Chelsea HOPPER - "Dead Tired"

-->

"Beached"

"Pooped"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of artist and Bruce Gallery

The latest exhibition at BruceGallery by artist Chelsea Hopper gives us insight into the practice of sunbathing by seniors. What comes to mind is contemporary version of The Sunbaker by Max Dupain.

Random individuals are photographed on various beaches throughout Perth tanning on towels oblivious to their surroundings. Enlarged postcards of retirement in its glorious form. Hopper has used the out-dated mode of film in an SLR camera. She had the images printed and then Hooper enlarged them herself.

One image titled "Pooped" is of a man who is lying facedown under a tree on a beach, fully clothed taking a rest from the world. He looks to be a tourist that is lost and stranded and is exhausted falls onto the sand. Another image titled "Beached" depicts a woman with a floral swimsuit, facedown on a towel with her belongings for the day beside her. It could be her only solace between looking after grandchildren and cooking for the husband.

Hopper has creatively depicted this genre of people, not the grey nomads but the over sun-kissed retirees, busking in all their glory.

Until the 17^th of November, 2012

http://www.bruce.org.au/
http://www.chelseahopper.com/

Daniel AGDAG - "Sets for a Film l’ll never make"

--> 

                                                         Empire Building
                                                                                           Image courtesy of artist and Off the Kerb Gallery

                                                       The Wait
                                                       Image Courtesy of artist and Off the Kerb Gallery

This latest exhibition at Off the Kerb Gallery is the first solo show for artist Daniel Agdag.

The title of the show adeptly describes the thread of each of these five intricately made works. As you walk into the gallery, you could mistakenly have entered a curiosity shop blended with the fantasia of writer Ronald Dahl and the surrealism of director Tim Burton.

At first greeted by the most robust and largest of the works is Amalgamated, a setting of an historical building site with warped nuances only viewed after further investigation. It looks to be a scene from a New York street or busy metropolis. All complete with a W class tram morphed with American cable cars. Created with cardboard that has been manipulated, rolled, flatten, cut and moulded. The attention to detail is spectacular and to think such a heavy laded piece could be light in weight boggles the mind. The architecture of the work is brilliantly composed and obviously researched.

The other works stand in glass domes presented on plinths pertaining to museum kept artefacts of a distant era.  The Wait is the most delicate of the pieces, which resembles an old hot air balloon warped slightly with the experimental makings of a machine. The glass dome protects this prototype with its transparent and delicate balloon as though it will deflate at any given moment if an insect would land on its surface.

These small sets expose the viewer to the artists imagined industrial estate. Far from the modern unsavoury factories and large corrugated sheds. A small wonderland of obscurities.

Until 9^th of November

http://www.offthekerb.com.au/ 

Craig COLE – "Concrete Hermits"

                                          Concrete Hermits
                                                        Craig Cole
                                                        Courtesy of the artist 

This latest solo exhibition by artist Craig Cole is a set of polished concrete pieces that have been illustrated with oil paint. Each piece has a scene of an infamous character of Footscray set among the familiar urban landscape. The detail is impressive with each block of concrete standing at 10 x 30 cms. The pieces are well curated, framed on custom made shelves positioned at eye level giving each room to breathe.

Cole has obviously made himself familiar with these characters over a period of time. Each are oblivious to his attention and continue with their daily lives which may involve collecting trollies, asking for a cigarette to a passer-by or waiting for a bus. These are the people who are unaccounted for that is, outside mainstream society. They exist by other means of distribution and are more familiar to their community than say you or me.

Cole has executed their existence skilfully. A photographic snapshot of people on the peripheral of society. Using their own ways of survival instinctive of the human spirit. They may limp, wear clothes that are irregular, scream when it’s not appropriate or simply feed pigeons for pleasure when they can’t afford food for themselves. The raw and complicated painted on polished cold concrete gives warmth and a sense of direction of each piece.

On until the 10^th of June.

http://c3artspace.blogspot.com.au/

http://craigcole.blogspot.com.au/

Benjamin ARMSTRONG – ‘Conjurers’

Benjamin Armstrong’s works are dramatically imposing in the gallery of Tolarno Galleries.

Five wooden structures depicting various root vegetables standing at the height of over two meters glare down at you little ignorant and pompous human. The day of the genetically modified vegetable has arrived. Carrots and parsnips are now viewed as edifices reaching up from the soil for power and strength creating a vegetable kingdom.

The sculptures look to made of constructed plywood and then carved into a shape of a vegetable. The roots have been burnt giving a darker colour in comparison to the lighter wood. The roots resemble long tentacles or limbs to move with. These sculptures are accompanied by three large framed watercolour images.

The exhibition seemed to be telling an untold story of a mythical battle possibly using the vegetable as a metaphor. The watercolors depict scenes of wild oceans and light bursting through layers of organic matter. It seemed to be images reflecting a conflict or an environmental event.

On until the 28^th of May.

http://www.tolarnogalleries.com/

Toby POLA – ‘life sux then you die’

This first solo show by artist Toby Pola has taken a page of Australian skate culture as inspiration for these set of sculptures. Life size objects that are made out of balsa wood and then painted in gouache. The raw and rogue artist picked up were a young Ricky Swallow left off. This artist is in his own element, which is refreshing and original. Skate clothes such as t-shirts, hoddies and caps in dispersed between plaster casts (balsa wood made) that are reflective of the 1980’s.

