ANDREW ANTONIOU AU S T R A L I A N GA L L E R I E S SYDNEY
Theatre of Dreams 27 April – 16 May 2021
AU S T R A L I A N GA L L E R I E S SYDNEY
Invites you to the opening
ANDREW ANTONIOU Theatre of Dreams Tuesday 27 April 2021 6pm – 8pm 15 Roylston Street Paddington NSW 2021 Current until Sunday 16 May 2021 Open 7 days 10am to 6pm T 02 9360 5177 sydney@australiangalleries.com.au australiangalleries.com.au
Front cover: Anima magica (detail) 2020 oil on canvas 153 x 122 cm Left: Curses (detail) 2019 coloured pencil on paper 68 x 51 cm
Excerpts from the essay “The Dream Theatre of Andrew Antoniou” by J.F. Martel, 2021
“In an age when artists are almost exclusively concerned with
neutral, somnambulistic faces recall the tragicomic resignation of
conceptualism, obscurantism, and polemics, [Andrew] Antoniou has
medieval figures, who look the same whether they are masons at
chosen for his mode traditional figuration, and for his object, a form
work or sinners in hell. It seems to make no difference to Antoniou’s
of expression that may be the oldest of the arts. In making the
characters whether they are building, divining, or engaging in some
theatre the principal object of a career in the visual arts, Antoniou
other activity. All they do occurs on the same plane. All is equally
shows us something of the essence of both art forms. By extension,
mysterious, equally divine.
he shows us something of the essence of all art.”
“Clearly, something is going on in each of Antoniou’s tableaus.
Andrew Antoniou himself, restored to the legion of spirits that
Clearly, it is our task to wonder what this something is. And yet
make up a human psyche. More than any contemporary artist
even as we take up that task, we realize that no answer will prove
I know, Antoniou reminds us that the soul is a crowd. His work
satisfactory. Partly, this is because each scene presents a single
gives us art as a prism through which the singular self can refract
moment in a larger event which, for its part, must remain unknown,
and reveal its irreducible multiplicity. The reason why the figures’
even though the picture somehow contains it in full. The horizontal
visages express so little is that facial expression is merely an index
flux that makes up a theatrical play—the entrances and exits from
upon the outward face of the forces clashing beneath the surface.
stages left and right that are the breath of drama—has been utterly
While it would not be wrong to state that Andrew Antoniou reveals
stilled. And in this stillness we see the drama on a different axis,
himself to us in his works, that each work is a dream of nakedness,
a vertical one that eschews all sequence of action and reaction in
we cannot stop there. The radical honesty and courage with which
order to disclose the event as it manifests outside of chronological
the artist has here brought forth what was inside him has effectively
time. As Antoniou has said in an interview, his fascination with the
made him disappear. What we are asked to see in these marvellous
theatre began when he understood that this was how the gods
tableaus is neither Andrew Antoniou nor some idea of himself, but
perceived human history. While the real stage-play usually allows
the great, collective, objective dream that rages off the conscious
the casual viewer to get lost in the narrative and thereby constrain
stage, eternally.”
In a sense, we know full well who the figures are. They are
the dramatic forces to the perimeter of the stage, Antoniou’s images Distancing 2020 charcoal on paper 70 x 115 cm
remind us that every stage is open on one side. Consequently, its forces inevitably emanate upon the audience, upon us. Drama, here, is a call to personal transformation, and the images are both
J.F. Martel is a Canadian writer, filmmaker, and podcaster. He is
responses to the call and the call made anew.”
the author of Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice as well as
numerous essays on art, culture, and religion. Martel co-hosts the
“Furthermore, the mystery of these images is never limited to
the question of what is happening on the canvas. More urgent, and
Weird Studies Podcast with music historian Phil Ford.
perhaps more haunting, is the question of who the actors are. Their
He can be found at www.reclaimingart.com
Divining rite 2020 oil on canvas 154 x 122 cm
A measure of certainty 2020 oil on canvas 153 x 122 cm
End of the line (detail) 2020 pastel ink and charcoal on paper 48 x 68 cm
Endless mark and paper trail 2019 charcoal on paper 134 x 107 cm
Forgotten extras 2017 charcoal and conte on paper 99 x 130 cm
Zodiac’s dance 2020 charcoal on paper 85 x 100 cm
Awaiting the arrival of magic 2020 oil on canvas 90 x 61 cm
Psyche’s playthings 2020 oil on canvas 91 x 61 cm
Unpacking the story 2016 coloured pencil on paper 50 x 65 cm
The last call 2017 coloured pencil on paper 55 x 66 cm
Stepping aside 2017 graphite 46 x 68 cm
Playtime paradise 2020 pastel and charcoal on paper 40 x 69 cm
Afterlife 2020 pastel and charcoal on paper 40 x 70 cm
Cloud song 2019 oil on canvas 61 x 45 cm
In flight 2020 pastel and watercolour on paper 40 x 68 cm
Directors take 2020 watercolour and ink on paper 38 x 60 cm
The long way home 2015 watercolour and pencil on paper 34 x 60 cm
Waiting for the day 2016 coloured pencil on paper 50 x 65 cm
Dress rehearsal 2019 charcoal on paper 140 x 85 cm
Observations 2018 etching 49 x 39.5 cm edition 10
Configuration 2017 etching 49 x 39 cm edition 10
The reading 2019 etching 24 x 20 cm edition 10
The offering 2018 etching 24 x 20 cm edition 10
Interest raised 2015 watercolour and pencil on paper 28 x 54 cm
Auspicious moment 2015 watercolour and pencil on paper 27 x 57 cm
The appearance - backstage 2015 watercolour and pencil on paper 28 x 59 cm
The triumph 2015 watercolour and pencil on paper 28 x 58 cm
Scene change 2016 etching 32 x 45 cm edition 8
Awaiting the fates 2020 etching 25 x 29 cm edition 10
Lead actor (and the whole damn town) 2020 charcoal on paper 100 x 149 cm
Point of difference 2016 etching 49 x 39 cm edition 10
The lost horizon 2018 pastel and charcoal on paper 55 x 130 cm
ANDREW ANTONIOU
The passageway 2020 etching 25 x 29 cm edition 10
AU S T R A L I A N GA L L E R I E S MELBOURNE: Derby Street 03 9417 4303 Stock Rooms 03 9417 2422 SYDNEY: Roylston Street 02 9360 5177 enquiries@australiangalleries.com.au australiangalleries.com.au Design and Production by Publishing