
T 07 4090 0827
manager@erubarts.com.au
Follow us on facebook or erubarts.com.au
Large and small-scale ghost net sculptures, ghost net merchandise, Ghost Nets of the Ocean catalogue, digitally printed fabric and garments
Also available: wood-fired ceramic sculptures, screen-printed fabrics, lino prints and large charcoal works on paper
O N V I E W AT T H E A R T G A L L E RY O F S O U T H A U S T R A L I A
w w w.ar t c ol l e c t or.n e t .au
COLLECTING
DEALER
T
he experience of living in London and visiting art exhibitions
to discover entirely new ecologies of galleries and artists has
informed the recently opened gallery -f-i-l-t-e-r- in Sydney.
Moving to Australia in the late nineties, Ian Geraghty ob-
served that international artists were visible in large institu-
tional exhibitions and art bookshops but were largely absent
from the commercial gallery scene. In partnership with art
collector and businessman Peter Maddison, this is a gap
that -f-i-l-t-e-r- now aims to fill.
Geraghty founded Grey Matter Contemporary Art in Sydney (1999-
2001) and brings his experience as a practicing artist, arts writer and
curator (in both Australia and the UK) to this new commercial venture.
He is probably not the first gallerist to wish for a stable of blue chip
international artists, but most others stumble at the first hurdle of ex-
orbitant freight costs. -f-i-l-t-e-r- embraces these challenges with a canny
combination of imagination and practicality. In addition to the display
of fine art editions and sculptural objects in its Surry Hills gallery, -f-i-
l-t-e-r- recognizes the potential for social media and the distribution of
catalogues online. The gallery also reaches a broader audience in their
presence at art fairs within Australia. A clearly stated aim of the project is
to constantly interrogate the structure of galleries, art fairs and auction
houses in order to develop stimulating new models.
GLOBAL
Many of the represented artists include Young British Artists including
Tracey Emin, Jake and Dinos Chapman and Damien Hirst. Valuable
connections forged by Geraghty during his time in the UK have facili-
tated the representation of these major artists. Indeed, the presence of
a curator specializing in this era of contemporary British art is an asset
for both collectors and institutions. The gallery is also working towards
SENSIBILITY
the expansion of networks with fine art publishers and dealers in Los
Angeles and New York.
Included in the role call of represented artists is Brian Eno, a well-
known experimental composer whose connection with Sydney lies in his
position as inaugural artistic director of the Vivid Festival. A sequence
of etchings based on a series of lightbox works pulse with colour, pro-
viding a window onto the broader cultural legacy of a generous and
experimental thinker. Another surprise is the small signed lithograph
by Mir. Originally an invitation card for an exhibition in Nice in 1957,
Jane ONeill talks to Ian Geraghty Le Chien is an elegant example of the artists facility with line and colour.
and Peter Maddison, co-directors of The high volume of print-based works infuses the gallery with a strong
Pop aesthetic. A high-key series of prints by Michael Craig-Martin
-f-i-l-t-e-r-, about how they are embracing consists of reductive compositions of everyday objects such as a credit
card, electric toothbrush or takeaway coffee cup. Another highlight is
the challenges faced by outward looking the Pebbles series by Julian Opie, a suite of tactile wall sculptures cut
collectors. Portrait by Maja Baska. by laser in aluminum.
A defining feature of -f-i-l-t-e-r- is the provision of books and supporting
background material to provide a context for the works. Visitors to the
gallery, whether students or collectors, can be assured of the opportunity
to see work in a supported context. Geraghty admits to being pleasantly
surprised at the recent Sydney Contemporary art fair. Assuming that
his role was to introduce the work of the -f-i-l-t-e-r- artists, he found
Australian audiences well-versed in international contemporary art.
The gallery is ambitious in the aim to integrate international artists
within realms beyond private collections too, such as the public and
corporate art sectors. This new model provides a welcome opportunity
for satellite exhibitions to accompany larger institutional survey shows.
It is a promising step forward towards a truly international sensibility
within the Australian art landscape.
Program highlights
Running from November 2017 to February
2018, will be an exhibition featuring
predominantly UK artists including Rachel
Whiteread, Gavin Turk, Tracey Emin,
Damien Hirst and Gary Hume.
