“Yeah. Cheers. Thanks a lot” a curated group exhibition 26 Nov to 24 Dec 2016
“Yeah. Cheers. Thanks a lot” a curated group exhibition 26 November to 24 December 2016
Last year Brenda May Gallery celebrated the major milestone of turning 30. These three decades have been split between Access Contemporary Art Gallery (est. 1985) in various Sydney locations and Brenda May Gallery at 2 Danks St in Waterloo. The end of 2016 marks 15 years since the Gallery became part of this creative complex on Danks Street and also marks its last, in anticipation of being reborn as MAY SPACE in 2017. Although the Gallery already had fifteen years of exhibitions, artists and clients prior to opening its doors in Waterloo, it owes many of its strengths, experiences and achievements to this complex - the introduction of many amazing artists to the Gallery’s stable, expanding to a more global platform across Australasia through art fairs, observing the resilience and innovation of the artworld in the aftermath of the financial crisis, and the embrace of new media technologies within the commercial art market. Yeah. Cheers. Thanks a lot is an ode to Brenda May Gallery’s time at 2 Danks Street. An ode to the relationships made, fostered and developed; to the hard times endured and the incredible times shared; to the many anniversaries, openings and events held and enjoyed; to the other galleries within the complex that have been our peers, neighbours and support group; and to the artists that transform the space every month into something original and exciting. With this vision in mind, this exhibition will feature new works by our Gallery artists, in admiration of their talent and in honour of how they have shaped the Gallery as it stands today. This good-bye to the current space is a celebration of what Brenda May Gallery and its artists have achieved under its roof before the Gallery moves onto new things… Yeah. Cheers. Thanks a lot.
2 Danks Street under construction
2 Danks Street facade in 2001
Inagural Brenda May Gallery exhibition to launch 2 Danks Street building
2 Danks Street ribbon cutting ceremony, 18 October 2001
2 Danks Street facade in 2005
Brenda May in front of 2 Danks Street in 2008
Danks Street Festival in 2007
Conversations on Contempoary Art series in 2010
ROBERT BOYNES Artist Statement This work grows out of its predecessor, ‘Blind Leading the Blind 2015’ (collection AGNSW). ‘To Whom It May Concern’ in the scheme of my work, has a rather brutal surface that I felt was necessary to materially foreground the weight of the subject. The painting was made on the floor of my studio, pre-primed and heavily crumpled before I began to work on the image. It uses poured paint, multiple silkscreen application, and vigorous mark making while it remained wet and un-stretched on the floor. The subject is a pastiche of images from multiple sources; newspapers, magazine clippings and TV, with many manipulations and changes during the working of the surface. I want the painting to reflect the struggle to survive, that many people in the world are having at this time. The compression that the figures are morphing into may simultaneously be a search for shelter or some kind of slow and ever changing fragment of life. Above all, I want this piece to be formally elegant that will encourage many viewings and not be dated by our times. Robert Boynes, ‘To Whom it May Concern 2’ 2016 acrylic on canvas - diptych, 120 x 240cm
SYBIL CURTIS Artist Statement These structures in a hire company’s yard are the building block for tower cranes. From the heavy solidity of steel rise towers which are immensely strong yet appear as delicate as lace. They are like fragile seedlings having germinated and started to grow using the components of the soil. Why a crow? Some of my earliest paintings concerned crows and I am very fond of these smart opportunists. They are great survivors and will be around even after the last tree has died.
Sybil Curtis, ‘One Flew Over’ 2016 oil on linen, 150 x 48cm
TODD FULLER Artist Statement According to the North American Innu Nation, Kuekuatsheu was the original lover of the moon who was tricked into leaving the spirit world, taking the form of a dog and losing his partner. Similarly Chang’e and Hou Yi from the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival were destined to watch one another from afar after drinking a magical elixir. In both stories, two lovers, a dog and a moon, yearn for each other from afar. Starting with the Railway Roundabout Memorial fountain as a meeting place, Chan and Fuller offer these dispersed lovers an opportunity to reunite for one last duet; by the pink light of a tunnel in Tasmania.
