LYNDELL BROWN | CHARLES GREEN FINALISTS IN THE MORAN

Lyndell Brown & Charles Green, Portrait of Wukun Wanambi, 2021, oil on linen, 100 x 100cm

Congratulations to LYNDELL BROWN and CHARLES GREEN who are finalists in the 2021 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize with their portrait of Yirrkala elder and artist Wukun Wanambi.

’This portrait is of one of the most remarkable men we have ever met. In mid-2019 we travelled to Buku-Larrnggay Mulka, the Yolngu art centre at Yirrkala at the top of Australia’s Top End. Yirrkala is a small community, no more than a village, which serves as a hub for some 25 clan outstations of extended families or clans. As a living tradition, Yolngu culture has not turned its back on the incursions of the outside world but engaged with them. This is especially evident in Buku-Larrnggay Mulka, which is the vibrant art centre there, the nerve centre of the remarkable Yolngu campaign to impress their worldview upon the artworld in Australia and internationally. Taking its name from its location looking eastwards out over the ocean, Buku-Larrnggay means the feeling of the first rays of the sun on your face. Mulka means a sacred public ceremony that holds and protects knowledge. Our host—we were part of a 20-person conference of artists and academics that Charles had helped organise — was the well-travelled, charismatic Yolngu senior Elder and immensely distinguished artist Wukun Wanambi. An enthusiastic participant in our discussions throughout the week we spent there, he was keen to show us Yirrkala and introduce us to other Yolngu artists; he made us feel honoured guests despite his heavy cultural obligations and his own frail health. The portrait is a tribute to a remarkable man who impressed himself deeply upon us in our conversations with him and to whom we felt deeply grateful. While we were there we took a large number of photographs and made sketches from memory, including of Wukun. Afterward we sifted through all our memories and gradually abstracted from them the idea for this painting. When we realised the Moran Portrait Prize was to be held, it seemed to all instantly fit together, that we should show this image of a great Australian.’

– Lyndell Brown and Charles Green

The winner announced on 30 November. For more information, visit here >

JOHN YOUNG PANEL DISCUSSION

JOHN YOUNG will be speaking as part of a panel discussion on Thursday 21 October at 6pm (Melbourne time) on ‘Connecting hospitality and community with contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds’.

Moderated by Andrew Deane (Associate Director, Development and Partnerships, Asia Society Australia), the conversation will also include Professor Nikos Papastergiadis (Director of the Research Unit in Public Cultures and Professor in the School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne), and Nasim Nasr (Iranian-born visual artist whose practice has engaged themes of intercultural dialogue between past and present, East and West).

John Young, The Field, 2018, HD video with color and sound: 8 min 5 sec

CYRUS TANG IN CONVERSATION WITH ART COLLECTOR

Watch CYRUS TANG in conversation with Charlotte Middleton at Art Collector speak about ‘Power Cables’, one of Tang’s works from her upcoming exhibition 'Remember me when the sun goes down' at ARC ONE Gallery.

In the video interview, Tang discusses the fleeting and ephemeral qualities in her work, and the importance of our collective experience for remembering history.

Cyrus Tang, ‘Power Cables’, 2020. Archival pigment print, edition of 5 + 2 A/P, 67.5 x 67.5cm and 90 x 90cm.

JACKY REDGATE INCLUDED IN OVER JOURNAL

Jacky Redgate, Untitled (Vase Shape #1–#5), 1989, wood, ceramic, acrylic. Installation view, Jacky Redgate: Life of the System: 1980 – 2005, 2005.

JACKY REDGATE’s work, Untitled – Vast Shape #1-5 (1989) has been written about in Over Journal, Issue 2. In this issue, Yvette Hamilton reflects on the paradoxical expansion of photography in her essay Beyond Ocular Vision.

“Whilst created before the widespread prevalence of the idea of non-human photography, Australian artist Jacky Redgate’s 1989 series, Untitled, Vase Shape draws attention to the complex relationship between representation and human vision within photography. Through mimicking the shape of a photographic infinity screen and placing a vase shaped sculpture within it, both of which are painted a velvety matte black, Redgate’s work speaks of photographic vision and its failure. Her actions make the objects barely visible and almost impossible to photograph, a decision that makes the work very much dependent on the human presence of the viewer in the exhibition space.”

