Art Almanac April 2019 $6
Atong Atem Desert River Sea Janet Laurence
Art Almanac April 2019
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Deadline for May 2019: Monday 1 April, 2019.
We acknowledge and pay our respect to the many Aboriginal nations across this land, traditional custodians, Elders past and present; in particular the Guringai people of the Eora Nation where Art Almanac has been produced.
‘Most of my work is about taking ownership of my own narrative’ says this month’s cover artist Atong Atem who is featured in a group show about identity titled ‘Our Common Bond’. This sentiment carries through the issue in varied ways from the deeply personal, yet universal, work of Robert Hague and the storytelling of artists included in ‘Desert River Sea: Portraits of the Kimberley’. Collective consciousness, or empathy toward the environment, is personified in the work of Janet Laurence, whereas Robbie Harmsworth considers the beauty in the narrative arc of the natural world, from decay to new beginnings.
Contact Editor – Chloe Mandryk cmandryk@art-almanac.com.au Deputy Editor – Kirsty Francis info@art-almanac.com.au Art Director – Paul Saint National Advertising – Laraine Deer ldeer@art-almanac.com.au Digital Editor – Melissa Pesa mpesa@art-almanac.com.au Editorial Assistant – Penny McCulloch listing@art-almanac.com.au Accounts – Penny McCulloch accounts@art-almanac.com.au T 02 9901 6398 F 02 9901 6116 Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards NSW 1590 art-almanac.com.au
Cover
Atong Atem, Nyiir, 2015, digital print, 120 x 80cm Courtesy the artist and MAY SPACE, Sydney
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ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE Advocating for meaningful action on climate change, 30 visual arts exhibitions across Melbourne and regional Victoria will present work that explores the burning issue and the relationship between art and the environment. An excellent example of this is the survey exhibition by Peter Dombrovskis (1945-1996), at Monash Gallery of Art until 12 May, whose photography of Tasmania’s wilderness played an important role in the prevention of the damming of the Franklin River. There will be many educational and entertaining public programs so check the website for the unique symposia, notably Miranda Massie (USA) at the University of Melbourne making a case for dedicated climate museums, as well as ‘Ecofeminist Fridays’, also at the school. On view 23 April to 19 May. artclimatechange.org Peter Dombrovskis, Cushion plants, Mount Anne, Southwest Tasmania, 1984 Courtesy the National Library of Australia, Australian Capital Territory
1000 Doors Melbourne-based artists Keith Courtney and Christian Wagstaff will launch their large-scale installation ‘1000 Doors’ at the 2019 Bendigo Easter Festival. With the space crafted so that the viewer experience is paramount, Courtney says ‘the project puts audiences at the centre of the work, allowing them to explore their own reactions to smells, spatial play, tactile surfaces and sounds.’ You can anticipate that the labyrinthine sequence of parlours and passages in between will come alive with clues to their past inhabitants, such as a telephone chiming, photo or scent. Presented by Bendigo Art Gallery in Rosalind Park the experiential work will be open daily from 2 to 9pm and for the Easter break hours are extended to 10am to 10pm. bendigoartgallery.com.au 1000 Doors, 2018 Photograph: James Morgan Courtesy the artists and Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
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Art after the Hipster: Identity Politics, Ethics and Aesthetics Wes Hill
Palgrave Macmillan
Author Wes Hill lectures in Art History and Visual Culture at Southern Cross University, Australia. This title is a considered analysis of the trajectory of the hipster; from its innovative origins to being mocked, and now normalised. Hill investigates how the concept of individualism, in a post WWII era through to today, has been tied to neoliberalism and does so with the lens of art history and cultural theory. He concludes the hipster ‘comes into view as a creative mode of identity policing… the utterance ‘hipster’ is of little use to the polemics of our contemporary moment.’