Todd Fuller, ‘Pink Eclipse - flashback,warm nights, almost left behind’ 2016, chalk, charcoal and acrylic on paper, 77 x 112cm Todd Fuller, ‘Pink Eclipse - if you’re lost you can look and you will find me’ 2016, chalk, charcoal and acrylic on paper, 60 x 90cm
ASHLEIGH GARWOOD Artist Statement Towards the Fractal Landscape are familiar images, but they are also a space configured by indeterminacy. The architectonic forms make up a vista that is at once organic and constructed. The geological structures are reworked and echoed between the two pieces. A fractal landscape is a surface generated using a stochastic algorithm designed to produce fractal behaviour that mimics the appearance of natural terrain. Towards the Fractal Landscape are not stochastic, that is they are not randomly generated, but they still employ generic manipulations that are intended to please and trick they eye, rather than reference a particular or even existing location.
Ashleigh Garwood, ‘Towards the Fractal Landscape 1’ 2016 C-type on metallic paper, edition of 3, 25 x 25cm
JAMES GUPPY Artist Statement For the past few years my work has been driven by an inner malaise and dissatisfaction with “the way things are”. This time I am relieved to be returning to a favoured theme...a focus on intimacy, and the body. These paintings are a celebration of flesh and touch. I wanted to get back to the essence of our being...the complex joy of love, and play between people. The touching suggests a “music” of intimacy to me...the duets and trios play together in melodies and patterns that flow as they make contact. There are still dissonant moments but this becomes another part of the energies... The entwined flesh is a fugue of shapes and shadows. Moved by the rhythms and textures of cherished bodies, I have played with these elements to transform lovers at play into a cantata of forms. James Guppy, ‘Counterpoint II’ 2016 acrylic on linen, 61 x 56cm
RAY HAYDON Statement Shadow, the overarching theme in Horstmans’s practice, transforms works and marks the passing of time; the impermanence of precious metals highlights this notion. Metallic lustres are exploited - areas are polished to produce brilliant illumination while others are left dull and raw. Light is captured and reflected, darkness is omnipresent and time is frozen in Horstmans’s tangible, static shadows. Traditional tribal patterns and motifs underpin Horstmans’s entire body of work and these bold studies of line and shadow are a respectful nod to his Islander heritage. Shapes are revealed as the viewer moves around each work - a constant dynamism that embodies Horstmans’s infinite energy. Text by Harriet Morgan
Ray Haydon, ‘Fluid III’ 2016 carbon fibre and American White Oak veneer, 62 x 210 x 20cm
MICHÈLE HEIBEL Artist Statement Here in my nest surrounded by trees the line between ‘us’ and ‘them’ has gradually become blurred. How are we so different to these plants, who form communites, learn from memories, protect their young, choose their mates, look after their sick and bleed?
Michèle Heibel, ‘Absent’ 2016, etching needle on black clayboard, 10 x 10cm Michèle Heibel, ‘Expectant’ 2016, etching needle on black clayboard, 10 x 10cm Michèle Heibel, ‘Present’ 2016, etching needle on black clayboard, 10 x 10cm Michèle Heibel, ‘Life in the Sticks’ 2016, etching needle on black clayboard and arylic, 10 x 10cm
DION HORSTMANS Statement Shadow, the overarching theme in Horstmans’s practice, transforms works and marks the passing of time; the impermanence of precious metals highlights this notion. Metallic lustres are exploited - areas are polished to produce brilliant illumination while others are left dull and raw. Light is captured and reflected, darkness is omnipresent and time is frozen in Horstmans’s tangible, static shadows. Traditional tribal patterns and motifs underpin Horstmans’s entire body of work and these bold studies of line and shadow are a respectful nod to his Islander heritage. Shapes are revealed as the viewer moves around each work - a constant dynamism that embodies Horstmans’s infinite energy. Text by Harriet Morgan
Dion Horstmans, ‘Hard freeze #6’ 2016 8mm solid round bar, powder coated matte black, 80 x 228 x 19.5cm
WARATAH LAHY Artist Statement Throughout 2016 I have been working on a project focussing on the patterns and rhythms in daily life. New worlds have opened up to me: juxtapositions of textures, colours and shapes transforming the known into the unknown. Most recently this gaze has turned to my front garden, a space full of trees, shrubs and flowers that have frequently been left untended (I like things growing but I’m not a diligent gardener…) I’ve been struck by the graceful lines of the bare branches and the ways in which they screen yet define the space. They provide a kind of loose grid on which raindrops, flowers, colours and textures are all plotted, and offer me a means to map this newly rediscovered space.
