Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery by Heide Museum of Modern Art

SWEENEY REED AND STRINES GALLERY

25 AUGUST 2018 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 24 FEBRUARY 2019

CONTENTS

SWEENEY REED: DEMON ART MAN

REVISITING THE FIELD

RISING HORIZON

MISSING FORMS

46 TIMELINES 50

LIST OF WORKS

54 ENDNOTES

OPPOSITE Installation view Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery Heide Museum of Modern Art 2018 Photograph: Christian Capurro

SWEENEY REED: DEMON ART MAN

OPPOSITE Sweeney at Strines, Carlton c.1967 Photograph: John Edson Heide Museum of Modern Art Archive © Lansdowne Press ABOVE Ron Upton Oops! 1966 brush and ink on paper Installation view Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery Heide Museum of Modern Art 2018 Photograph: Christian Capurro

In October 1966, Sweeney Reed launched his first commercial gallery venture, Strines, with an exhibition of brush and ink drawings and collages by the young artist Ron Upton. For its allusions to the human anatomy— including genitalia—and sexual innuendo, the exhibition drew the ire of the Victorian Police Vice Squad and provoked criminal charges on the grounds of obscenity.1 The subsequent ordeal threw the progressive aspirations of Reed’s fledgling gallery into relief against a broader social context of moral conservatism.2 From these controversial beginnings, Reed positioned Strines as far from conservative. Its interior was outfitted in the latest style of ‘sophisticated minimalism’ by architect David McGlashan one year before he completed Heide II, the award-winning home of John and Sunday Reed. The gallery was sixties-cool and Sweeney Reed, as its charismatic director, played host to dinners, parties and avant-garde poetry readings, as well as exhibitions. Strines was named for the phonetic pronunciation of ‘Australians’ in a broad, exaggerated accent,3 in a show

of irreverence that likely would have rankled the more conventional galleries of the time. In the year Strines opened, Gallery A run by Max Hutchinson was the only commercial gallery in Melbourne showcasing innovative or experimental art in any dedicated capacity, with its mandate to promote then-contemporary non-objective work. Since the closure, earlier in 1966, of the Museum of Modern Art and Design of Australia, there had been a paucity of galleries focused on the promotion of advancements in artistic production. The late 1960s, however, saw maturation in this area. Strines’ 1966 opening was closely followed by Bruce Pollard’s influential Pinacotheca in St Kilda in 1967. Among the other new establishments launched in these years were Tolarno Galleries, directed by Georges Mora in St Kilda in 1967, and Powell Street Gallery in South Yarra in 1969. Reed’s initial impetus for Strines had been the desire to stimulate for his generation

Installation view of the inaugural exhibition, Ken Reinhard, Sweeney Reed Galleries, Melbourne, 1972 Photograph: John Edson Heide Museum of Modern Art Archive

Exhibition invitation, The Big Show 1967: Strines $100.00 & Under Xmas Show, Strines, Melbourne, 1967 Photographs: John Edson Heide Museum of Modern Art Archive

the kind of interest in avant-garde art that his adoptive parents, Heide founders Sunday and John Reed, had engendered for theirs; he strove to create a popular currency for art as existed in the northern hemisphere in an advance of the inroads made by the Reeds two-decades prior. In Russell Deeble’s estimation: ‘We lived in each other’s pockets. The model for it, whether it was ever stated or not, was really what John and Sunday Reed had done generations before’.4 And as at Heide, perhaps the most telling achievement of Strines was in rallying a progressive young artistic community with Reed as a conduit and force of cohesion. Over four years, he presented an innovative program of contemporary art at Strines that helped launch the careers of a new generation of artists. Trevor Vickers held his first solo exhibition at the gallery in 1966 and a second the following year. John Krzywokulski, who was still a student when Reed signed him to Strines’ books, mounted his debut solo show there in 1969. Les Kossatz staged his first three exhibitions at the gallery, presenting a successive series of motifs that charted the evolution of his practice from 1967–69,5 and Alex Selenitsch, in his inaugural exhibition in 1969, became the first artist to hold a solo show of concrete poetry in Australia at Strines. Alongside these artists, the gallery

showcased the work of a group of young Colour Field and hard-edge abstractionists, Pop artists, and those working in styles less readily categorisable, many of whom are now regarded as key figures in Australian art history. Reed sold Strines and withdrew his involvement with the gallery in 1970.6 In 1972, he opened his second venture, Sweeney Reed Galleries, with Julian Sterling as silent partner and Peregrine Smith, Sweeney’s half-brother as gallery manager. When the gallery was launched, The Age ran an article with the startling headline: ‘Sweeney Reed— demon art man’. While characteristic of its time, the article’s colourful language also alluded to Reed’s unconventional methods.7 Across both ventures, Reed demonstrated entrepreneurial flair as a dealer; he was singular in his enthusiasm for artworks of integrity and emphatic in their promotion. John Kryzwokulski remembers he was: The new kid on the block, with big ideas. He was good at promotion. He worked hard, and succeeded, especially when the stakes were high … to prove what he was capable of. He felt artists, poets and writers should have the same pop status as music celebrities.8

