B R E N D A M AY GALLERY exhibition calendar 2009 14 January – 7 February 10 February – 7 March 10 March – 4 April 7 April – 2 May 5 May – 30 May 2 June – 27 June 30 June – 25 July 28 July – 22 August 25 August – 19 September 22 September – 17 October 20 October – 14 November 17 November – 12 December
Sculpture 09 Animal Farm Al Munro | Peter Tilley Leslie Oliver | Will Coles Introducing II... Joel Bliss | Mylyn Nguyen Hadyn Wilson | Patsy Payne Ceramic Revisions Jim Croke | Sybil Curtis Melinda Le Guay | Marc Standing The Flower Show Carol Murphy | Helen Mueller Jonathan Leahey | Daniela Turrin
BRENDA MAY GALLERY
Brenda May established Access Gallery in Sydney in 1985 to support emerging Australian artists. The Gallery moved to the Danks Street complex when it opened in 2001 and currently represents Robert Boynes, Jim Croke, Sybil Curtis, James Guppy, Melinda Le Guay, Angela Macdougall, Carol Murphy, Marc Standing, Lezlie Tilley, Peter Tilley and Hadyn Wilson. The Gallery maintains its support of Australian artists by hosting a broad range of solo and thematic exhibitions. An extensive new website and an ‘open’ stockroom of movable racks completes this user-friendly gallery. The Gallery exhibits at the Melbourne Art Fair and is a member of the Australian Commercial Galleries Association.
Jim Croke, Installation view, New Work, April 2008
SCULPTURE 2009 Animal Farm curated group exhibition 14 January to 7 February
An Orwellian homage or a fun romp through the farmyard. In Orwell’s novel, animals are used allegorically to demonstrate how society can be manipulated and exploited by those in positions of power. His mastery is found in his ability to create such an entertaining menagerie through which to illustrate this serious story. This exhibition aims to achieve the same social commentary via a group of entertaining and enticing sculptural objects. Graham Blondel, “Winston Mounted”, 2008, rubber, plastic and ceramic 40 x 40 x 25cm
Marguerite Derricourt, “P for Prison�, 2007, fencing wire, found objects, 39 x 23 x 8cm
AL MUNRO 10 February to 7 March
My work investigates the patterns and codes used to represent and ‘map’ the natural world. It also draws on an interest in the relationship between prints - both traditional and digital and scientific thought. I am particularly interested in how we construct our ideas and understanding of the natural world - how we understand ‘nature’ in the 21st Century. The works refer to the historical role printed materials have held in circulating and controlling information about the natural world, but also to contemporary projects in ‘printing’ nature such as genetic profiling and ‘Dolly’ the sheep.
Al Munro, “Blue Bird I”, 2008, acrylic on cast resin, 37 x 17 x 9 cm
PETER TILLEY Midway Along the Path of Life 10 February to 7 March
In this body of work, which includes small bronzes and larger cast iron sculptures, the figure embarks upon a journey that could be interpreted as a voyage through time rather than space. The androgynous figure lingers and is reluctant to let go, yearning for a past just gone, apprehensive of an uncertain future. Seemingly ordinary journeys take on symbolic values in the search for meaning in life.
Peter Tilley, “Reality and the Tree� (detail), 2008, cast iron, mild steel, 150 x 75 x 40cm. Private collection
LESLIE OLIVER Narrative Objects and Surfaces 10 March to 4 April
Leslie Oliver, “Spin This”, 2008, mixed metals, 15 x 19 x 13cm
As a filmmaker I work with teams of people on written scripts that are then worked into storyboards (visual ideas that inform the shots of actors captured with cameras). This material is then re-worked again in the editing room. At every stage of the process we are trying to build ‘characters’ that stand, live, are credible, engaging and reveal fundamental human qualities. A story is about revealing a character. As a sculptor I am thinking more and more in the same way, though my characters are seemingly static, they need to have a narrative to generate a sense of life and engage the viewer. A sculptor works alone so the processes appear less apparent however they remain the same; a sketch or thought (a script); collecting and capturing material/s (shoot); assembling them (edit); seeking a narrative, a struggle, a test of character, a story. I want the viewer to connect emotionally with my sculptures and then discover the other ideas within them.