Life Be In It was a carved piece made into a hanging t-shirt with the painted iconic inflated Norm sitting in a chair watching television. No more needs to be said. There was also Suffer cunt which was a plaster cast with graffiti written over it with various familiar texts. The feelings of freedom, stupidity and youth injected with humor.

Overall, this exhibition didn’t need explanation as the objects themselves were clear in its context. The pieces were reflective of a genre and had a subtle reminiscence.

Exhibition has ended but look out for future work. 

www.westspace.org.au

Claire LAMBE – "LazyBoy"

                                          Claire Lambe, LazyBoy 2012. Photos: Phebe Schmidt
                                                        Courtesy Sarah Scout, Melbourne

This exhibition explores the manifestations of fornication. I felt l was sifting through the remains of scattered innuendo and constructed unfinished works that leaves you with an open interpretation of things to come (no pun intended).

Candy Barr is a set of glass mirrored squares constructed in a manner of steps ripe for a saucy disco move. The mirror ball has been replaced with a bolder and brighter substitute. The reflection of different angles and warped fantasies reflect back at you.

How can such simple constructions be construed into a sexual connotation?

Ladies’ Evening is a pair of gold lycra jeans which are half stuffed. The work lies on the floor with the empty legs as discarded fabric. The work lies exhausted and in need of some rest. A propped plastic sheet leans on an opposing wall held by brackets. The plastic sheet has a whole cut through in the shape of a circle where any number of objects could be inserted.

The artist statement written by Nat Thomas was a refreshing read. The statement reflected on writing and modes of artist publicity, our ideas of galleries while incorporating the aspects of the exhibition.  A brazen statement complimenting an equally fabulously indecent, suggestive and uncouth exhibition. Franco Cozzo could learn a lot from Lambe’s work.

Until 26APR

http://www.sarahscoutpresents.com/

http://www.clairelambe.com/

Andrew MCQUALTER – “A Partial Index”

"A Partial Index"
Image by Craig Burgess

Courtesy of Daine Singer Gallery

"A Partial Index" Detail
Image by Craig Burgess

Courtesy of Daine Singer Gallery

Space and design are some of the themes that artist MCQUALTER is exploring in this exhibition at Daine Singer.

Directly painted on the walls are figures in various active positions. Some are bent over with masking tape contemplating an area; other figures are squatting, standing and surveying the space. What draws these figures together is the masking tape that is painted between the figures. To call it a mural is not accurate although it covers the walls from ceiling to floor. The piece is cleverly done utilising the actual space of the gallery, while questioning the meaning and concept of space.

It’s not entirely clear what these figures are designing or even the project or event that they are musing.

I believe the act of contemplation is the subject the artist is exploring and how this relates to an initial idea of space and how this could transform and end with an unanticipated result. Which is the beauty of thought and the way we have to readjust our preconceived project or purpose to suit an environment.

I also liked the fact that the figures that are painted are transparent and could be washed over easily. You got the feeling that like the project or designed space; this piece could be removed easily and in a state of transit, reflecting again the theme of space.

27JAN – 3MAR

http://www.dainesinger.com/ 

Angela DE LA CRUZ – “Transfer”

ANGELA DE LA CRUZ

Compressed (Orange), 2011

Oil on aluminium

130 x 80 x 60 cm

Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery

Crumpled, depleted, mangled and deflated metal never looked so alive!

The new exhibition by Spanish born artist DE LA CRUZ is a triumph of vivid orange and ripe red paint. As l enter the gallery my eyes are instantly drawn to the two collapsed rectangle metal forms on the wall. The first titled Compressed (Orange) and the other titled Compressed (Red). The shape reminds me of a once used industrial air conditioning shaft. One hangs at it’s own accord painted a bright orange and the other painted a red. The tension of the metal where it has been bent and rippled is painted and seems to have a movement frozen in time. The colours make you want to caress an imagined warm surface, although logically it is cold. It looks as though these discarded forms once transferred either air or liquid from one end to another. These pieces are now out of order and are dissected as a form of appreciation.

I enjoyed the pieces “Extension 3(Red/Orange)” that l initially missed at the entrance. I small canvas freshly painted in red and orange was juxtaposed to a faded canvas that could have been a flag or a once triumphant symbol. It could have been the new complemented by the old. I mean this by comparing an entity formed by people, which is successful. The new generation continue to make it a success by the transfer of knowledge. I am thinking laterally in my own interpretations of these works.

The other piece l enjoyed named “Deflated 21 (Red)” was the canvas that had been stretched, primed and painted. It looked like it had been taken off its stretcher and hung lifeless on the wall by a nail. It hung like a dishevelled coat on a stand. It made me think that without the strength of the frame, the painted canvas looked limp and unresponsive. To put it in perspective, it was a painted canvas and not a living thing. I have been deceived and that l believe, is the exploration of the exhibition.

Each piece needed to be shown together as this strengthened the theme. In my opinion, the artist was dissecting objects in relation to its usefulness. The colours used seemed to emphasise the artistic composition. The reoccurring theme of transfer could be seen though out the show. For me as a viewer, it made me re evaluate my notions of an objects use.

4FEB – 17MAR

www.annaschwartzgallery.com