RIGHT Alix Macdonald, ‘Sweeney Reed—demon art man’ in The Age, 15 August 1972 Heide Museum of Modern Art Archive © Fairfax Syndication

OPPOSITE Sweeney Reed publicity shots, c.1972 Photographer unknown Heide Museum of Modern Art Archive

At Sweeney Reed Galleries, Reed repeated his now proven model. The interior was designed by Alex Selenitsch, with plush carpeting and furnishings, a self-contained apartment on the third floor, and custom rooms maintained for the purposes of entertaining. As with Strines, Sweeney Reed Galleries attracted a like-minded and progressive circle of young artists around a loose program of exhibitions—adding new artists to the roster, including Ken Reinhard, Patrick Caulfield (who exhibited for the first time in Australia in his solo exhibition at the gallery in 1972), Allan Mitelman and Gareth Sansom, who became Reed’s steadfast friend. Sweeney Reed Galleries remained operational for three years, until 1975.9 As a contemporary of the young artists he represented at both galleries, Reed was distinguished from other dealers and he maintained lasting relationships with the artists he represented in a manner that engendered solidarity and a sense of community around the gallery. He was a dedicated supporter of (and occasional collaborator with) Krzywokulski and the artist remained close to Reed throughout the 1970s.10 Reed likewise cultivated lengthy friendships with Kossatz, Vickers,

Deeble, Selenitsch and Alun Leach-Jones, collaborating with many of them over the years on publishing and poetry projects. Most significantly, however, Reed was a catalysing force: in Russell Deeble’s words, ‘Sweeney always saw himself as Flinders Street station—it was through him that activity occurred’.11 Works by central figures and important contributors to Reed’s galleries have been brought together for Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery, drawn from Heide’s collection and further afield. Several have direct ties to Heide II’s rich history. The exhibition examines almost a decade of activities within the broader art historical context of the late sixties and seventies and traces developments in Reed’s pursuit of innovative practice. The exhibition also considers the role of female artists during a time when they were under-acknowledged. Reed’s life and work have been the subject of numerous exhibitions at Heide Museum of Modern Art;12 however, this exhibition represents the first opportunity to examine the history of Strines and Sweeney Reed Galleries as well as reconsider in this context Reed’s work as an artist, poet and small press publisher.

John Krzywokulski Suspended Visibilities (Recently Direct) 1968â&#x20AC;&#x201C;69 synthetic polymer paint and fibreglass on composition board 133 x 122 x 13 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of John Krzywokulski 2013

Trevor Vickers Untitled Painting 1966 synthetic polymer paint on composition board 91 x 91 cm Private collection, courtesy of Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne

REVISITING THE FIELD

PREVIOUS Installation view Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery Heide Museum of Modern Art 2018 Photograph: Christian Capurro

More than just cultivating a scene, Reed’s galleries importantly promoted a new wave of daring abstractionists, now considered significant figures in the history of Australian art. Sydney artists Col Jordan and David Aspden held their first solo exhibitions in Victoria at Strines, both in May 1967, and were closely followed by Sydney Ball four months later. The following year, Jordan, Ball and Aspden were all included in the National Gallery of Victoria’s landmark exhibition of Colour Field and hard-edge abstraction,1 The Field. The show marked the NGV’s move to its new premises on St Kilda Road and is widely considered a turning point in the history of Australian art. Trevor Vickers was likewise selected for The Field after exhibiting at Strines. Vickers offered early (if not the first) glimpses of an incipient minimalism in Australia at Strines in his second solo exhibition at the gallery in 1967.2 Reproduced on the exhibition invitation card, a statement by Paul Partos explained the objective of many artists engaging with these new forms of abstraction with an economic precision:

Modern painting is a ‘means‘ rather than an ‘end’ in itself. It attempts to delineate the thought process into pure visual values, that are sympathetic to the flat, two-dimensional quality of the canvas.3 In March 1968, Alun Leach-Jones exhibited major breakthroughs in the development of his iconographic Noumenon motif at Strines,4 while in April, Robert Rooney debuted his Kind Hearted Kitchen Gardens and Slippery Seals series at the gallery. In August that year works from these series were shown in The Field. In fact, all of the artists working in Colour Field or hard-edge abstraction who had held solo exhibitions at Strines in its first eighteen months of operations were chosen for The Field.5 Sweeney knew Australian Art Curator Brian Finemore and presumably, Strines’ promotion of these artists facilitated their inclusion.6 In the lead up to The Field in 1967, the major exhibition Two Decades of American Painting was held at the NGV’s former premises at the State Library of Victoria. It was a large display of postwar New York School paintings coordinated by the Museum of Modern Art, New York.7 The exhibition polarised art critics and polemicists and signalled ‘the passing of the idea of Australian art itself’

