Congratulations to IMANTS TILLERS and the late KUMANTYE (M.N) JAGAMARA

Imants Tillers and Kumantye (M.N.) Jagamara, The Call from Papunya, 2018, 202.2 × 283.5 cm. Tate, London

We are thrilled to announce that ‘The Call from Papunya’ (2018) has been acquired by Tate, London. The painting is one of 16 collaborative works completed by Kumantye (M.N.) Jagamara and IMANTS TILLERS over the past two decades. This is the second work by Imants to be acquired, following the acquisition of ‘Kangaroo Blank’ (1988) in 2018, and the first work by Jagamara to be acquired by Tate.

The central element in ‘The Call from Papunya’ is Possum Love Story – a tale of forbidden love which has been told for thousands of years in Jagamara’s Warlpiri tradition. It is one of the five stories depicted in his iconic painting ‘Five Dreamings’ (1984).

Imants has expanded the central image with line-work referencing both the Papunya artist Kenny Williams and the Italian Metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico. Fragments of philosophy and poetry have also been incorporated.

The painting’s title refers to Jagamara’s habit of calling Brisbane daily (and occasionally Cooma) on the public telephone at Papunya general store, to chat about his work, enquire about projects, update his needs for shopping or simply to give a weather report.

Dani Marti's solo exhibition 'Oh Canola!' at Maitland Regional Art Gallery

Dani Marti, Oh Canola!, (detail) 2022, customised reflectors, aluminium, 280 × 1150 × 6cm.

Dani Marti will present a new body of works in his solo exhibition, 'Oh Canola!', at Maitland Regional Art Gallery from 5 March – 29 May 2022.

‘Oh Canola!’ showcases the work of Dani Marti in all its material and textural splendour. Catalan born Marti lives in the Hunter Valley working between Scotland, Spain and the Hunter. Marti surrenders to his materials transforming common industrial fixings (such as rope, nylon, reflectors) into dramatic and monumental forms to transform the gallery into an immersive, sensory experience.

For more info: https://mrag.org.au/exhibition/oh-canola/

Five of ANNE ZAHALKA's works featured in exhibition ‘Carbon Neutral’ at the CCAS

Five of ANNE ZAHALKA’s works from the series ‘Wild Life’ and ‘Lost Landscapes’ are included in the upcoming exhibition, ‘Carbon Neutral’, opening at 6pm on Friday 18 February at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space (CCAS).

Curated by Alexander Boynes, ‘Carbon Neutral’ is an exhibition of works by contemporary Australian artists that addresses the Climate Crisis, and attempts to add to the cultural wealth of our society without adding more carbon emissions. Artists have the capacity to provoke meaningful dialogue around the existential threats of fire, drought and ecocide due to human-induced climate change through their practice. ‘Carbon Neutral’ ultimately aims to pose one question: how does an artist produce work to inspire hope and optimism to face the biggest challenge in our lifetimes, without leaving a carbon footprint?

Find out more at https://www.ccas.com.au/future-1/carbon-neutral

Anne Zahalka, ‘Koala, Yarra River at Woori Yallock on Daung Warrung land, Victoria’, 2019, Archival pigment ink on rag paper, Edition 4/6, 80 x 80 cm.

JULIE RRAP's 'Blow Back' featured in exhibition ‘We, Us, Them: CCP x Belfast Exposed’

Julie Rrap, ‘Blow Back #16’, 2018, digital print and handground glass, edition of 3 + 1 A/P, 1/3, 52 x 64 cm.

JULIE RRAP will be presenting ‘Blow Back’, in the exhibition ‘We, Us, Them: CCP x Belfast Exposed’ opening this Friday 18 February at the Centre for Contemporary Photography.

These portraits represent a collective performance act that uses breath as an action that is both gentle yet provocative. Operating as a localised form of expression for the community of women artists in Sydney that make up the subjects of the work, the performers open mouths mock the endless images of women posed in this way to suggest their receptivity; like a vessel waiting to be filled.

This exhibition is a CCP x Belfast Exchange collaboration conceived as part of the 2021—22 UK/Australia Season.

For more info: https://ccp.org.au/exhibition/we-us-them/

LYNDELL BROWN/CHARLES GREEN shortlisted for the Len Fox Painting Prize 2022

LYNDELL BROWN/CHARLES GREEN, 'Climate for Change', 2021, oil on linen, 100 x 100 cm.

