When the rain stops
All at once
The frogs want to speak
24 February 2013
23 February 2013
20 February 2013
19 February 2013
17 February 2013
14 February 2013
13 February 2013
11 February 2013
05 February 2013
04 February 2013
02 February 2013
01 February 2013
24 January 2013
19 January 2013
18 January 2013
15 January 2013
14 January 2013
12 January 2013
11 January 2013
Asia Pacific Triennial 2013, Brisbane
The other day I made a trip to the Asia Pacific triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane. I had seen the last two and looked forward to this outing with friend Dieter Neumann. Almost immediately, I sensed that it would be an underwhelming experience. Alas, yes,... but with one big exception in the work of Lorraine Connelly-Northey whose renditions of Aboriginal women's handbags hang on the long large wall of the top floor. They are fashioned out of old metal materials found in dumps everywhere; barbed wire, thin wire mesh, plumbing pipes, old wired bed frames and other bits and pieces. I am rarely spellbound by 'Contemporary' Sculpture but I find these simply beautiful; transcendental even, in that way that great things always are. To see just this work by her is worth the 2 hour drive from Byron Bay. To be fair, I am not seduced by so much 'Contemporary' work. (What does it mean to call something Contemporary anyway?) To me, its pretentious and invented for the masses by Dealers and otherwise ambitious young museum curators who graduated from University in the past 20 or so years. (sigh.. I won't go on with my obvious contempt for this academic drivel.) However, these kinds of shows are geared to our most infantile need to be entertained. (They are, by the way, a big hit with children under the age of 17)
If we are not being entertained, we seem to be banged over the head with social or economic issues which, I feel, are often better treated in a documentary film format, or Photographic journalism then under the banner of 'Art'. (Why the Art tag anyway?) There is a persistent didactical condescension which seems to ooze out of so much work these days that it gives me a headache. I believe it must have something to do with the Post-Modernist education to which many of these graduates adhere.
But, if in Brisbane, do go see this show. There are things which will get your mind moving which I know is a good thing but, wouldn't it be nice to simply be moved by a work of art than entertained by it?
Go see the work of this very gifted artist Lorraine Connelly-Northey.
If we are not being entertained, we seem to be banged over the head with social or economic issues which, I feel, are often better treated in a documentary film format, or Photographic journalism then under the banner of 'Art'. (Why the Art tag anyway?) There is a persistent didactical condescension which seems to ooze out of so much work these days that it gives me a headache. I believe it must have something to do with the Post-Modernist education to which many of these graduates adhere.
But, if in Brisbane, do go see this show. There are things which will get your mind moving which I know is a good thing but, wouldn't it be nice to simply be moved by a work of art than entertained by it?
Go see the work of this very gifted artist Lorraine Connelly-Northey.
10 January 2013
08 January 2013
07 January 2013
06 January 2013
04 January 2013
02 January 2013
01 January 2013
John Bokor
In the November 2012 issue of The Australian Art Review I discovered the work of John Bokor whose paintings surprised and pleased me. I am especially moved by the subtly of the image below (large golden field with the house and sea in the distance). He lives and works in Bulli on the central coast of New South Wales.
28 December 2012
27 December 2012
Fake or Fortune
OK,,, I know its a set up, its television after all, and yet nonetheless, I find myself obsessed with the BBC program Fake or Fortune which I believe is in its second season. A seasoned BBC journalist Fiona Bruce, art dealer Philip Mould and Bendor Grosvenor make up this trio of cultured sleuths. To sum it up, each episode is devoted to the authentication of a particular painting which involves its provenance, its chemical makeup, and ultimately its aesthetic integrity. Its really a forensic adventure in Painting, a Reality show for Art lovers of which I gather there are still many in the world. (Thankfully)
I have seen only three thus far, but all were very engrossing despite all the bells and whistles of what is essentially an entertaining television show.
They have proved thus far: a Degas, a Turner, and a Van Dyck. I am completely addicted.
Enjoy!
25 December 2012
23 December 2012
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