In 2018-19, visitors can expect to see solo and
duo exhibitions featuring Antony Gormley,
Brian Eno, Cornelia Parker, Julian Opie,
Tracey Emin, Michael Craig-Martin, Peter
Blake and Damien Hirst. In addition to these,
-f-i-l-t-e-r- will be hosting shows and special
launches by a selection of leading US artists yet
to be announced.
1.
Emma O'Neill
2. 3.
4.
ART
CENTRES
alexandra
frasersmith
6-17 dec
AND HOW TO ETHICALLY COLLECT
INDIGENOUS ART
in/decision
clare solomon
Cover: Beyula Puntungka Napanangka, Kalinykalinypa, 2017. Acrylic on linen, 122 x 157cm
The artist, image courtesy Papunya Tjupi Arts (Desart member) and Raft Artspace.
Image: Annika Romeyn Solace (detail) 2017 watercolour on paper 150cm x100cm.
Art Collector
1.
ERUB ARTS
Hayley Megan French takes a
closer look at the collaborative
approach at Erub Arts - an art
centre on the edge of the Great
Barrier Reef.
H
ome to approximately 400 Erubam Le (people from Erub), the centrality of
the ocean is embedded in all aspects of culture on the tropical volcanic island
of Erub, home to Erub Arts. Also known as Darnley Island, Erub is one of 22
inhabited islands in the Torres Strait, on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.
Erub Arts, founded on an intergenerational and intercultural approach, became
the first incorporated Indigenous art centre in the Torres Strait in 2008.
After its inception as a craft group called Ekkilau in the early 1990s, the
centre was reformed as Erub Arts in 2008 by long-term managers Diann Lui and Lyn-
nette Griffiths. The pair has supported artists to bring to life and make anew traditional
artmaking techniques. Artists work across printmaking, ceramics, jewellery, weaving
1. // Florence Gutchen, Squid and textile works.
2. // Nancy Kiwat, Spotted squid But the sheer scope and reach of their major collaborative project: Au Karem ira
PHOTO: LYNNETTE GRIFFITHS. COURTESY: THE Lamar Lu / Ghost Nets of the Ocean speaks not only to the urgency of the message of
ARTISTS AND ERUB ARTS, DARNLEY ISLAND.
marine conservation they are sharing, but also to the significance of their underlying
2.
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COLLECTING
ART CENTRE
3. 4.
collaborative ethos. Works are developed by and between the Erub artists: Ethel Charlie, 3. // Giant squid artwork.
Solomon Charlie, Rachel Emma Gela, Sarah-Dawn Gela, Florence Gutchen, Lavinia 4. // Jellyfish installation at the Asian
Ketchell, Lorenzo Ketchell, Nancy Kiwat, Nancy Naawi, Racy Oui-Pitt, Alma Sailor, Civilisations Museum in Singapore.
Ellarose Savage, Jimmy J. Thaiday, Jimmy K. Thaiday and non-Indigenous artists Mari- 5. // Marion Gaemers, Coral.
on Gaemers and Lynnette Griffiths. The project enacts our interconnectedness across the PHOTO: LYNNETTE GRIFFITHS. COURTESY: THE
ARTISTS AND ERUB ARTS, DARNLEY ISLAND.
oceans, working with museums, galleries and curators world-wide, and reaching new makers
through artist-led workshops.
Australian audiences can experience the latest iteration of Ghost Nets of the Ocean at Tarnanthi
Festival this October. Over the next year, Erub Arts will also exhibit Ghost Net works in group Art Collector magazine takes a clear editorial
shows: The Boomerang Effect: The Aboriginal Arts in Australia at the Muse dethnographie de position on ethically sourcing Indigenous art. We
Genve (19 May 2017 7 January 2018) and Aboriginal Art. Dreaming Territory, Fondation consistently advise our readers that high quality Indigenous
Pierre Arnaud, Switzerland (1 December 2017 20 May 2018); and create a major installation art can be purchased from many outlets across Australia
in the Maritime Museum in Sydney. This project continues to swell as Erub Arts will travel but the best way to be certain a work for their collections
to New Caledonia later this year to create work with artists from Lifou for the 2018 Asia has been ethically sourced, is if it has been purchased
Pacific Triennial. from one of the many Indigenous artist-owned,
community-based art centres across Australia, where one
THE EXHIBITION AU KAREM IRA LAMAR LU / GHOST NETS OF THE OCEAN WILL OPEN AT exists for the region, or from galleries that source their
THE ART GALLERY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA FOR THE TARNANTHI FESTIVAL, 13 OCTOBER artwork from these centres.