Congratulations to LYNDELL BROWN/CHARLES GREEN on being shortlisted for the Len Fox Painting Prize 2022 with their work 'Climate for Change'.

The official exhibition opening of the shortlisted artists and announcement of winners will be held on Saturday 12 March. The exhibition will be held at Castlemaine Art Museum from Saturday 12 March 2022 to 13 June 2022.

The Len Fox Painting Award is a biennial acquisitive painting prize and is awarded to a living Australian artist to commemorate the life and work of Emanuel Phillips Fox (1865–1915), the uncle of Len Fox, partner of benefactor Mona Fox. The award is funded through a bequest from Mona Fox, with $50,000 awarded to the winner.

More info: https://www.castlemaineartmuseum.org.au/exhibitions/len-fox-painting-prize-2022

LONG & STENT's new exhibition ‘Still Almost Blue’

HONEY LONG & PRUE STENT are presenting some exciting new works collaborated with Hannah Schoetz @hannahschoetz last year. This upcoming exhibition, titled ‘Still Almost Blue’, will run from 7 to 21 February at School House Studios, Coburg.

JANET LAURENCE featured in exhibition ‘Destination Sydney'

Installation view of Janet Laurence’s ‘Entangled Garden for Plant Memory’ series in exhibition ‘Destination Sydney: The natural world’ at Mosman Art Gallery.

A collection of works from the series, ‘Entangled Garden for Plant Memory’, by JANET LAURENCE, are currently on show in the exhibition, ‘Destination Sydney: The natural world’, at Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney until 20 March.

Presented as part of Sydney Festival 2022, Destination Sydney: The natural world is the third exhibition in a series of collaborations planned between three Sydney public galleries, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Mosman Art Gallery and the National Trust’s S. H. Ervin. Over the summer of 2015-2016 they jointly presented the unprecedented collaborative exhibition project, Destination Sydney, which became a hugely successful project for each gallery, soon followed by the equally triumphant Destination Sydney: Reimagined held in the summer 2018-2019.

Like its preceding exhibitions The natural world  showcases artworks responding to the theme of Sydney as a place of creative endeavours, with a strong focus on the work of major Australian women artists, all connected by their concern for landscape, the natural world and the environment. 

Destination Sydney: The natural world presents the work of a select group of key Australian artists whose art practice has become synonymous with the natural world. Artists at Mosman Art Gallery include Janet Laurence, Caroline Rothwell and Robyn Stacey.

GUAN WEI invited to participate in the Gold Award 2022

Image: Portrait of Guan Wei, 2006, for his mural painting at Powerhouse Museum Sydney.

Congratulations to GUAN WEI, who is one of eight artists who have been invited to participate in the Gold Award 2022, Queensland’s richest art prize. The artists invited in the Gold Award 2022 will form one of the exhibitions scheduled to coincide with the official opening of the newly constructed Rockhampton Museum of Art.

The artworks will be on public display from 25 February 2022 to 15 May 2022, with the winner announced 26 February.

The Gold Award is a joint initiative of the Rockhampton Museum of Art Philanthropy Board, Rockhampton Museum of Art and Rockhampton Regional Council.

ANNE ZAHALKA’s exhibition at the Wollongong Art Gallery

Installation view of exhibition SNAPPED! Street Photography in the Illawarra – Anne Zahalka with Sam St Jon and residents of the Illawarra.

ANNE ZAHALKA’s exhibition ‘Snapped! Street Photography in the Illawarra’ at the Wollongong Art Gallery continues until 20 February.

For this exhibition Zahalka has collected, examined and reconfigured photographic street portraits made in Wollongong in the mid decades of the 20th Century to form the imagery. Recorded originally by early commercial street photographers from 1930’s – 60’s of passers-by, these postcard sized prints captured people in a candid way. Collected through a call-out from residents, these photos have been assembled to provide a tangible trace of the city allowing visitors to reimagine how this city once looked.

For more information:
http://www.wollongongartgallery.com/exhibitions/Pages/SNAPPED-Street-Photography-in-the-Illawarra

ANNE ZAHALKA listed as the 2021 ‘Hundred Heroines’

Anne Zahalka, ‘artist (self-portrait)’, 2013, Duraflex print mounted onto perspex with engraving, 85cm x 87cm.