MOP Projects: 2003-2016 Edited by Daniel Mudie Cunningham Formist
Established in 2003 as a response to the lack of artist-run initiatives in Sydney, MOP Projects rapidly secured an integral role in the Australian arts ecosystem; showcasing 400 curated exhibitions and actively fostering experimentation for over 800 emerging and mid-career artists. This hefty volume illustrates MOP’s history with generous images, a complete exhibitions and artist index, as well as text by a selection of artists, writers and curators associated with the gallery. MOP’s business-focused approach to the commercial world such as collaborations with other galleries and connections to western Sydney is highlighted. However, co-founders George and Ron Adams, or ‘the boys’, are credited for reminding us that art is also a social practice – about people and connectivity. 26
Our Common Bond Emma-Kate Wilson Why is there a prefix on Australian-ness? Why is identity predicated on where we came from? To see who feels welcome, and who does not, it can be as simple as opening a magazine or turning on the TV. In the exhibition, ‘Our Common Bond’ at MAY SPACE, Sydney, Olivia Welch curates the works of a talented mix of Australian artists from Jason Phu to Amala Groom, Dean Cross, Pamela Leung, Siying Zhou, Atong Atem, Lara Chamas and Duha Ali who explore what it means to be Australian, and why there is such a fixation on trying to define what that means. For Welch, this perspective was amplified while living in Portugal. As a non-white Australian, with a parent who wasn’t born here, she found herself having to define her ‘Australian-ness’. Moving back to Australia she reflected on what labels such as ‘diverse’ and ‘multi-cultural’ mean to her. Welch began to contemplate nationality and what a representative person of Australia looks like or how they act. Turning to the Australian Citizenship Test booklet: titled ‘Our Common Bond’. She says the text ‘opens Australia’s arms to people of every culture, religion and ethnicity… It celebrates the many positives, but brushes over the negatives as follies of the past that no longer bear scars. It identifies certain days, behaviours and beliefs as being ‘Australian’, even though many Australians would not agree that these ideas and events represent them.’ Jason Phu’s work begins the dialogue for a shared national sense of identity, one that questions the familiar and unfamiliar. The Burrangong Affray (2018), commissioned by 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, which discusses a riot in 1861 on the Burrangong goldfields that lend to tensions between the Chinese and white settlers. Phu’s artworks set the scene for exploring narratives in Australian history, the ramifications continue today. Dean Cross continues this sentiment with PolyAustralis (2017), first shown at Tarnanthi 2018, the works reveal the changing face of Australian identity, but rather than evolve for the better Cross shows it is one that routinely excludes Indigenous people. Amala Groom’s Lest we… get over it (2017), takes a decisive angle at the lack of representation in memoriam to the Aboriginal lives lost – and continue to be lost – through the colonisation of Australia.
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Desert River Sea: Portraits of the Kimberley Jeremy Eccles It’s been a long time coming. Thirty-three years ago the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) pioneered with its early exhibition ‘Art from the Great Sandy Desert’ – a show from the Balgo community including such masters as Wimmitji Tjapangarti, Eubena Nampitjin and Sunfly Tjampitjin. Despite that show’s title, Balgo is included in the Kimberley community because it was one of the townships right across the Kimberley where desert people took refuge from drought, mining and the pastoral industry which were forcing them from traditional Country. But the Kimberley art baton was then taken up by the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne with its 1993 exhibition, ‘Images of Power’; the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra with a Rover Thomas solo in 1994; the Art Gallery of New South Wales with the East Kimberley’s ‘True Stories’ in 2003; and the Desert/Kimberley interface featured at the National Museum in 2006 in its wonderful ‘Yiwarra Kuju’ assembly. Now AGWA is catching up in spades. ‘Desert River Sea’ (DRS) is not just an exhibition. It’s a six-year-long project to reconnect the Gallery with the art and art centres of the Kimberley – where 200, often tiny communities and 30 different language groups operate. Such dedicated ‘patriotism’ reflects the separatist thinking of the West – so, I fear we’re unlikely to see ‘DRS’ transfer Over East (as they call the rest of us). But there are undoubtedly lessons for the Northern Territory and Queensland in the innovative
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Ildiko Kovacs The DNA of Colour
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Future Feminist Archive – LIVE In Wollongong!