Waratah Lahy, ‘In the Garden 1-6’ 2016 watercolour and gouache on aquabord, 10 x 10cm each
MELINDA LE GUAY Artist Statement The challenge was to use inexpensive crepe paper to create works evocative of special fabric swatches.
Melinda Le Guay, ‘Black Tie’ 2016, paper, thread, pins, ink, 26 x 18cm (Frame size: 43 x 34cm) Melinda Le Guay, ‘Precious Metals’ 2016, paper, thread, pins, 27 x 18cm (Frame size: 43 x 34cm)
KEVIN MCKAY Artist Statement A palm tree stands proud at a junction where the Greenway cycle path meets a pedestrian bridge and the urban fringe, a skewed collection of urban artefacts surrounding it succumb to the force of gravity, and late afternoon light illuminates this clash between the manmade and natural world that lies somewhere between the arcadian and dystopian.
Kevin McKay, ‘Palm Tree, Lilyfield’ 2016 oil on board, 30.5 x 35.5cm
HELEN MUELLER Artist Statement River systems viewed from the air are reminiscent of root systems and root systems viewed up close are suggestive of river systems. They become each other, reaching as they do into the earth and its crevices, sustaining a greater system that is our habitat. In making this series, I contemplate the threat to our habitat brought about by an ever demanding human habitation and its attendant warming and desiccation.
Helen Mueller, ‘dry 1-3’ 2016, intaglio printed from sea water and nitric etched zinc plates - unique, 38 x 28cm each
AL MUNRO Artist Statement The paintings in the Pleated Logic series continue my interest in exploring the way textile forms, such a pattern and structure, allow us to reconsider the spaces of abstract painting. Pleated and folded fabrics create spatial forms which are flexible and elastic; mathematically, pleating and folding allows a transformation from two dimensions to complex hyperbolic spatial forms. This exhibition draws on ideas developed on recent residencies in northern Thailand, and my interest in the heavily pleated Hmong textiles found in the region. These textiles are patterned with linear forms, often prints, stitched or embellished onto the lengths of cloth prior to pleating. The pleating and the movement it enables creates a shifting and deformation in the patterned surfaces. It is this play between spatial forms and the shifting, stretching and contracting of the patterned pleats which have informed this work.
Al Munro, ‘Secret Gold Logic’ 2016 acrylic on canvas, 142 x 112cm
CAROL MURPHY Artist Statement The double sided heads are new works for Murphy, where one head may have two varying personas depending on which side is displayed. Although the angular head forms hark back to the ‘Drunken Gentlemen series,’ the use of colour and texture indication of beginning a new direction.
Carol Murphy, ‘Small double sided head’ 2016, ceramic, timber base, 21 x 8 x 5.5cm Carol Murphy, ‘With tongue’ 2016, ceramic, timber base, 19.5 x 20 x 4cm
MYLYN NGUYEN Artist Statement When I was little I decided I didn’t want to grow up because if I grew, others would too and they would leave. I know now that what I thought was true and bound; I still don’t want people to leave but I think I’m nearly ready to grow up.
Mylyn Nguyen, ‘Grow’ 2016 watercolour and acrylic on paper, wire, fibre, film, cork, timber 30 x 25 x 25cm
CATHERINE O’DONNELL Artist Statement My drawing practice has been anchored in the suburbs, depicting the urban aesthetic which shape and inform our everyday lives. In this drawing, I took a closer look at suburbia with a focus on an ordinary window. The image is cropped to the point where only the window dressing is on view and the mount stands in for the window itself. What I chose to depict is the simple sheer curtain, which, at first glance appears to deny the viewer access to what lies beyond but on closer inspection an ever so slight opening appears to one side. This opening not only signifies human existence but is also the opening between reality and illusion, the real and the metaphorical, and becomes the space for the imagination as well as an invitation to view the mundane with fresh eyes.