For more information and to order a copy, see here >

CHARLES GREEN'S ESSAY IN VENICE BIENNALE PUBLICATION

Robert Owen, Split Gate, 1977, installation view from the 1978 Venice Biennale, ‘From Nature to Art, From Art to Nature’, marble, lead, aluminium, steel, Perspex, copper, electrical flex and fluorescent paint, 102 x 75 x 85cm.

CHARLES GREEN has written a brilliant essay in Kerry Gardner’s recently published book, Australia at the Venice Biennale: A Century of Contemporary Art. In his essay, Green writes on the return of three artists in 1978, two decades after Australia had withdrawn.

“By the time that Australia returned to Venice in 1978, Australian art had long become completely contemporaneous with American and European art and would remain so, with art just as innovative and significant as anywhere else. When Australia reappeared that year, it was represented by three immensely cosmopolitan, mid-career, white, male artists who refused to participate in the older tradition of Australian landscape painting of 1958. The idiosyncratic worldliness of each artist was quite a balancing act. Out of minimalism’s and conceptualism’s simple, serial structures, Ken Unsworth created an uncanny, theatrical mise-en-scene of absent bodies and dangerous suspension; ROBERT OWEN turned almost-identical geometric abstractions into luminous, metaphysical propositions; and JOHN DAVIS converted a bricolage of twigs from the bush near Mildura into five scattered, tower-like assemblages.”

Read an extract from Green’s essay here >

‘Australia at the Venice Biennale: A Century of Contemporary Art’ by Kerry Gardner is published by The Miegunyah Press.

NIKE SAVVAS INTERVIEWED IN ARTIST PROFILE MAGAZINE

Nike Savvas, Chroma Haze, 2020, painted steel installation, dimensions variable, photo Silversalt Photography

In the latest issue of Artist Profile (Issue 56), NIKE SAVVAS and GUAN WEI spoke with Michael Young to understand the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on artists who practice between studios in Australia and overseas.

“Even though living in Sydney with her husband, Savvas commutes regularly between Sydney and a studio in London, and has done so for many years. “I find the creative mix in London exciting and my work feeds on this. I react to the energy of others, and the energy of engagement and activity that opens my work to invention. Living in London has become part of my process. I spend between three to four months a year, there,” she said. Last year she headed to London for a working visit that would last just several weeks, or so she thought. Ten months later she was still there, trapped in a country where the borders had slammed shut and where the Covid death rate was escalating exponentially, and with a health service was on the verge of imploding.”

Young's essay is now freely available online here >

JANET LAURENCE ARTIST TALK WITH CHANG WAN-CHEN

JANET LAURENCE was in conversation with Chang Wan-Chen in an online event on Friday 24 September, as part of Humanities within Natural History, Anthropocene Art Talks.

As part of this talk, Laurence and Chang Wan-chen, the curator of Laurence’s solo exhibition Entangled Garden for Plant Memory at the Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art in Taiwan (2020), explored the sensitive landscape of nature through both scientific and artistic engagements.

More information >

Chang Wan-chen & Janet Laurence at the opening of Entangled Garden for Plant Memory at the Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art in Taiwan, 2020.

MURRAY FREDERICKS & ROBERT OWEN IN BELLE MAGAZINE SHOOT

Artworks: Murray Fredericks, Salt 154, 2009, pigment print on cotton rag, 120 x 150cm, edition of 7; Robert Owen, Model for Silence #4, 2019, painted steel, 68.5 x 60 x 48.5 cm, edition of 3

MURRAY FREDERICKS & ROBERT OWEN have works featured in this magnificent shoot in the October issue of Belle Magazine.

Architecture & interiors of this Toorak residence were designed by ADDARC, with art curation & styling by Swee Design, and photography by @shannonmcgrath7.

Pick up the latest edition of Belle Magazine to see more.

JULIE RRAP SELECTED FOR THE 2022 ADELAIDE BIENNIAL OF AUSTRALIAN ART

We are delighted to announce that JULIE RRAP has been invited to participate in the 2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Free/State, curated by Sebastian Goldspink.

Free/State assembles a group of artists who are fearless; the provocateurs, vanguards and outsiders – challenging histories and art forms, and in the process, offering reflections on an era of multi-faceted global upheaval. The exhibition explores ideas of transcending states, from the spiritual and artistic to the psychological, and embraces notions of freedom in expression, creation and collaboration.