Orange Regional Gallery 18 April to 9 June, 2019 New South Wales
Wollongong Art Gallery Until 2 June, 2019 New South Wales
‘The DNA of Colour’ is a survey exhibition of 35 major works by Ildiko Kovacs created using paint rollers on plywood – a style the artist began working with in 2010. ‘The vibrancy of colour and form in these works does not simply evoke deep feeling or intuition; the paintwork itself becomes a visible trace of the act of painting,’ notes the gallery. Kovacs’ abstract works channel thick ribbon-like arrangements of colour, line and form in a rhythmic dance around the canvas.
This project marks the 40th anniversary of Wollongong’s first International Women’s Day in 1979, paying homage to those who were there, either participating in protest down Crown Street or on the sidelines.
Born blue, 2010, oil on plywood, 132.5 x 144cm Private collection Courtesy the artist and Orange Regional Gallery, New South Wales
Photograph: Illawarra Mercury, 8 March 1979 Courtesy Wollongong Local Studies Library and Wollongong Art Gallery, New South Wales
‘Future Feminist Archive’ recognises Feminism as a major art movement, curatorial method and a driving force for change seen in Illawarra’s community history in the context of equality and women’s right to work struggles, with contemporary feminist themes and hashtag activism of #MeToo and #Resist.
Adam Shires
Peta Clancy
People of the Pavement
Undercurrent
Thirteen charcoal portraits by Adam Shires are on view accompanied by each sitter’s first-hand account of homelessness. Shires’ interest in the fragility of life is apparent and tied to his medium, saying ‘Through carbon, we capture the memories of carbon life and preserve them for an eternity of viewers, a reflection on the legacy of ourselves.’ The artist’s intention is not only to illustrate the pervasiveness of homelessness in Victoria but to inspire empathy for the people we often pass by or ignore.
Bangerang artist Peta Clancy collaborated with the Dja Dja Wurrung community during a year-long residency. The outcome is this special exhibition, which acknowledges the horror of the past while nurturing dialogue and culture in the present. Clancy’s series of large format landscape photographs respond to massacre sites on Country. In addition the artist presents a 30-metre wallpaper installation and soundscape alongside recorded interviews with Mick Bourke and Amos Atkinson, members of the Dja Dja Wurrung community.
Patrick, 2018, charcoal, 125 x 80cm © the artist Courtesy the artist
Undercurrent 1, from the series ‘Undercurrent’, 2018-2019, inkjet pigment print, 85 x 120cm each image approximately Courtesy the artist and Koorie Heritage Trust, Melbourne
The Meat Market 1 to 12 April, 2019 Melbourne
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Koorie Heritage Trust Until 28 April, 2019 Melbourne
Artist Opportunities We have selected a few galleries and funding bodies calling for submissions for Art Awards, Artist Engagements, Grants, Public Art, Residency Programs, Exhibition Proposals and more. Enjoy and good luck! Asialink Creative Exchange
This month we congratulate 23 artists and arts professionals who have been selected to take part in the 2019 Asialink Arts Creative Exchange program, which fosters development opportunities between Australia and Asia. It supports and inspires participants to create work, explore new ideas and expand their professional networks. The recipients are; NSW: Artistic Director of M.O.V.E Theatre Sally Sussman; sound artist Alexandra Spence, contemporary-flamenco choreographer and performer Annalouise Paul; performer, choreographer and festival director Liz Lea; and Writer Stephanie Bishop, and The 2019 Emerging Writer Exchange goes to Mona Zahra Attamini. QLD: artist, curator and writer Christine Morrow; Cross-artform artist and producer Tammy Brennan; and visual artist Sancintya Mohini Simpson. NT: visual artists Aly de Groot, Annabel Amagula and Maicie Lalara. WA: visual artist Jacobus Capone and Cabaret performer Tomas Ford. VIC: writer, curator and artist Andy Butler; artist Danius Kesminas; writer and producer Joshua Allen; and collaborative duo Eugene Ughetti & Thomas Meadowcroft.