WILL COLES 10 March to 4 April
I use traditional sculptural techniques, such as modelling and casting, to manipulate found objects. Within this traditional framework I explore contemporary issues. I examine the fact that within contemporary society, all products, forms of entertainment and culture seem polluted by the cult of disposability – a lack of content and short shelf life. Similarly I despise the political and corporate appropriation of national identity; the hiding behind heroes and out of date patriotism. Ultimately, the final work is a combination of two elements: either a word and an object (I love the possibility of a single word as poetry) or the fusion of two disparate objects. The works are then cast in materials more suited to mass production such as concrete and plastics. Despite reports to the contrary, I believe that art can make a difference and with this in mind I set out to make sculpture that is confronting and provocative so as to create debate. Will Coles, “ANZAC”, 2008, fibreglass resin, 182 x 90 x 80cm. Collection of Artbank
INTRODUCING II... 7 April to 2 May
Installation view, Introducing..., May 2008 featuring work by Lorraine Biggs, Will Coles and Mylyn Nguyen
This is the second exhibition in our Introducing... series. It is a small group show designed to provide artists who are new to the gallery with a chance to create a more substantial body of work.
INTRODUCING II... michael edwards 7 April to 2 May
Michael Edwards, “Still Life and Basket of Broken Eggs�, 2008, oil on canvas, 53 x 60cm
I enjoy painting objects. This is especially so where the object has a life of its own and can be examined in its own world of silence and space. But objects can also be used as symbols and metaphors and are a practical way of commenting on current Australian social and political conditions. To me, it seems more and more information is routinely concealed from us by those with power. We are told that things are presented clearly to us when often they are not. The objects I have painted have been chosen because they are ordinary, and might be found in almost any household, but I have tried to present them in ways where their meaning is ambiguous or partially concealed.
INTRODUCING II... amanda schulz 7 April to 2 May
Amanda Schulz, “Escape�, 2008, porcelain, 34 x 9 x 10 cm
A centre of knowing radiates through the schizophrenic-chaos of the Postmodern Revolution. Serene centredness encountered via a Near Death Experience continues to manifest as a gradual disentanglement from forced culturalisation. Transgressing the dominant cultural reality presents the opportunity for a re-experience of existence beyond the obstructive view of a theoretical lens. My work attempts to reveal the ambivalence of cultural existence and the spiritual desire for a reconciliation of innate creativity with that of prescribed reality.
INTRODUCING II... clare toms 7 April to 2 May
We often exist in a haze of planning and apprehension, continually projecting ourselves into the future and missing the present smaller moments of time which make up our day-to-day reality. This collection of work looks at mortality and our place in the world in the midst of our continual obsession with the future. It invites the viewer to contemplate the everyday, to notice the banal and appreciate the present. The use of animals in my work challenges the distinction between human and animal. The works create a place where form is undone - a type of metamorphosis, a distribution of states. The figures in my work do not exist as a duality - as human and animal, but as a single entity, an existence at the level of the soul. Clare Toms, “Accompany the Soul of the Dead�, 2008, oil on canvas 80 x 80cm
JOEL BLISS 5 to 30 May
I have attempted to create an apocalyptic vision of potential future environmental neglect. My materials are raw and rough - representative of the harsh reality of a degraded Australian environment. Imposing in scale, my sculptures create a feeling of an impending threat. Joel Bliss, “Anxiety Piece #8, Iron Lung�, 2008, steel, timber, rope, 350 x 140 x 380cm
MYLYN NGUYEN 5 to 30 May
I have always wanted an imaginary friend. When I turned 22 I imagined that I had an imaginary friend when I was 6 years old. When I turned 23 I started to draw pictures of what he would look like: black with beady eyes. At 24 he turned into a greenish monster and morphed into glass every time we played hide and seek. At 25 I decided that I didn’t need him anymore. I was all grown up and was embarrassed about the bear figurine I made for my desk at work, meant to keep me company in my little windowless office. I packed him away when I was 25½ and became too busy for playing. When I turned 26, I blew out the candles and wished for my alien mother ship, my black beady eyed friend and a giant bear. I now ride the train to work with a glass friend in my pocket, a bear in my bag and a conversation with the little dust bunny in the crack of the window seal, populated by three little villages and a bug. I still get embarrassed. But I do it anyway... Mylyn Nguyen, “But house needs a friend”, 2008, clay, paper, ink, felt, 11cm x 11cm x 4cm
HADYN WILSON 2 to 27 June
This work is one of a number of images which relate to my continuing interest in mainly extinct or threatened species of plants. I use ‘fictional narratives’ as a vehicle for presenting the sometimes very abstract concepts of deep time and our ability to imagine this.