2017 UNTIL 28 JANUARY 2018.
LOS ANGELES:
OCULAR DOMINATION
I
n the past five years, Los Angeles has become
known for its Walmart-sized collections of
bombastic, technicoloured sculptures, that assert
ocular domination and sentimentality about the
America that wasnt, most recently demonstrated
in the opening of the Broad Museum, and the
Marciano Art Foundation. Eschewing this trend,
John Morace and Tom Kennedy are collectors
whose thoughtfulness around being a custodian of
both objects and ideas, exemplifies how collecting
is a practice in its own right. Starting at an early age,
Morace has maintained long friendships with artists
who prioritise rigour and ideas over sensation, and
draws pleasure from the sometimes complicated
responsibility of owning something. Speaking to the
conceptual impetus behind his acquisitions, which
include the discombobulating gestures of artists
such as Pierre Huyghe and Trisha Donnelly, he
ruminates, Its changed over the years, originally it
was about trying to claw my way to the surface, into
consciousness, into reality which many not even
exist anymore and looking for these people who
might know something about the world that I did
not know.... and then as I went on it became more
complicated.... you realize there is money in the field,
its inevitably a part of it.
Morace maintains that the responsibility extends
to the prescient purchases of artists such as David
Wojnarowicz. Morace knew Wojnarowicz personally
and acquired his work 35 years ago, when, partly due
to the content, no institution would touch this. The
artist passed away in 1992, and his career included
heartbreaking performances that centered around
AIDS activism, one of which was censored from an
exhibition at the Smithsonian as recently as 2010.
He will be the subject of a survey exhibition at the
Whitney Museum in 2018. Morace describes the
purchase occurring in a climate of intellectual panic
in America. As these moments of crisis continue to
occur in America, and indeed internationally, Morace
1. is acutely aware that the responsibility of preserving
PROBLEM, IS A PLACE THAT DOESNT LEND ITSELF 2. // Portia Zvavahera, I Can Feel It in My Eyes
[20], 2015-2017. Oil-based printing ink and oil
bar on canvas, framed 205.1 x 239.4 x 6.4cm.
TO SPONTANEOUS SOCIAL INTERACTIONS. COURTESY: THE ARTISTS.
3.
such important work shifts to the collector, until problem, is a place that doesnt lend itself to 3. // Amalia Pica, In Praise of Listening,
the museums stop being reluctant to show it. spontaneous social interactions. Subsequently, 2016. Black granite, marble, silicone
Whilst the contemporary artists that Morace the artistic community is more open to organising tubing Unique dimensions variable; black
granite, white marble: 10 x 10 x 21.
collects are nothing to be scoffed at, he stresses studio visits with one another. It cultivates a culture COURTESY THE ARTIST.
the importance of contextualising them with of intimacy and familiarity that might be absent
more established artists, early in their career. in the social petri-dishes of the Lower East Side, or
Their legitimacy is bolstered by their visibility even Fitzroy. Its revealing of Moraces intelligence,
in proximity to the canon, allowing the magical which is belied by genuine curiousity - artists
properties that he himself experiences to be are the great educators for me I feel its a great AS THESE MOMENTS OF CRISIS
shared with others. In the intimate context of his
home, a work by Frances Stark, now recognised
privilege to do a studio visit even with artists Im
not sure Im interested in. Recently he has been
CONTINUE TO OCCUR IN AMERICA,
as an important LA-based educator, writer, and
artist, sat adjacent to the well-recognised abstract
visiting his longtime friend Richard Hawkins and
discussing the thinking of Artaud, whom Hawkins
AND INDEED INTERNATIONALLY,
expressionist sculptor David Smith; an important
piece by Marcel Duchamp, gives credibility to the
based his most recent body of work around. Its a
communion of artist and patron that reveals all
MORACE IS ACUTELY AWARE
nearby work of young Vietnamese-born, Danish the chaotic tests and missteps that are absent from THAT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF
artist Danh Vo-. Works snake up the staircase, like the clarity of the gallery. Artaud, who renounced
an infographic tracking long relationships that language in favour of an all-encompassing theatre PRESERVING SUCH IMPORTANT
he has had with various LA-based artists, all of
which now receive international attention, such
made up of a spectrum of thought and gesture,
in order to understand the essence of human WORK SHIFTS TO THE COLLECTOR,
as Laura Owens, Christopher Williams, Mike
Kelley, and Piero Golia.