Asialink Arts is partnered with over 40 organisations across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, Philippines, India and Japan. Applications for the 2020 program will be invited in September 2019. asialink.unimelb.edu.au
Banyule Award for Works on Paper
Entries close 30 June 2019 The Banyule Award for Works on Paper is an acquisitive art prize, awarded biennially to an outstanding contemporary work on paper. Artists are invited to submit artworks, which respond to the 2019 theme ‘Threshold’ that express, explore, advocate, or address current social, cultural, political or environmental issues. There is $13,000 in prizes, and the award is open to all artists for artworks in any medium, whereby the final piece is made on, or with paper. The finalists’ exhibition is at Hatch Contemporary Art Space, Ivanhoe from 29 August to 19 October. banyule.vic.gov
Jervis Bay See Change Festival Art Prize
Main prize entries close 5pm, 18 April, other entries close 5pm, 6 May 2019 Artists are invited to submit works in the Jervis Bay See Change Festival Art Prize for visual art and sculpture. A total of $10,000 in prizes will be awarded. seechangefestival.net.au
Kate Derum Award and Irene Davies Emerging Artist Award
Entries are open 1 April to 31 may 2019 The Australian Tapestry Workshop is calling for entries for this biennial international award, which showcases creativity and excellence in international and Australian contemporary small tapestry. The Kate Derum Award for Small Tapestries is a $5,000 nonacquisitive award open to professional Australian and international tapestry artists. While the $1,000 Irene Davies Emerging Artist Award for Small Tapestries is a non-acquisitive award for early career weavers in the first five years of their tapestry practice. www.austapestry.com.au
Len Fox Painting Award Bangarra Dance Theatre, Mother Tongue, 2014, choreography, concept and direction by Annalouise Paul Photograph: Shane Rozario Courtesy the artists and Asialink, The University of Melbourne
As part of a 2019 targeted exchange, Perth-based artist Alisa Blakeney will travel to Taiwan for a residency at Taipei Artist Village and Taiwanese artist Lee Dai-Rong will head to Fremantle Arts Centre, WA.
Entries close 26 April 2019 Castlemaine Art Museum (CAM) is calling entries for the 2019 Len Fox Painting Award. This is a biennial $50,000 acquisitive award to commemorate the life of Australian-born painter, Emanuel Phillips Fox (1865-1915) most noted for landscape, figurative and portrait paintings. Works in any medium, style or genre are eligible. castlemainegallery.com
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Northern Beaches The Spit
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St Leonards
Mosman
North Sydney Woolwich
Parramatta River Sydney Harbour
Balmain
The Rocks
Sydney CBD
Art Gallery of NSW
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Glebe
Central
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Chippendale Surry Hills
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Alexandria
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CBD The Rocks Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW)
Art Gallery Road, Sydney 2000. T (02) 9225-1744, 1800-679-278. W www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au Admission charges apply to some exhibitions. H Daily 10.00 to 5.00. Art After Hours: Wed to 9pm. To April 28 ARTEXPRESS 2019, and Chinese bible – revolution and art in China. March 29 to July 21 The National 2019 – New Australian Art. April 13 to July 14 From where I stand. April 27 to Aug 11 The essential Duchamp.
The Ken Done Gallery
1 Hickson Road, The Rocks 2000. T (02) 8274-4500 F (02) 8274-4545. E gallery@done.com.au W www.kendone.com.au H Daily 10.00 to 5.30. A new exhibition, featuring as its hero painting, a large and impressive canvas reminiscent of the 1990’s and Ken Done’s vision of Sydney in summer, can be viewed during April. Major canvases also on display have been inspired by the artist’s latest trip to Toberua Island in Fiji and quintessentially, Sydney Harbour. A selection of new, small works on canvas in a variety of subjects completes the hang. Limited edition prints, including a new reef print of ‘Ultramarine coral head’ (2018), edition of 100, posters and other art related products are available for sale in the gallery shop.