ABOVE Sydney Ball: New Serigraphs & Sculpture exh. cat., Strines Melbourne 1967 Collection of John Krzywokulski RIGHT Sydney Ball Khamsa Blue 1966â&#x20AC;&#x201C;67 enamel on plywood 187 x 134 x 46 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Purchased from John and Sunday Reed 1980

PREVIOUS Installation view Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery Heide Museum of Modern Art 2018 Photograph: Christian Capurro OPPOSITE Works in preparation for The Field, NGV St Kilda Road, 1968 Installation view The Field Revisited The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, 2018

—embodied by the allegorical figuration of artists like Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and Arthur Boyd—and the ‘advocacy of a new idea of Australian art’.8 The critical reception of The Field was divided along much the same lines. In Australia’s history, figuration was associated with the past and inward-looking attempts to articulate a national style. The ‘new abstraction’, consolidated by Two Decades of American Painting and The Field, signified the alignment of Australian art with international modernism.9 Pop art was not taken up in Australia with nearly the same vigour that hard-edge abstraction enjoyed or to the same extent as in the United States and the United Kingdom. To some degree, ‘the issue [of Pop] was confused by what the critics took to be the signs of a return to figuration’. To this was added the idea that Pop was seen as an enshrining of provincialism10 such that in Australia, the style came to be considered antithetical to the new abstraction. But in this divisive local context, Strines supported artists in both camps, and this was an uncommon stance; for Reed, an artwork’s legitimacy was not delimited by fashions. Prior to his exhibition at Strines in 1967, Mike Brown satirised the sanctity of this divide in his 1964 show at

MoMADA, Exhibition of Hard-Edge and Pop Art Paintings. Similarly, for artists such as Gareth Sansom (a staple at Sweeney Reed Galleries along with Pop icon Ken Reinhard and Patrick Caulfield), ‘an aggressively Pop style was an alliance with figuration against the onslaught of abstraction’.11 Ken Reinhard’s inaugural exhibition at Sweeney Reed Galleries drew criticism from Patrick McCaughey, who, in warning of the connection between Pop and provincialism, commented that the work ‘comes uncomfortably close to reinforcing the least worthy taste in our time … dated 1940s fussy, English good taste, all wispy, watercolory and wet’.12 Conversely, Les Kossatz appeared to allude directly, albeit through the use of irony, to this link between Pop and provincialism. In his first exhibition at Strines, Les Kossatz: Paintings, Flags and Drawings, 1967, flags, stripes, medallions and memorabilia signalled his allegiance to Pop but were deployed in such a way as to effect an ironic critique of the hollow mockery of ANZAC Day celebrations and the role of Australia in entering international conflicts. Kossatz’s flag works were shown at Strines, flown from poles cantilevered from the pitched roof.13 Kossatz’s regionally specific take on Pop distanced his images somewhat from the international movement’s typical

OPPOSITE Installation view Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery Heide Museum of Modern Art 2018 Photograph: Christian Capurro OVERLEAF Allan Mitelman Carolina Shout 1974 oil on canvas 173 x 213 cm Private collection, courtesy of Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne

emphasis on the elevation of popular and consumer culture. Rather, he seemed to defy the very notion of an ‘international style’, illustrating how an imported idea can become refracted by local contexts. The reception of the history of Western art outside the historical ‘centres’ of global cultural production is necessarily complicated by local conditions and the proliferation of regional modernisms. In Australia in the late 1960s this played out in the local conflict between pure abstraction and figuration. Other artists complicated the division, revealing it as something of a false dichotomy. John Krzywokulski and Robert Rooney experimented with figuration and Pop, and Rooney’s hard-edge investigations in particular from this period are imbued with a sense of irony. Alun Leach-Jones’ take on hard-edge abstraction was decidedly idiosyncratic and opposed the prevailing idea that paintings were, first and foremost, objects. As Mike Brown had done, Gareth Sansom and Ken Reinhard consciously mixed abstract and figurative elements, with Reinhard borrowing gratuitously from geometric abstraction. Other artists exhibited different tendencies altogether that further undermined these stylistic allegiances, like the suggestions of neo-Dada permeating Ron Upton’s work, the minimalist affinities in Michael Young’s

sculpture,14 or Allan Mitelman’s approach to abstraction, which is wholly distinguished from that of many of his contemporaries included in The Field. In this context, the significance of Reed’s galleries lay in complicating the narrative of The Field and in teasing out some of the intricacies of Australia’s reception to the burgeoning internationalism that Two Decades of American Painting represented. As a corollary to The Field, and with encouragement from Kossatz, Reed and Sansom, John Stringer was offered the opportunity to curate an exhibition of figurative art called—glibly—The Paddock; however it never transpired.15