existence, could only approve.
UNTIL THE MUSEUMS STOP BEING
Los Angeles, a traffic town with a human RELUCTANT TO SHOW IT.
192 w w w.ar t c ol l e c t or.n e t .au
YOGYAKARTA: BUBBLING OVER
O
ften dubbed as Indonesias art mecca, Building and Sangkring Art Space are galleries that
the city of Yogjakarta (Jogja) in Central are active in housing exhibitions of local talents.
Java is renowned as the home for a huge The polyphonic flair of Jogjas art scene reaches
number of art centresranging from artist its peak from May until June when ArtJog, an
studios, galleries and independent artist annual contemporary art fair that has been
led spacesoften connected through a shared running since 2008, takes place. Unlike the
personal and professional network. Mantrijeron customary format of most art fairs, ArtJog takes
area in the southern part of Jogja is where many the mega exhibition format but supports artists
art centers are located. Among them is Cemeti directly, instead of giving space to commercial
Institute for Art and Society (formerly Cemeti Art galleries. This arrangement has been made possible
House), one of the longest-running alternative art by the broad spectrum of artists on the scene, from
galleries in Indonesia. Founded by artist couple the internationally lauded to those who are just
Mella Jaarsma and Nindityo Adipurnomo in starting out. The artwork pricing is determined by
1988, Cemeti is notable for its contribution to the artists together with Heri Pemad Art Manage-
the development of contemporary art discourse ment, the organizer of ArtJog. This system is not
in the region. Another influential gallery in Jogja strange in an Indonesian context, since Indonesian
is Ark Galerie, which represents acclaimed Asian galleries rarely have exclusive contracts with artists.
artists such as Jompet Kuswidananto, Melati ArtJog was established not so long after the art
Suryodarmo and Bandung-based artist collective market boom hit Indonesia in the second half the
Tromarama. Around the Nitiprayan area, SaRang 2000s, when paintings by successful artists such 2.
1.
3.
as Agus Suwage, Putu Sutawijaya and Nyo- since some of Ace Houses members also exhibit
man Masriadi, fetched hundreds of thousands their works at ArtJog. Instead, Ace Mart tries to
of dollars at Sothebys and Christies auction expand the art market platform for the smaller,
houses in Hong Kong. The market gained interconnected networks that run parallel to the
momentum so that at that time, even young vibration that ArtJog brings to the local scene.
artists could sell their first paintings for more With each year, there is more of an overlap be-
than USD 1,000. ArtJog is mainly backed up tween the buyers at ArtJog and Ace Mart, as collec-
by demand of domestic collectors, although tors catch wind of the future art stars of the region.
overseas demand, particularly from neighboring Tom Tandio, president of the board of Young
Asian countries such as China, Taiwan and Japan Collectors for Art Stage based in Jakarta, is one of
is also increasing. Despite the slowing growth the collectors who often joins the crowd at Ace Mart.
of the art market in the past three years, ArtJog When Ace Mart is happening, many artists, curators
continues to be one of the most anticipated and collectors from outside the city would spend
art fair in Asia. some time to hang out at the Ace Houses space. For
ArtJog creates the moment when local artist Tandio, hanging out is a key activity in his process
networks overlap with regional and international of collecting and he believes that collecting is not
collector bases, particularly from Southeast Asia. only a matter of achieving individual obsession, but
Since 2015, an artist-run initiative called Ace also an attempt to contribute and be part of the
House capitalizes on this gathering by hosting local art community. Compared to the art market
an annual event concurrent to ArtJog called Ace platforms in Jakarta, Jogja sets itself apart because of
Mart. Ace Mart is conceptualized as a mini-mar- how the market and critical discourses overlap. All
ket that sells emerging artists work where prices in all, the vibe of Jogja is welcoming to anyone who
range from USD 50 - 500 along with daily prod- believes that the economy of the art market should
ucts such as shampoo or instant noodles. Ace always be practiced beyond monetary transaction.
