.........BLOG..........................WEBSITE..........................REVIEWS.......

Sunday 29 July 2012

Siân Burman exhibition - Light, Life

My partner, Siân Burman, will be launching an exhibition of her recent work next Saturday (4th August, 2012) at 6.00pm at Blarney Books & Art, Port Fairy.  Helen and Des from Customs House Gallery are running the exhibition in conjunction with Jo and Dean from Blarney Books & Art, and Jo Grant (Regional Arts Development Officer) will be opening it. 

Light, Life will feature 28 works and will run for 4 weeks, until 2nd September (Thursday - Sundays, 11:00 - 4:00).  Mostly oil on canvas, but there are a couple of acrylics and a couple of mixed medium pieces thrown in for good measure.

This is the painting used for the invitation:
 
Skyscape 6: On the Road (oil on canvas, 2011)

Wednesday 18 July 2012

A bit more cultcha

Another reason I went to Melbourne recently (see previous post) was to catch the Fred Williams: Infinite Horizons exhibition at the Ian Potter Centre of the National Gallery of Victoria.  This retrospective provided a tremendous opportunity to see somewhere in excess of one hundred works - I didn't count, but there was a lot - and to achieve a much greater sense of what Williams was trying to depict in his work.  

Burnt landscape, Fred Williams, 1968, oil on canvas

I love that borderland where the figurative slips into the abstract, which is precisely where he takes us through his exploration of the Australian landscape.

 Lightning storm, Waratah Bay, Fred Williams, 1971-72, oil on canvas

In fiction, too, I'm fascinated by that borderland: where the real becomes the surreal, if not the magical; where the ordinary becomes the extraordinary; where the prosaic becomes the lyrical.

Wild Dog Creek, Fred Williams, 1977, oil on canvas

You can see more Fred Williams at NGA.

Tuesday 10 July 2012

A bit of cultcha

Just got back from a few days in Melbourne.  It was time to catch up with a couple of exhibitions before they closed, enjoy good food, get tickets to a performance of something or other.  A bit of culture to drive away the winter blues.

Didn't do too well with the performance.  Couldn't find anything particularly inspirational at the ballet, theatre, concert hall or cinema.  However, even though I'm no fan of musicals, did catch a performance of Annie on Friday night.  Thought at first it would be an expensive snooze, but have to say I got into the spirit of it after the intermission, and enjoyed the accompanying sense of theatre (and pantomime).  Certainly worth it, and always good to hear Hard Knock Life.
Ben Quilty - Captain S after Afghanistan

Saturday was all about a trip up the Yarra valley to TarraWarra Museum of Art where paintings from the 2012 Archibald Prize were on display.  While the terms of the prize invites artists to submit 'portraits painted from life of men or women "distinguished in Arts Letters Science or Politics"', I'm always surprised how liberally the judges interpret that and how pretentious/wanky some of the artist's statements are.  Nonetheless, most of the art submitted is superb and well worth travelling to see each year. 

 Monika Behrens - The artist's practice

One of my favourite pieces was the life painting by Ben Quilty (who won the 2011 prize) - Captain S after Afghanistan - although, in terms of meeting the aims of the prize, I'd have probably chosen Monika Behrens' The artist's practice or Jenny Sages' After Jack. I particularly liked the use of light and shadows in Behrens' piece, and the theatre of the pose.

Jenny Sages - After Jack

The prize was won this year by Tim Storrier for The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch).

 Tim Storrier - The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch).

Excellent  eats were to be found at:



Sunday 1 July 2012

I'd love to hear from you


I'd love to hear from you.  Really, I would.
Although my current website hasn't been up for 2 years, it's time to replace it.
Unfortunate, that, because it took me the best part of a year to design the thing, learn to use Flash and build it.
However, it seems more and more people are accessing websites via their mobiles, and quite a few mobiles don't support Flash, so not only are all those buttons with barking dogs, disappearing birds and the like redundant, but many people can't even get to the first page.  Hurumph!
It's time to redesign another, then.  But I'd appreciate your feedback.
Perhaps you'd let me know what works for you.  Or what doesn't work for you.  What elements should be included and what left out?  It's an Author website, so what do you expect to find that isn't there at the moment?
Drop me a line via my website email (above), or post a comment below.
Please do.
I'd love to hear from you.