RISING HORIZON

PREVIOUS Installation view Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery Heide Museum of Modern Art 2018 Photograph: Christian Capurro OPPOSITE Broadsheet Publishers The Broadsheet 3: Where Are All The Flowers Going? 1968 relief print 63.5 x 50.5 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of Michael Dugan 1995

In parallel with his commercial gallery dealings at Strines and Sweeney Reed Galleries, from 1966, Reed initiated a series of progressive small press publishing ventures through which he distributed publications by international artists and poets such as Ian Hamilton Finlay and later designed and published the work of his contemporaries. These publications took the form of limited edition prints, poster poems, catalogues, journals, anthologies and books.1 Reed also regularly contributed to the poetry and visual art scenes by producing his own work for publication in progressive magazines and reviews. The Broadsheet poster series,2 initiated by activist and historian Ian Turner, is one such example that featured numerous artists involved with Strines. Turner and associate editors invited artists, poets and writers to respond to contemporary issues and the resultant posters contained letterpress and relief print poems in hand numbered short-run editions. The Broadsheet 3: Where are all the flowers going?, 1968, featured poems by Sweeney Reed and Russell Deeble alongside Alex Selenitsch’s up/dn—the first concrete poem to be printed in Australia.

These off-shoots from the galleries’ main activities stemmed from Reed’s lifelong twin interests in art and writing, preoccupations that found ready stimulus and predecessors at Heide. And these dual concerns found their logical convergence in Reed’s active interest in concrete or visual poetry—an experimental genre that synthesises writing and art in which the particular semantic, visual or phonetic qualities of words are explored within the space and structure of poetry. Through Reed’s interests in publishing and poetry—and particularly in concrete poetry—Strines became a site of patronage for experimental poetic practice. The foundations for this approach had been laid in 1964–65, when immediately prior to opening Strines, Reed had spent a year in London. There he worked at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and became acquainted with central figures of the British Poetry Revival—a loose movement arising out of the 1960s underground poetry and alternative publishing scenes. At this time, Reed joined ‘Writers Forum’ with his friend, the US poet Bill Butler;3 a small press publishing and poetry workshop established by Bob Cobbing4 that was important as a hub for young and experimental writers.5 Writers Forum concerned itself with ‘the limits of poetry’,6 and its publishing and performance activities were as integral to the group’s aims as the poetry itself.7

Alex Selenitsch balloons 1969 screenprint on acetate 21.5 x 20 x 2 cm Gift of Alex and Merron Selenitsch 2011

In a letter to Sunday and John Reed from this time, Sweeney Reed wrote that he had been offered a job in a Charing Cross Road bookshop. Given his affiliations, the reference is likely to the Better Books bookshop, an underground independent institution for the London avant-garde where both Cobbing and Butler were managers at different points in time.8 Poetry readings, happenings, film screenings and art installations were held in the basement at Better Books in what are now recognised as some of the most significant initial activities of the burgeoning experimental poetry scene. While in London, Reed also saw Between Poetry and Painting, curated by Jasia Reichardt, one of the first substantial exhibitions of concrete poetry ever held. Among others, the exhibition featured the work of Cobbing and Hamilton Finlay. The dynamic integration of publishing, poetry, performance and art that characterised Reed’s experience in London provided a model for his activities at Strines and Sweeney Reed Galleries upon his return. Throughout 1967, Reed and Deeble held a vanguard series of poetry readings and workshops in the Strines basement, informed by Reed’s experiences at Writers Forum and Better Books. The events were met with enthusiasm and the gallery filled to capacity. Trevor Vickers remembers, ‘They were trying to take the dour aspect

out of the poetry and make it sort of sixtiesish ... And they wore fluffy shirts. It was a bit like a musical event.’9 But it wasn’t until 1969 that Reed’s advocacy for experimental poetry and related fine art publishing endeavours were most fully realised. That year, Alex Selenitsch held the first solo exhibition by a visual poet in Australia at Strines. In the same year, Reed launched Still Earth Publications with Russell Deeble from a warehouse in Richmond and through this imprint, began producing increasingly progressive publications of conventional verse and concrete poetry by themselves and their peers—Shelton Lea, Alex Selenitsch and Peter Cowan among them. Often realised as limited edition prints, artists’ books or poster poems, these publications existed at the threshold between printmaking and publishing. A notable exhibition at Strines, also in 1969, consolidated some of these influences and concerns. Under the unwieldy title, For Five Days: A collection of recent British and American Graphics selected and brought to Australia by Leslie Stack, Reed staged an exhibition of limited edition prints and signed exhibition posters, mostly from Editions Alecto. Alex Selenitsch recalls:

OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Exhibition poster, Allen Jones: A New Perspective on Floors Alecto Gallery, London, 1966 Image courtesy John Krzywokulski Exhibition poster, Jim Dine: Recent Paintings and Drawings Robert Fraser Gallery, London, 1965 Image courtesy John Krzywokulski Exhibition poster, Allen Jones: A Fleet of Buses Alecto Gallery, London, 1966 Image courtesy John Krzywokulski Exhibition poster, Eduardo Paolozzi: Universal Electronic Vacuum Alecto Gallery, London, 1967 Image courtesy John Krzywokulski

PP32–35 Installation view Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery Heide Museum of Modern Art 2018 Photograph: Christian Capurro

There was a real burst of printmaking by the new wave of English artists and this was the first hint we had of it. It was truly exciting. It was as exciting as the Two Decades of American Painting show that came out here. They were just small things, prints, but nevertheless, these were all practising artists who were at their best.10 Like Reed’s integrated approach, the works collapsed distinctions between fine art printmaking—produced in limited edition runs—small press publishing and poetry, as in evidence in Bridget Riley’s Poster Poem: Descending printed by Editions Alecto in 1968, which was likely included. After Strines and Sweeney Reed Galleries closed, Reed studied printmaking at the Victorian College of the Arts from 1977 to 1978, producing two- and three-dimensional text works of his own in a range of media and techniques. These artworks render Reed’s expressive and lyrical syntactical verse into concrete poems and constructions that privilege materiality and production values, such as is evident in Impounded Illusion (Horizon) 1976. In this, Reed’s most ambitious construction, Selenitsch explains that the work is ‘a single-word poem; a rising HORIZON’11 represented by only the top half of each letter, such that the word appears to emerge from an actual horizon

line. Reed held a solo exhibition of his work at Tolarno Galleries in May 1977 called Moments of Mind. Reed’s meticulously constructed artworks are ‘blatantly candid, delicate and fragile in material and sentiment’,12 laying bare a sensibility seemingly at odds with the confident image of the entrepreneurial young gallery director Reed projected. But, Col Jordan explains, ‘For all his frenetic energy and enthusiasm there was a hint of vulnerability about Sweeney … His eventual suicide was a tragedy, but not a surprise’.13 Sweeney Reed took his own life in 1979. This biographical detail, along with Reed’s parentage, have largely overshadowed his achievements in subsequent accounts. Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery represents an opportunity to re-examine this history in light of Reed’s accomplisments.

Lesley Dumbrell Deep Yellow Grey 1970 acrylic on canvas 106 x 145 cm Courtesy of the artist and Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne

MISSING FORMS

While Strines and Sweeney Reed Galleries were proponents of progressive artistic practice, they were less progressive in other areas, remaining characteristic of the local art scene in under-representing female artists. The decade of activity at Strines and Sweeney Reed Galleries roughly corresponds to the international rise of the women’s rights movement, but it is a time now acknowledged for its poor representation of women. Of the approximately 120 artists Sweeney Reed exhibited, only six women working in a thencontemporary style were included in either gallery. As such, Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery also represents an opportunity to examine the broader social and political context for Reed’s galleries in these terms. Artworks by female artists who were shown at the galleries are displayed alongside work by female artists who weren’t involved, but who were active at the time and working in a similar idiom, specifically, Janet Dawson, Virginia Cuppaidge and Leonora Howlett.1 In 1970, Lesley Dumbrell held the only solo exhibition by a female artist in almost ten years of operations. It was also the artist’s first solo exhibition in Victoria. Shortly after, Sandra Leveson exhibited in a two-person exhibition at Strines. More commonly, however, work by female artists was included in large survey exhibitions—

a painting by Margaret Worth was included in The Big Show 1967: Strines $100.00 & Under Xmas Show, while renowned UK Op artist Bridget Riley featured in Strines’ noteworthy 1969 exhibition of prints and graphic works from the UK and US. It is likely Riley’s screenprint, Poster Poem: Descending, printed by Editions Alecto in 1968, was the work included. Strines and Sweeney Reed Galleries also exhibited work by artists from a previous generation. Notably, in 1972, Reed displayed Albert Tucker’s Images of Modern Evil series together for the first time and brokered sales from the series to the Australian National Gallery (now NGA), in Canberra. A memorable group exhibition at Sweeney Reed Galleries, 74 New Acquisitions, included historical work by Danila Vassilieff, Sidney Nolan, Pablo Picasso, Sir Arthur Streeton and Eugene von Guerard alongside then-contemporary artists Gareth Sansom, Patrick Caulfield and Allan Mitelman, among others. Similarly, work by an additional four women associated with John and Sunday Reed’s generation—Jean Langley, Joy Hester, Hermia Boyd and Mirka Mora—were included in large survey exhibitions at the galleries.