4.
Marts witty gesture runs not to counter ArtJog, Brigitta Isabella
S
hanghai is the city of bravura private collections Power Station of Art, China's only state museum
and spectacular private museums. These of contemporary art, staged a watershed exhibition,
are supported by a state that has enshrined Portrait of the Times. It was a manifesto for a 30-year
provision of opportunity for emerging period that had seen a group of Chinese figurative
creativity in its last two five year plans. artists enjoying international fame; but, with an
For Shanghai this policy had remarkable impact in emphasis on painting, it was the last exhibition of
2013, marking a change to the viability and visibility this type. A growing schism, between traditional
of art collecting. Inaugurated that year, 021 was a tastes, dominated by the possibilities of domestic
home grown international Art Fair, spotlighting ink paintings and crafts, and a new global outlook,
galleries with a progressive take on the growth of a was highlighted in the conceptual emphasis of
SHANGHAIS COLLECTORS market for Chinese contemporary art; the opening of
the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone facilitated fluid
subsequent exhibitions.
Chinas leading collectors have opened museums
SHARE A ZEAL TO EXPOSE THE import and export regimes for art and antiquities; the in Shanghai. Wang Wei and Liu Yiqians Long
first Christies auction in mainland China, indicated Museum has two locations, Budi Teks Yuz Museum
LOCAL PUBLIC TO NEW ART, the confidence of foreign institutions in exposing occupies a massive former aircraft hanger, Zheng
OFTEN JUXTAPOSING CHINESE the local market to international tastes, as well as
drawing aspiring collectors into the open; and a new
Haos HOW Museum opened this year, while Qiao
Zhibing, who offers glimpses of his tastes in his
ART WITH SPECTACULAR BLUE- Architecture Biennale flaunted a suite of audacious
new art museums, turning Shanghai into a world-
stylish karaoke club, is about to open a museum
in six disused oil tanks. Discussing the motivation
CHIP WORKS FROM ABROAD. class cultural destination. That year Shanghais for the project he comments, I started out simply
1.
1. // Long Museum 2014 2. // West Bund Art and Design 3. // Visitors at the opening of the
designed by Atelier Deshaus, Fair, bringing international galleries exhibition, Portrait of the Times,
wanting to decorate my clubs, but soon I wanted one of the spectacular new without a presence in mainland China at Shanghai Power Station of Art.
to increase the quality. private museums on the banks to Shanghai alongside an elite group PHOTO: ANDREW STOOKE.
Shanghais collectors share a zeal to expose the of the Huangpu. of galleries with a base in the city. COURTESY: ANDREW STOOKE.
local public to new art, often juxtaposing Chinese
art with spectacular blue-chip works from abroad.
Their integrity is admired, especially among younger
Shanghaies, who can be found patiently waiting in
snaking lines to see the installations at the Long
Museum, or to attend Photofairs Shanghai, where
gallerists remark, Its amazing how engaged people
are. Photography and media have particularly
gained traction, being still relatively affordable
and accessible for new collectors, as well as being
compelling for artists eschewing the older traditions
of Chinese art.
Shanghais commercial galleries are mainly
outposts of foreign interests or long established
with stable rosters of artists. Shanghai still has its
bargains and bargaining is still possible, prices can
be more fluid than in the transatlantic market. For
future investment it has been left to philanthropic
collectors and private foundations to foster dynamic
innovation and experiment and, since 2013, they
have. For collectors looking for potential, the artists
of the future will be found in the dark side galleries
and project rooms of the dazzling private museums.
Andrew Stooke 3.
CAMIE LYONS
Out on a Limb
Olsen Gallery, Sydney
1-19 November, 2017
2.
1.
GERWYN DAVIES
Heatwave
16 November - 9 December, 2017
Gould Galleries, Melbourne
3.