Congratulations to ANNE ZAHALKA who has been listed in the 2021 ‘Hundred Heroines’. ‘Hundred Heroines’ is a pioneering UK charity that champions inspiring women photographers, as well as celebrating the diversity of women working globally in photography today.

The full list can be found at hundredheroines.org.

NIKE SAVVAS was invited by The Art Newspaper Greece to speak in "Art in the Public Sphere"

Nike Savvas at the event ‘Art in the public sphere’; photo: Studio Panoulis.

NIKE SAVVAS was recently invited by The Art Newspaper Greece as one of the key speakers in their first public event “Η Τέχνη στην Δημόσια Σφαίρα (Art in the Public Sphere)”.

In this event, Savvas shared about her experience of creating art in public space, as well as her intentions behind her projects. In her conversation with Alexandra Koroxenidis, she explained: “My art seeks to eliminate classifications and genealogies. In this context, the hierarchies between the private and the public are annulled.” She also shared, ”In a way, my work is also an attempt to give a feminine aspect to the male-dominated tradition of abstract expressionism and minimalism…”

A video recording of the whole event will soon be available on the website of artnewspaper.gr.

Long & Stent selected as part of the Sydney Creative Hoardings Program

‘Suspended Figures’ series on the corner of Barrack and York Streets, Sydney; photo credit: Anna Kucera.

A series of photographic works by HONEY LONG & PRUE STENT were recently transformed into large-scale, site-specific public art and exhibited on the corner of Barrack and York Streets as part of the City of Sydney’s Creative Hoardings Program.

“We hope our work provides an interesting break in the cityscape and sparks people’s thoughts and feelings about their own bodily experiences,” Prue Stent and Honey Long discussed about ‘Suspended Figures’.

This series of shrouded figures playfully distorts the human form, creating a dream-like landscape intended to interrupt everyday thoughts and spark the imagination. The fluid and abstract shapes – created by the body interacting with fabric and wind – are left open for the viewer to make their own associations.

Five of ARC ONE artists are featured in the newly published 'Doing Feminism: Women’s Art and Feminist Criticism in Australia'

Anne Marsh, ‘Doing Feminism: Women’s Art and Feminist Criticism in Australia’, published on 2 November, 2021, by The Miegunyah Press.

Five of ARC ONE artists – ANNE ZAHALKA, EUGENIA RASKOPOULOS, PAT BRASSINGTON, JULIE RRAP and JACKY REDGATE are featured in the newly published ‘Doing Feminism: Women’s Art and Feminist Criticism in Australia’.

Providing a comprehensive analysis of women’s art movements in Australia from the 1960s onward, this remarkable book by art historian Anne Marsh chronicles the struggles, contestations and achievements of women and feminism in Australian visual arts history. The book also acts as an divergent investigation into how the “doing” of feminism has shaped contemporary art and culture at home and abroad.

“…art and feminism are cyclical; they spiral in and out of time, and it’s interesting to see these younger women, very schooled in theoretical frameworks, turning back to an earlier time, and asking: why aren’t we doing that anymore?” ——Anne Marsh in conversation with Susanna Ling.

JANET LAURENCE & DANI MARTI INCLUDED IN 'TERRA AUSTRALIS REVISITED'

Dani Marti, Installation View, ‘Terra Australis Revisited’, Galerie Ernst Hilger , Vienna, 2021.

JANET LAURENCE and DANI MARTI are included in the group exhibition ‘Terra Australis Revisited’, at Galerie Ernst Hilger in Vienna.

The legend of Terra Australis dates back to Roman times being the unknown land of the South. Now for the second time to Austria comes a group show of diverse Australian artists curated by collector and philanthropist Simon Mordant AO.

The exhibition was supported by the Australian Embassy Vienna and continues until 18 December 2021.

JOHN YOUNG'S EXHIBITION AT BUNJIL PLACE EXTENDED

John Young, Installation View, Diaspora, Psyche, Bunjil Place, 2021

JOHN YOUNG’s exhibition ‘Diaspora, Psyche’ at Bunjil Place will open again from 6 November and continue until 7 December 2021.

There will be a panel discussion on Saturday 13 November from 3.30 – 5pm with John Young, James Nguyen, Sangeeta Sandrasegar, and moderated by Carolyn Barnes. In discussion will be how diaspora informs the reality of contemporary Australia and how different communities fit into this place?

For more information, visit here >

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.