PREVIOUS Installation view Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery Heide Museum of Modern Art 2018 Photograph: Christian Capurro OPPOSITE Ruth Cowen casual ties c.1980 offset print on bromide 42 x 29.5 cm Gift of the Ruth Cowen Literary Estate 2011

PP42–45 Installation view Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery Heide Museum of Modern Art 2018 Photograph: Christian Capurro

It is perhaps not surprising that women figured more prominently in the concrete poetry scene of the seventies and the decades following than in the exhibitions. Linguistic modes are innately apposite for artists addressing women’s experience, in echoing the call of French feminist theorist Hélène Cixous for the cultivation of a ‘feminine mode’ of writing, to subvert the established function of language as an instrument of patriarchal expression. In a concrete poetry anthology produced by Collective Effort Press in 1981, Missing Forms,2 Sweeney Reed is acknowledged posthumously as a contributor and instigator of the project—with poets Π.O. (or Pi.O.), Alex Selenitsch, Peter Murphy and Denis Douglas. A selection of Reed’s concrete poems appears alongside work by major figures in Australia’s concrete poetry scene, including seven women. In it, Π.O. writes:

As Concrete Poetry was claiming to challenge the ‘linear authority’ of language … it became an attractive area of investigation … for women exploring ideas associated with feminism, and in particular, how ‘sexism’ manifested itself in language, and the role language played in the oppression of women.3 Female concrete poets—like Ruth Cowen, Karen Cherry, Jennifer Hawkins, Thalia, Bev Aisbit, and A.C.R.—working alongside their male counterparts, took up the mantle of progressive practice instigated a Strines through its support of experimental poetry into the next decades and toward other horizons.

STRINES

October 1966 – December 1970 Corner Faraday and Rathdowne streets, Carlton, converted by David McGlashan

1966

1967

13 October Inaugural exhibition: Ron Upton drawings and collages. Works shown included Oops!, Vase of Flowers Including Mondrian’s Tulip, Aspects of a Psychopath, Four Portraits of Edwin Tanner

March Mike Brown. Works shown included wire sculptures of clouds, cats cradle assemblages, a large monochrome and Jupiter fly catcher

November Trevor Vickers (first solo exhibition) December John Coburn collages and silk-screens

30 March – 15 April Les Kossatz: Paintings, Flags and Drawings (first solo exhibition) 20 April – 11 May Edwin Tanner, chalk drawings 11 May Image Light Movement: Films by Frank Eidlitz (film screening) May David Aspden 18 May – 8 June Col Jordan exhibition of paintings 15 June– 5 July Ron Upton exhibition of sculptures (terracotta, fiberglass and found objects coated in resin). Works shown included Walking Man, Voyeur and Little blue Anna Blume

1968 17 July– 3 August David Aspden exhibition of colour paintings 6 August Russell Deeble (poetry reading) 17 August – 4 September Danila Vassilieff exhibition of watercolours and sculpture 3 September Frank Kellaway and Scott Carter (poetry reading) 7–28 September Alun Leach-Jones 14–28 September Mike Shaw 27 September – 22 October Sydney Ball: New serigraphs and sculpture. Works shown included silkscreen prints of the Persian Series and three sculptures 1 October Sweeney Reed and Richard Murphy (poetry reading)

28 October – 15 November Trevor Vickers 5 November Ron Gray and John Gooday (poetry reading) November David Aspden

12–29 March Alun Leach-Jones: New Works Ken Whisson April Robert Rooney: Kind Hearted Kitchen Gardens and Slippery Seals

16–30 November Sydney Nolan

21 November Les Kossatz: Day Lights & Night Lights

3 December Barrett Reid (poetry reading)

11 December Swedish Graphics

11 December The big show 1967– Strines $100-00 & under Xmas Show. Included work by Alun Leach-Jones, David Boyd, Fred Cress, Hermia Boyd, Jean Langley, John Krzywokulski, Joy Hester, Les Kossatz, Mike Brown, Peter Booth, Anne Hall, Margaret Worth, Elwin Lynn, John Perceval, Robert Jacks, Sydney Ball Peter Booth (first solo exhibition)