Hadyn Wilson, “The Talbragar Fish Bed Flora“ (detail), 2008, pencil on card on board, 120 x 160 x 15cm
PATSY PAYNE 2 to 27 June
My work attempts to make sense of physical and emotional experiences of the world, in relation to internalised systems and the paradigms of science. The possibility of layering, allowed by print processes, is a metaphor for the multi-layered nature of knowledge and experience. Overlay is employed as a strategy to both conceal and reveal meaning. I also use piercing, creating stencils that can be used in print processes and in the generation of drawing sequences. Piercing makes the back and front of paper unavoidably apparent. Holes allow one side to connect with the other and allow materials such as graphite to slip from one surface to another. The boundary between back and front (inside and outside, or here and there) is made permeable. Moreover, piercing creates a track, the regular holes that mark a topographic level or the structure of a plant. These works invoke landscape, with its geographical and geological histories, as well as the structures and topographies of the body. I want to suggest the possibility of parallel as well as intertwined systems, with their own intrinsic meanings and multidimensional connections. Patsy Payne, “Elegy I�, 2008, photocopy on kozo paper with overprint of etching plate, 50 x 50cm
CERAMIC REVISIONS curated group exhibition 30 June to 25 July
Carol Murphy, “Mother and Child II�, 2008, ceramic, timber base, 41 x 13 x 12cm
This exhibition has been scheduled to coincide with the 12th National Ceramics Conference to be held in Sydney in July 2009. As a parallel exhibition to the Ceramics Triennale 09 we have selected artists from around Australia who continue to push the boundaries of a seemingly limitless medium.
Leanne Cole, “Drowning�, 2008, ceramic, mixed media, dimensions variable
JIM CROKE 28 July to 22 August
Jim Croke, work in progress (detail), 2008, steel
The process of making art is cloaked in mystery. In 1926 Wallas identified four steps in the creative process: “The investigation and information gathering period, the incubation period when the creator does a lot of work at the subconscious level, the illumination period when the solution becomes clear, and the verification period where the solution is evaluated, elaborated and improved.�* This struck me as an accurate description of how I work. Information gathering is happening all the time - when art is such an important part of your life you are always incubating ideas. The development of a sculpture itself, until a solution becomes clear, can take months or even years and some works are never resolved and have to be abandoned. Sometimes the most difficult (and rewarding) part is evaluating your own completed piece. To evaluate the work the artist has to perform a most difficult balancing act. You have to be severely self critical, sensitive and self aware, objective but in the end confident enough to back your own judgment. This is a high risk process, as is a life in art, but all art must contain risk because that is where the excitement is. This show is smaller in scale than my last, but hopefully contains plenty of risk. *Wallas cited in S. Woolfe, The Mystery of the Cleaning Lady, (University of Western Australia Press, 2007) p.49
The interface between two different elements has more energy and excitement than being within one of the elements. So it is when two colours or textures meet or a curve intersects with a straight line. So it is where land meets water: one solid and stable the other constantly shifting and elusive.
SYBIL CURTIS Interface 28 July to 22 August
Sybil Curtis, “Red Gantries�, 2008, oil on linen, 90 x 90cm
MELINDA LE GUAY 25 August to 19 September
My current work is a visceral response to compulsively collected organic substances and materials - discarded or disintegrating matter in a state of flux or demise. Based on the senses, in particular touch, an engaged attentiveness in the development of the work is integral to the outcome and meaning. Melinda Le Guay, work in progress, 2008, bone, ink on cotton tape, cotton, wax
Through the process of gathering and ordering, repair and reappraisal, my work attempts to articulate transition and transformation.
MARC STANDING 25 August to 19 September
Marc Standing, “Assemblage 1�, 2008, mixed media on paper, 30 x 21cm
Presently I am exploring the use of paper, toying with different textures and surfaces. I like the possibilities of layering, mark making and puncturing the paper. By formulating ideas through assemblage I am juxtaposing images and creating a spontaneous dialogue. I am attracted to the notion of using traditional craft mediums such as stitching, glitter and beading and creating the unexpected. These collages will lead me into my next body of work.