1. // Hamish Coleman,
Alibi, 2017. Oil on linen,
45.5 x 45.5cm.
2. // Hamish Coleman,
Good Witness, 2017.
Oil on linen, 23 x 23cm.
3. // Hamish Coleman,
Zip, 2017. Oil on linen,
71.5 x 71.5cm.
COURTESY THE ARTIST AND BARTLEY
2.
+ COMPANY, WELLINGTON.
HAMISH COLEMAN
Shot Silk
Bartley + Company, Wellington
1 November - 2 December, 2017
SUBSCRIBE TODAY 25
MUSEUM JAHM, is
% an initiative of Charles
and Leah Justin, who are
passionate collectors of
contemporary art. Through
their house museum they
If you are one of the first 15 to subscribe to Art Collector you will receive a hope to share both their
double pass valued at $50 to one of two 2018 exhibitions of your choice at collection and their passion
for art with the public.
Justin Art House Museum, 3 Lumley Court, Prahran, Victoria.
Each visit will include a tour
of the exhibition conducted
by Charles and Leah, after
which visitors will be invited
for morning or afternoon tea
to enjoy a conversation about
the exhibition, art collecting
or whatever is of interest.
Visitors will also have the
opportunity to observe how
collectors such as the Justins
live with their art.
SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER, 2018 Todays world is saturated in images, to the extent that images are replacing text as the dominant
A PHOTOGRAPHIC form of communication and expression. Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo dominate
peoples attention.
PORTFOLIO OF LIFE Adrian Boddy is an architect, an academic and a professional photographer. He has spent a lifetime
photographing the world around him, with a strong focus on architecture, landscape and people.
This exhibition is a retrospective of Boddy's photographic history, presented as a visual dictionary. 12
still photographs and 12 screens will each represent a term that describes our world. Each screen will
scroll a selection of images providing a rich and immersive experience. The exhibition will celebrate both
the natural world and the world created by humans.
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COLLECTING
OFF THE WALL
I
f Christopher Hanrahans latest exhibition
A Setting were a song, it would be John Cages
433. Because just like Cages famous com-
ABSENCE WAS NOT AN ARTISTIC
position, which demanded 4 minutes and 33
seconds of silence, Hanrahans 23 sculptures
similarly hinged on absence and omission.
OVERSIGHT, BUT RATHER THE LYNCHPIN
His sequence of wall-mounted works nonde-
scriptly dubbed Stand no. 1, Stand no. 2, Stand no. 3, THAT DROVE HEIGHTENED ENGAGEMENT.
etcetera furnished viewers with little in the way
of concrete meaning. Instead, each of his pieces pieces. They appeared like bits of armature that could
possessed an abstract linearity that flirted with fit together and form some larger structure if only
conceptual legibility, but never truly committed one knew the design. The works carefully provoked
to it. Here, ambiguity had been embraced. interest without ever truly satisfying it. Absence was
And while some might have fled the gallery in a not an artistic oversight, but rather the lynchpin
fit of frustration, muttering about artistic self-in- that drove heightened engagement.
dulgence, for those who stayed, the works slowly Yet while the works worked perfectly in the space,
unravelled. Hanging against stark white walls, Han- one couldnt help but wonder whether their effect
rahans dark sculptures forced a viewer to trace their would transfer elsewhere. That is, the strength of
outlines and take note of their nuances. Although their presence seemed to, at least in part, rest on the
almost all the pieces consisted of a single metal band, sterility of their immediate surroundings. Would
the emptiness of the room prompted an assessment they be lost outside the confines of the white cube?
and reassessment of their subtle permutations. The Perhaps. But it would also be a loss to the person
slightest shift in width, length or curvature screamed who failed to stop and lend a moment to their ob-
for attention in the silent space. Moreover, their servation. Rather than crying out for attention,
// Christopher Hanrahan, A Setting,
sequential arrangement alluded to some underlying Hanrahans sculptures whispered their invitation. 2017. Installation view, Sarah Cottier
schema that united the minimalist metal work. It And for those willing to answer the call, they offered Gallery, Sydney. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND
was almost as if many of the pieces were just that: subtle yet precious art. SARAH COTTIER GALLERY, SYDNEY
IMANTS TILLERS