William Ferguson

1969 1–12 April Indian Miniatures 29 April – 17 May Peter Travis: Pottery 10–17 May Small paintings, drawings, lithographs $100 and under. Included work by Sydney Ball, Peter Burns, John Coburn, Les Kossatz, John Krzywukolski, Rodney Milgate, Mirka Mora, Michael Allen Shaw, Andrew Sibley, Robin Wallace-Crabbe, Charles Blackman, David Boyd, Leonard French, Donald Friend, Tom Gleghorn, Michael Goss, Joy Hester, Laurence Hope, Sir Arthur Streeton June William Kelly (first solo exhibition) July Colin Stevens

24 July – 2 August John Krzywokulski (first solo exhibition) September Alex Selenitsch. The first solo exhibition of concrete poetry held in Australia. (first solo exhibition) 8–20 September Rare lithographs and prints from the Arthur Chard Collection, Adelaide. Included work by S.T. Gill, L. Bouvelot, J. Webber, Joseph Lycett, Eugene von Guerard 28 October Paintings by Les Kossatz

21–25 October For Five Days: A collection of recent British and American Graphics selected and brought to Australia by Leslie Stack. Included work by Joseph Albers, Gillian Ayres, Patrick Caulfield, Bernard Cohen, Alan Davie, Robyn Denny, Jim Dine, Jean Dubuffet, David Hockney, Allen Jones, Eduardo Paolozzi, Bridget Riley, William Scott, Colin Self, Joe Tilson, Peter Sedgley November Michael Young 9 December Printstrines: An exhibition of lithographs and silkscreens from Bonython’s Gallery, Sydney John Robinson Michael Fitzjames (as Michael York) (first solo exhibition)

1970

1971

27 April – 15 May Eighteenth Century Indian Miniatures

Osborne and Polak officially took over Strines in May 1971 (management was handed over during 1970). Both Jim Roberts (manager) and Harriet Polak (front of house and secretary) had worked for Sweeney Reed and continued to work at Osborne and Polak.

1–14 August Hideo Hagiwara, prints 17 August – 4 September Lesley Dumbrell Sandra Leveson (two-person exhibition) Jeffrey Makin Domenico de Clario

SWEENEY REED GALLERY

1972

1973

1974

18 – 26 August Inaugural exhibition: Ken Reinhard. Included Concentric Silver, 1972

June – July Danila Vassilieff watercolours plus paintings and graphics by Nolan, Tucker, French, Daws, Kossatz, Krzywokulski, Dobell, Dali, Man Ray, Blake, Caulfield, Boyd, Reinhard, Blackman

18 March – 7 April 74 – Acquisitions: Danila Vassilieff, Henricus Leonardus Van Den Houten, Sydney Nolan, Pablo Picasso, John Percival, Albert Tucker, Sir Jacob Epstein, Les Kossatz, Ian Fairweather, Arthur Boyd, Godfrey Miller, Sir William Dobell, J.H. Carse, Sir Arthur Streeton, George Chambers Jnr., George Chambers Snr., Walter Withers, Eugen Von Gerard, William Short Snr., Claude Hayes, David Bates, William McInnis, Fred Williams, Charles Blackman, Peter Clarke, Alun Leach-Jones, Gareth Sansom, Bastin, Kenneth Conner, Patrick Caulfield, Ray Cook, Joy Hester, S.T. Gill, Robert Dickerson, George Baldessin, Alan Mitelman, Man Ray, William Tucker, Sydney Ball, Peter Blake, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Fred McCubbin, John Eyre,

2 October Patrick Caulfield: Paintings and Prints October Albert Tucker and Ian Fairweather 21 November – 31 December Albert Tucker: Night images, 1943–1947. Tucker’s Images of Modern Evil were shown as a coherent series for the first time and three small bronzes were created for the exhibition 1972–73 Kenneth Connor

13–31 August Kenneth Connor 3–23 September Gareth Sansom Paintings

1972–1975 233 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, interior designed by Alex Selenitsch

1975 John Krzywokulski, Jeffrey Makin 13 May Artists for Labor opened by Margaret Whitlam and organised by Alun Leach-Jones and Jeffrey Makin with work donated by more than 35 artists and proceeds to the Australian Labor Party. Artists included John Perceval, Roger Kemp, John Brack, Leonard French, Robert Grieve, Michael Shannon, Mirka Mora and Andrew Sibley. 7 October– 2 November Allan Mitelman

24 February – 15 March Gareth Sansom 5–30 May Les Kossatz: Sheep Sculpture

PUBLICATIONS

1962

1969

Sweeney Reed, The Savage Urge, with cover illustrations by Mirka Mora.