As curator Sebastian Goldspink explains, ‘Each of these artists is emblematic of the many divergent facets of contemporary Australia art. Diversity is embraced and celebrated in ‘Free/State’ and the exhibition is reflective of a nation still in the throes of grappling with its past and defining its future.’

Presented throughout the AGSA, the 2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Free/State will be presented from 4 March to 5 June 2022 as part of the 2022 Adelaide Festival.

More information >

Julie Rrap, photographed by Jacqui Manning

PAT BRASSINGTON WORK SUBJECT OF MUMA QUEER READINGS

PAT BRASSINGTON’s work has been written on as part of Queer Readings of the Monash University Collection. For this project, a group of writers and artists have been invited to contextualise a selection of works of art through the lenses of their experience and knowledge.

Commissioned writer Anne Marsh says of Pat Brassinton’s work:

‘Formally, the work critiques the modernist grid by monumentalising the everyday and punctuating it with fetishist and abject references made-up in the viewer’s mind as they contemplate the soft material abstractions made out of discarded underwear. In this way Brassington gives the work its own potential intelligence. It is as if the viewer needs to have a visual conversation with the image in order to decode it.’

Anne Marsh is a Professional Research Fellow in the Victorian College of the Arts at the University of Melbourne.

Read the full text here >

Pat Brassington, Rising Damp, 1995, gelatin silver prints, 35 parts, each 59 x 44 cm

PAT BRASSINGTON IN THE BALLARAT FOTO BIENNALE

PAT BRASSINGTON is featured in the 2021 Ballarat International Foto Biennale. The biennale’s core outdoor program invigorates the city of Ballarat by transforming busy streets, laneways, shopfronts and landmark buildings into exhibition spaces with public art.

Say it with Flowers is a site-responsive exhibition at Ballarat General Cemetery, curated by Wotjobaluk curator Kat Clarke. Responding to memory, mortality, longing and community, the exhibition is a meditation on the significance of flowers and land within the framework of nostalgia and memory.

Flowers represent a potent symbol of life and death, reminding one of both celebration and decay. While acknowledging the sensitive nature of the site, the exhibition aims to challenge the idea of the cemetery as a dormant space and demystify it as one for reflection and contemplation on the transience and impermanence of life.

BIFB continues until 24 October.

More information >

Pat Brassington’s Blush (2014) & Quiescent (2014) on display at the Ballarat General Cemetery in the exhibition Say it with Flowers, 2021.

JOHN YOUNG IN ARTIST PROFILE MAGAZINE

JOHN YOUNG is profiled in the latest edition of Artist Profile magazine.

H.R. Hyatt-Johnston’s essay on John Young examines the international scope of the artist’s life and work, as well as attending closely to local connections and influences. Accompanied by Bri Hammond’s pensive portraits, Hyatt-Johnston traces Young’s trajectory from a childhood in Hong Kong to studies at the University of Sydney, living in London and Paris under the Power Scholarship for the Cité International des Arts, to returning to Australia, founding what is now 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art with Melissa Chiu, and finally to creating new work for Bunjil Place in 2021.

Read the essay by subscribing online, or have it delivered to your home as part of subscription packages.

John Young photographed by Bri Hammond

VIDEO TOUR OF JOHN YOUNG'S EXHIBITION 'DIASPORA,PSYCHE'

Bunjil Place Gallery may be temporarily closed, but they’ve worked hard to find ways for you to experience JOHN YOUNG’s survey exhibition 'Diaspora, Psyche', from the comfort of your own home.

Take some time to enjoy this short video with John Young as he shares some of the key ideas that have shaped his thought-provoking and timely exhibition.

You can also take a virtual tour of the exhibition here >

HONEY LONG & PRUE STENT AT FOTOGRAFISKA STOCKHOLM

HONEY LONG & PRUE STENT have work in Fotografiska Museum Stockholm’s ground-breaking new exhibition centred on the naked body in contemporary photography.

NUDE features the work of 30 female artists from 20 different countries in a collection of images that portray the body through beautiful, disruptive, and experimental lenses, seeking to subvert the historically predominant male gaze and celebrate the human form.

The exhibition continues until 28 November.

