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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ANNE ZAHALKA AT GEELONG GALLERY

Anne Zahalka, The Pioneer, 1992 (printed 2021), pigment ink on rag paper mounted onto gatorboard

ANNE ZAHALKA is included in Geelong Gallery’s new exhibition Exhume the grave—McCubbin and contemporary art, opening tomorrow.

Exhume the grave includes works by contemporary Australian artists in response to Frederick McCubbin’s enduringly popular paintings. The sentiments and emotive subjects of McCubbin’s works have helped develop for them a popular visual literacy: they are images that have impressed themselves powerfully on public consciousness over time. Not surprisingly, their significant public profile has also led to these paintings being the subject of re-evaluation and reinterpretation by contemporary Australian artists, through the lens of gender, cultural diversity and inclusion.

In The Pioneer, for example, Anne Zahalka reworks the central panel of McCubbin’s triptych, removing the seated bushman to emphasise the role of women in settling the land, and to rewrite the dominant narrative of the role of men in nation-building.

This exhibition continues until 28 November and coincides with the complementary exhibition Frederick McCubbin—Whisperings in wattle boughs.

More information >

Read article from The Age >

PAT BRASSINGTON IN NEW BUXTON CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITION

PAT BRASSINGTON is featured in Buxton Contemporary’s new exhibition This is a poem, curated by Melissa Keys.

Bringing contemporary art and poetry into dialogue, This is a poem is a multi-disciplinary project encompassing new commissions in a diverse mix of media and forms, live performances, a publication and an exhibition.
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The project draws notable artists and poets into creative discourse. Each participant has been invited to write, perform, read or present in visual form an original work of poetry in response to an artwork held in the University’s Buxton Contemporary collection. In this case, choreographer/interdisciplinary artist Sandra Parker responds to Pat Brassington’s 1998 work, Neck.⁣
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Conceived to creatively animate the collection, This is a poem brings art, artists, and poetry into orbit with audiences through an experimental and experiential exhibition that explored the longstanding tradition of ekphrastic poetry.⁣
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Capacity limits are in place, so pre-book your visit to ensure there's room for you. The exhibition continues until 14 November.
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More information >

Image 1: Pat Brassington, Neck, 1998, pigment print, 72 x 54cm; Image 2: Installation views of Sanda Parker's work alongside Pat Brassington's work, photos by Christian Capurro.

ANNE ZAHALKA FINALIST IN OLIVE COTTON AWARD

Congratulations to ANNE ZAHALKA, whose recent self portrait is a finalist in the Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture.

Anne says of this work:
“Venturing into the reimagined landscape of Macquarie Island carrying a trusty pair of binoculars, I found myself amongst an astonishing array of wildlife and mega herbs. Scientists, adventurers, and volunteers navigate carefully through the fauna and flora of this fragile ecosystem doing important field work.

While biological sciences play a vital part of the research program on Macquarie Island, there is the greater uncontrollable environmental issue of marine plastics. As I scoured this habitat of courtly creatures, I was disturbed to see small colourful pieces of plastic populating the ground washed in with tidal flows.”

The Olive Cotton Award exhibition will be on display at Tweed Regional Gallery until Sunday 19 September.

More information >

Anne Zahalka, Anne Zahalka with a Colony of Boffins, 2021, pigment ink on rag paper with plastic, 54cm x 70.6cm

LONG & STENT FINALISTS IN NAKED & NUDE ART PRIZE

Honey Long & Prue Stent, Hydro, 2020, archival pigment print, 108 x 72 cm

Congratulations to HONEY LONG & PRUE STENT, whose work Hyrdo is a finalist in the Naked & Nude Art Prize 2021 at Manning Regional Art Gallery.

This biennial Art Prize commenced in 1990 with entries open to Australian artists. The winning entry receives a generous cash prize and is acquired by the Friends of the Manning Regional Art Gallery and donated to the Manning Regional Art Gallery’s permanent collection.

The selected finalists include sculpture, painting, ceramics, drawing, photography, installation and video – highlighting the diversity of approaches to representation of the human form by contemporary artists in Australia.

More information >

JANET LAURENCE'S 'REQUIEM' ACQUIRED BY THE NGA

ARC ONE Gallery is thrilled to announce that JANET LAURENCE’S Requiem has been acquired by the National Gallery of Australia.

This remarkable work was recently featured in Know My Name: Part One at the NGA.

Requiem is a work of great complexity and scale. It is underpinned by a deep love by this artist who has devoted her artistic practice to the overwhelming importance of the natural world. Made in the wake of the 2019-20 bushfires, a hailstorm that shattered the glasshouses of the CSIRO and a global pandemic, this work draws together elements and specimens from nature as a lament for a world in danger and a call for greater awareness of environmental issues.

ARC ONE is delighted to have been the principle facilitator of this major acquisition.

“The work is like a Memento Mori. It is about what we’ve lost and are continuing to lose. It is also a piece about memory and how it distils and alters reality. This parallels nature’s ability for transformation.”
– Janet Laurence

“'Requiem' has an angelic weight that calls attention to the fragility of the natural world. This is a significant work that will resonate throughout history for many people greatly connected to ideas of time and the gravitas of nature.”
– Fran Clark, Director, ARC ONE Gallery

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Images: Janet Laurence, Requiem, 2020, perspex, found materials, Know My Name: Part One installation view, National Gallery of Australia, 2020.