Catherine O’Donnell, ‘beyond’ 2016 charcoal on paper, 13.5 x 13.5cm
LESLIE OLIVER Artist Statement I have been using pieces of found wood since my earliest sculptures as an element of nature’s ‘interface’ with human ‘endeavours’. I have wrought twigs branches and leaves in metal with a similar aim (Nature Lovers 2012). When invited to make works in bronze I realised that leaves are the perfect found object, immortalized and destroyed in the process. Cast in bronze we are stirred to study a leaf more closely than the real thing lying scattered by the side of the road, lost to oblivion. My earnest but clumsy fabrications in contrast put me in my place in the greater scheme of things.
Leslie Oliver, ‘A Leaf Explained’ 2016, patinated + painted bronze, 42 x 20.5 x 9cm Leslie Oliver, ‘Mango Tango’ 2016, patinated bronze, 32 x 17 x 5.5cm Leslie Oliver, ‘Trees are Nice!’ 2016, patinated + painted bronze, 38 x 20 x 4cm
BENJAMIN STORCH Artist Statement Inspired by imagery of dynamical systems in nature and science, my work has been revolving around fluid, orbital loops for a good number of years. Physically, the tactile sensation of shaping the twisting curvatures is part of my attachment to the process and the resulting forms. Conceptually and spiritually, I had a sense that on some level our actions and reactions are not that different from a trajectory circling around attractive and repulsive forces; a fluid, sensitive, nonconfrontational response to the world and our internal contradictions.
Benjamin Storch, ‘Spaceknot’ 2016 mirror-polished cast bronze, stone slab edition of 3, 20 x 30 x 21cm
JANET TAVENER Artist Statement In previous work I created ice sculptures of both heirloom and exotic fruits and photograph them as they melted in a constructed glacial landscape. The works acted as a metaphor for shrinking polar icecaps, indicators of global climate change and fragility of our food system. In the new works the cold glacial environment has evolved into a tropical swamp, where moss grows on ice and a seamy mist hovers in the background.
Janet Tavener, ‘Durian II’ 2016 archival digital print on Canson Baryta, edition of 5, 75x 75cm
PETER TILLEY Artist Statement This is an illustration of the persistent bond between the self and the shadow. Conversely, it could also be a representation of ‘material figure’ above and an ‘immaterial shadow’ below a ground plane representing the division between the figure and the dark side of the self.
Peter Tilley, ‘The shadow within’ 2016 patinated cast iron and steel plate, edition of 3, 145 x 32 x 20cm
LINDA VAN NIEKERK Artist Statement Tasmanian based jewellery designer, Linda van Niekerk, had her very first exhibition with Brenda May Gallery in Danks Street in 2004. “I credit (or blame…) Brenda for starting me on the path to jewellery design. Without her insight and encouragement I might never have embarked on this fulfilling endeavour. To celebrate and farewell the gallery in Danks street, I have created fun, easy to wear sculptural pieces that I hope will encourage the wearer to be bold, proud and walk tall. Yeah, cheers and thank you Brenda and Meg.”
Linda van Niekerk, ‘Rainbow Tail Feathers’, anodised aluminium (multi-colours), sterling silver + silk Linda van Niekerk, ‘Silk Petal Pendant’, anodised aluminium (lime violet), sterling silver + silk Linda van Niekerk, ‘Box, Box neckpiece’, sterling silver + silk. All images by Peter Whyte photography.
NICOLE WELCH Artist Statement An illustration by ornithologist John Gould of the the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater appears as a digital projection on the embankment of Coco Creek in the Gardens of Stone National Park, one of its last remaining habitats.
Nicole Welch, ’Tondo #4, Projection - Regent Honeyeater from ‘The Birds of Australia: in seven Volumes’, John Gould 1848’ 2016, gicleé print, face-mounted, edition of 6, 60cm diameter
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