Lucreccia QUINTANILLA - “All aboard the Echo Chamber”

This is the first solo exhibition after some years for Lucreccia Quintanilla at the Techno Park Studios in Williamstown. An interesting show at an equalling interesting location.

It’s a glorious sunny day and from the glass windows, a flicker of green cellophane catches my eye.  As l enter the ground level building, my first impression is of a seascape or rainforest. It maybe the colour green that is distracting or tricking me. I then hear soft music playing from a concealed location of what seems like a mixed limbo soundtrack.

I’m at first greeted by various sized pictures of collaged green onto black pieces of paper. As the artist tells me, part of the images are photocopied from an original three pages of a found book and altered. She has worked with limited resources and space and this exhibition is the outcome.

I get distracted again by the music and follow it and find it is behind a concealed wall. A broom stick with green cellophane blocks the entrance. I’m greeted by a household limbo pole. I instantly want to try my luck but the space is difficult to enter. The ceiling has sporadically spaced cellophane along with the second gallery.

Have l missed the party. Do l listen longingly to the music wondering if l got my dates mixed up? l did get the impression it was an installation left to give the viewer a feeling of a once occupied event. It left me curious. 

I’m hoping to have an interview with the artist shortly.

Tune in.

http://www.technoparkstudios.com/

James VOLLER - “Constructing Site”

This is my first visit to Beam Contemporary in Guilford Lane where James Voller is exhibiting photographs taken in parts of Europe such as Germany, Czech Republic and Austria.

I’m familiar with his works taken in New Zealand. There are two photographs in this exhibition of this work. He finds a location of disuse such as an old construction site or tip. Here his work becomes site specific and he applies a black and white print of houses onto an old concrete blocks. He then takes a photo of this. First impressions make you look closer at the photograph and its location. An industrial bland landscape becomes a living entity, with such a simple technique of mixing paste ups with photography.

However, his photographs of Europe have evolved while maintaining his distinctive technique. Three photographs in particular convey this but he has added the element of perspective. A great example of this is a photograph of a drain in perspective with a suburban seaside landscape with houses above. The drain has Voller’s characteristic paste up of an exaggerated picture of what looks like bricks from a ruin. That same curiosity captures your interest as you try and piece the perspective and location.

The remaining photographs have a different element. These works could be missed for interestingly composed pictures. Closer inspection makes you just as curious. The locations are in construction as the title of the show suggests. The beauty of textures, unfinished structure and location make these photographs work. I think these images would improve in strength if printed on a larger scale.

These photographs made me question unused and insignificant space and it’s relevance to historical ruins. Europe has a long history of western development where  Australia has a young colonial past. Is this a future glimpse of what Australian historical ruins may look like? Will industrial wastelands or disused containers lining the Footscray docklands become tourist sites?

An exhibition worth viewing and an artist worth following.

http://www.jamesvoller.co.nz

http://www.beamcontemporary.com.au

Patricia TODARELLO - "Out of Line"

Walking up the stairs to a natural light filled foyer past the Trocadero Art Space gallery you come to an innovative studio ironically numbered one. Here occupied by an innovative artist Patricia Todarello. As an artist struggling for recognition and dialogue this artist took matter into her own hands. Self funded, she rented a studio and transformed it into a gallery to exhibit her work every month over a 12 month period. Her exhibition openings coinciding with the Trocadero Art space.

The studio is situated on a corner of old office spaces. The once used windows are now transformed into light boxes of artworks. Both sides of the windows are framed by materials like rippled contact and brown paper in symmetrical order. Your instant reaction is to touch and feel the tangible material only to be greeted by cold glass. Each panel is framed with a silver paint which insetuates the works.

As you enter the studio, you are faced with what seems to be a two-toned gloss and matte white wall. As you walk closer to the work, the detail becomes more apparent. The wall is an eccentric architectures delight, clean white matte line reflecting the exaggerated corner of the room. Within these lines stands a white box dripping with paint almost profusely sweating. Like pre determine graffiti which combines well with the clean lines and minimalist entities.

Opposite this wall is a corner painted with muted grey blocks of colour and a white square. Again, the lines are sharp and exaggerated on a large wall. The grey breaks up the intruding white and gives you the feeling of the height and length of both pieces.

Both works question the space you are looking at and somehow makes this small studio into a large gallery challenging your perception of space and corners.

Highly recommend.