Gaffa Gallery
281 Clarence Street, Sydney CBD 2000. T (02) 9283-4273. W www.gaffa.com.au H Mon-Fri 10.00 to 6.00, Sat 11.00 to 5.00. Closed Sun and public hols. Gaffa is an independent creative precinct, artist-run in attitude and execution. March 28 to April 8 Unheimlich by Olivia Arnold. Also, Pinpointed by Allan Garlick, and Corium by Jo Nolan & Adam Gottlieb. April 11 to 22 All cats have nine lives by Alexandra Jonscher. Also, Falling in Autumn by Andrew Ensor. April 25 to May 6 Masters exhibition by UNSW Art + Design. Also, I’d Like to Know You Better by Ruby Berry & Nadia Indrid Hooton, and Little Johnny Battler by Martin James.
Ken Done, Dive 2, 2019, oil and acrylic on linen, 183 x 152.5cm Courtesy the artist and Ken Done Gallery
Kim Isgro-Attwood
OBJECTS REAL AND IMAGINED 1 – 14 May 2019
Opening Wednesday 1 May 6-8pm
The Corner Gallery
Still Life with Harlequin Jug, 2018, acrylic, oil, crayon and ink on paper
108 Sydney
Cnr Percival and Myrtle Streets, Stanmore www.thecornergallery.com.au Wednesday - Sunday 11am-5pm or by appointment 0414 897 138
Hobart Sullivans Cove Battery Point
Despard Gallery
Level 1, 15 Castray Esplanade, Hobart 7000. T (03) 6223-8266. E hobart@despard-gallery.com.au W www.despard-gallery.com.au H Mon-Fri 10.00 to 6.00, Sat 10.00 to 4.00, Sun 11.00 to 4.00. April 3 to 28 Young Blood – Zoe Grey, Maggie Jeffries and Micheila Petersfield. May 1 to 26 FUSION: Contemporary Ceramic Art – Patrick Collins, Jenny Orchard, Jeff Mincham and Roger Webb.
Art Mob
29 Hunter Street, Hobart 7000. T (03) 6236-9200, 0419-393-122. E euan@artmob.com.au W www.artmob.com.au Director: Euan Hills. H Daily 10.00 to 6.00. Aboriginal fine art, including Tasmanian Aboriginal artists.
Bett Gallery Hobart
Level 1, 65 Murray Street, Hobart 7000. T (03) 6231-6511. E info@bettgallery.com.au W www.bettgallery.com.au Directors: Carol Bett, Emma Bett and Jack Bett . H Mon-Fri 10.00 to 5.30, Sat 10.00 to 4.00. April 5 to 27 Short Stories by Stephanie Tabram. April 5 to 27 The Learning by Brigita Ozolins.
Colville Gallery
91a Salamanca Place, Hobart 7004. T (03) 6224-4088, 0419-292-626. E info@colvillegallery.com.au W www.colvillegallery.com.au H Daily 10.00 to 5.00. April 16 to May 7 Gallery 1: Julia Castiglioni Bradshaw. Gallery 2: Paul Gundry. April 30 to May 4 Andrea Barker – Australian Ceramic Triennial.
Zoe Grey, Home, 2018, oil on board, 88 x 118cm Courtesy the artist and Despard Gallery
Handmark Gallery
Unique Tasmanian Art & Design, 77 Salamanca Place, Hobart 7000. Also, 2 Russell Street, Evandale, 7212. T Hobart: (03) 6223-7895, Evandale: (03) 6391-8193. E Hobart: hobart@handmark.com.au, Evandale: evandale@handmark.com.au W www.handmark.com.au Hobart: March 29 to April 22 Adrian Barber new paintings, and Janine Combes jewellery. April 26 to May 13 Celebrating Ceramics, in conjunction with the 15th Australian Ceramics Triennale. Evandale: April 7 to May 1 Kaye Green celebrating 40 years of lithography.
The Henry Jones Art Hotel
25 Hunter Street, Hobart 7000. T (03) 6210-7700. E art@thehenryjones.com W www.thehenryjones.com Showcasing leading and emerging Tasmanian artists with a changing display of original contemporary artworks.
Paul Gundry, Cool Water, 2019, oil on cotton canvas, 30 x 40cm Courtesy the artist and Colville Gallery
Mona Museum of Old and New Art 655 Main Road, Berriedale, Hobart 7011. T (03) 6277-9900. E info@mona.net.au W www.mona.net.au Visit website for details.
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