More information >

Honey Long & Prue Stent, Wind Form, 2014, archival pigment print, 106 x 159cm

JANET LAURENCE IN BIOCENOSIS21, AT THE IUCN WORLD CONSERVATION CONGRESS

JANET LAURENCE is included in the important exhibition Biocenosis21 with her film Requiem at the IUCN World Conservation Congress. The film uses original footage from areas affected by the bushfire crisis in Australia, 2020, with a music score by William Barton. Through this film, Janet brings to our attention the stark realities of Australia's threatened bushland. 

Curated by Alice Audouin, Bioceniosis21 is an exhibition of contemporary art and brings together fourteen french and international artists who are the most inspired and committed to biodiversity. Happening from 4 – 11 September, the exhibition is organised by Art of Change 21.

More information >

Janet Laurence, Requiem, film still, exhibited as part of Biocenosis21, at the IUCN World Conservation Congress

PAT BRASSINGTON & JACKY REDGATE IN BOWNESS ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION

PAT BRASSINGTON & JACKY REDGATE are included in the MGA Bowness Photography Prize Anniversary exhibition at Wangaratta Art Gallery, from 21 August – 14 November, 2021.

Curated by MGA Director Anouska Phizacklea, the exhibition celebrates the past winning artists (2006–20) with a selection of works drawn from the MGA Collection and showcases contemporary photography in Australia.

JACKY REDGATE won the Bowness Prize in 2011 with her work Light throw (mirrors) #4, 2011; and PAT BRASSINGTON in 2013 with her work Shadow boxer, 2013.

More information >

Jacky Redgate, Light throw (mirrors) #4, 2011, from the series Light throw (mirrors), 2009–2011, chromogenic print, 126 x 158 cm

Pat Brassington, Shadow boxer, 2013, from the series Quill, pigment ink-jet print, 72 x 50 cm

CONGRATULATIONS GUAN WEI

Congratulations to GUAN WEI who has just been awarded a Doctor of Creative Arts (honoris causa) by Western Sydney University.

This Honorary Doctorate recognises GUAN WEI for his significant contribution to the visual arts at a local, state, national and international level.

Portrait of Guan Wei in his studio

HONEY LONG & PRUE STENT IN TOURING 'VIDEO NOW' EXHIBITION

HONEY LONG & PRUE STENT’s video work Drinking from the Screen is included in the NETS touring exhibition Video Now now open at Swan Hill Regional Gallery. 

Video Now presents a wide array of video-based practices, from explorations of bodily experience and reflections on the fleeting nature of time, to symbolic acts of endurance and social relations. The exhibition posits that contemporary video can be captivating, provocative and confounding. Be enthralled by an overview of video art today and its generative nature as an art form of our times.

Video Now continues at Swan Hill Art Gallery until 3 October.

More information >

Honey Long & Prue Stent, Drinking from the screen, 2020, single-channel video, stereo sound, 4 min. 0 sec.

VENICE BIENNALE BOOK FEATURES ARC ONE ARTISTS

Australia at the Venice Biennale: A Century of Contemporary Art by Kerry Gardner, hardcover 311mm x 251mm

Australia at the Venice Biennale: A Century of Contemporary Art is a new book by Kerry Gardner AM, published by MUP.

This splendidly produced book is the first comprehensive account of Australia’s history at the Venice Biennale, with an invaluable appendix that lists and illustrates many of this country's exhibits.

ARC ONE artists ROBERT OWEN & JOHN DAVIS are featured in the book, having both represented Australia at the pavilion in 1978, and CHARLES GREEN has contributed an exemplary essay among other significant Australian writers.

This richly illustrated publication illuminates the untold stories and origins of the most important event of the art world through one hundred years of Australian modern art.

Australia at the Venice Biennale is available to purchase online here >

SAM SHMITH WORK CENTREPIECE OF NEW CHAMBERS DESIGN

SAM SHMITH’s work Untitled (Plate Glass #2) forms the centrepiece of this new architecturally designed fitout of QC Chambers in Melbourne CBD.

“The Chambers pivot around an artwork, Plate Glass 2, by Melbourne artist Sam Shmith. The urban train scene expressed, reinterprets the views out to the skyline beyond. Black tones throughout the space and lighting by Christopher Boots continue the dialogue with the artwork, offering shifting perspectives of the art, the chambers, and the city itself and a space which provides ongoing contemplation and inspiration.”

– FMD Architects.

More information >

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