THE FLOWER SHOW curated group exhibition 22 September to 17 October
James Guppy, “Spinosissima Altaira”, 2007, acrylic on linen, 45 x 35cm. Private collection
Anne Ross, “Ophelia”, 2004, patinated and painted cast bronze, edition of 6, 29 x 12.5 x 22.5cm,
Angela Macdougall, “Bower of Beauty”, 2008, patinated cast bronze, timber, edition of 3, 32 x 79 x 24cm
CAROL MURPHY Interspace 20 October to 14 November
This exhibition will explore the connectivity between forms: examining negative spaces, inner spaces and the spaces created by the removal of matter. I am interested in portraying points of connectivity and dependence as suggested by the work “Mother and Child II” (see Ceramic Revisions). The man / child’s arms are reaching into the mother / woman’s breast cavities clinging to her – the child or the lover’s embrace. The exploration of inner space is an attempt to illustrate an emotional element within the work; one of reaching in and through the forms. The appearance of the work is still stylised with a restrained use of colour (white and grey tones prevail) but with a more recognisable figurative element. Carol Murphy, “Embrace”, 2008, ceramic, 13.5 x 11 x 4.5cm
HELEN MUELLER 20 October to 14 November
For quite some time now, I have been captivated by water. It is my muse and hunting ground for inspiration. I am a kayaker and love to glide silently across a liquid sea. My gaze has wandered over time, from the surface to the deep, from what I know to what I don’t. Here below it is always mysterious and never predictable: sometimes it brings piercing clarity, other times murky darkness. It is always unknown. Water has become a metaphor for my personal unknown. It carries with it traces of what I might have known and things I have forgotten. My journey across water is a journey in search of an inward sea. Helen Mueller, “craft for navigating the unknown 1”, 2007, relief techniques, 115 x 46cm
JONATHAN LEAHEY Soft 17 November to 12 December
Jonathan Leahey, “Bear”, 2000, steel and oxide, 50 x 25 x 25cm
Soft explores the world of the soft cuddly toys of childhood - talismans snuggled up with in bedrooms at night providing comfort and security. They’re inanimate and immobile, but carry the weight of being attributed human values and desires; unthreatening and non-judgemental, they offer us unconditional love and protection. Toys reflect our ideas, fantasies, desires and fears. Abandoned, or perhaps immortalised, these are no longer stuffed toys to be played with. They are as hard as steel, sentimental icons reminding us of the world we once lived in - or perhaps still do.
DANIELA TURRIN score-creasefold-unfold 17 November to 12 December
I pull another box off the shelf and out tumble cookie cutters, old chocolate boxes, cotton reels, fishing flies, rubber balls... all manner of things. Each has been collected because, of course, it might be useful one day. Though, there’s also the delicious pleasure in happening upon one of these forgotten boxes every once in a while and simply sifting through the minutiae of past ramblings – projects conceived and then forgotten. I delight in what often-overlooked details can unexpectedly reveal; and their propensity to trigger memory, longing and curiosity. Perhaps it’s possible to rekindle childhood wonder and surprise by looking... again... Daniela Turrin, “Cabinet of Curiosities” (detail), 2008, antique display case, flameworked glass raindrops, entomological pins and labels, 120 x 92 x 62cm
NEW WEBSITE 2008
In 2008 we launched a comprehensive new website. We will continue to add to this site in future creating an archive of the Gallery, our artists and exhibition program. On the website you can view our current, previous and upcoming exhibitions. You can also view work by artists that we are currently exhibiting. Feel free to subscribe to our invitation list or update your details via the site. www.brendamaygallery.com.au
James Guppy, Installation view, Fay, September 2008
Director - Brenda May Manager - Anna Lawrenson Senior Assistant - Lucie Spaven
Copyright remains the property of the Artist and Brenda May Gallery. No part of this calendar may be reproduced without permission. The 2 Danks Street galleries are closed on all public holidays, the Easter long weekend and from Christmas to mid January. Brenda May is a member of the Australian Commercial Galleries Association.
Front cover: Robert Boynes, Installation view, Afterimage, July 2008 Back cover: Lezlie Tilley, Installation view, Summer Sounds, May 2008
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