Sweeney Reed, ‘Telepoem’ in Barrett Reid (advisory ed.), Overland, no 41, 1969.

1968

Sweeney Reed, Michael Dugan (ed.), Crosscurrents, v2, no 1, 1969.

Sweeney Reed, ‘Dead friends and lovers’ and Alex Selenitch, ‘up/ dn’ published in The Broadsheet 3: Where are all the flowers going?, no. 3, April, 1968. ‘up/dn’ was the first concrete poem to be printed in Australia. Sweeney Reed, ‘Barbarella’ in Peter Cowan et. al. (eds.), Westerly, no 2, July 1968. Russell Deeble, A trip to light blue, Strines Publications, Carlton. Sweeney Reed, Richard Tipping and Rob Tillett (eds.), Mok, no. 4, Summer 1968. Sweeney Reed, ‘Ode for the “Vista Vision Kid”’ in Barrett Reid (advisory ed.), Overland, no 40, December 1968.

Russell Deeble, High on a horse with wax wings, Still Earth Publications, Melbourne. Sweeney Reed (ed.), Selections from Still Earth, Still Earth Publications, Richmond. Featuring Russell Deeble, Diane Di Prima, Shelton Lea, Christopher Logue, Tom Pickard. Alex Selenitsch, Short circus, Still Earth Publications, Richmond. Shelton Lea, Corners in cans (publication), Still Earth Publications, Richmond. Shelton Lea, Corners in cans (invitation), Still Earth Publications, Richmond.

1977 Peter Cowan, Burnt almonds, Still Earth Russell Deeble, Publications, Richmond. Just before eyelight, Overland Press, 1970 Melbourne. Sweeney Reed and Sweeney Reed & Alun Russell Deeble (eds.), Leach Jones, Sightings, Manic Magazine, vol.1 Macquarie University, no.1, March 1970. North Ryde. Bruce Dawe, Heat-wave: Russell Deeble, A poem poems, Sweeney Reed that wants to be painted, Publications, Bulleen. with artwork by Joy Russell Deeble, Hester, Sweeney Reed You, Sweeney Reed Publications, Bulleen. Publications, Bulleen. 1979 Michael Dugan, Missing Obituary booklet, text people, Sweeney Reed by Barrett Reid. Publications, Bulleen. c. 1971 Richard Murphy, N-trances, Still Earth Publications, Richmond. 1976 Sweeney Reed, A keepsake for strangers, Overland Press, Melbourne.

LIST OF WORKS

The below list of works is arranged alphabetically by artist. Works on paper are specified at sheet size. All works courtesy of the artist unless otherwise specified. David Aspden Samadhi c.1966 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 175 x 152 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Bequest of Barrett Reid 2000 Sydney Ball Khamsa Blue 1966–67 enamel on plywood 187 x 134 x 46 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Purchased from John and Sunday Reed 1980 Broadsheet Publishers The Broadsheet 3: Where Are All The Flowers Going? 1968 relief print 63.5 x 50.5 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of Michael Dugan 1995 Mike Brown Jupiter Fly Trap 1966 enamel paint, mixed media and steel 44 x 48 x 25 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982 Mike Brown Kite c.1969–70 mixed media and collage on canvas 58.5 x 59.5 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982

Patrick Caulfield Vase on Display 1971 oil on composition board 65 x 55.2 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982 Karen Cherry Woven Women, Australia Poet folio 1989 Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of the Ruth Cowen Literary Estate 2011 Ruth Cowen casual ties c.1980 offset print on bromide 42 x 29.5 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of the Ruth Cowen Literary Estate 2011 Ruth Cowen Real Estates of the Heart computer generated image, laminated 28.2 x 19.4 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of the Ruth Cowen Literary Estate 2011 Ruth Cowen, Peter Finlay Amuse a Muse,Australia Poet folio, 1989 Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of the Ruth Cowen Literary Estate 2011 Virginia Cuppaidge Soft 1975 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 91 x 152 cm Courtesy of the artist and Nicholas Thompson Gallery, Melbourne

Janet Dawson Circle and Black Bar 1961 oil on canvas 195 x 167 cm Private collection, Melbourne Russell Deeble Poster Poem 1968 screenprint 57.5 x 56 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of Alex Selenitsch 1989 Lesley Dumbrell Deep Yellow Grey 1970 acrylic on canvas 106 x 145 cm Courtesy of the artist and Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne Lesley Dumbrell Red Shift 1968 liquitex on canvas 213.5 x 213.5 cm Courtesy of the artist and Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne Ian Hamilton Finlay Land/Sea 1967 screenprint on paper 43.1 x 56.2 cm Collection of Alex and Merron Selenitsch Jennifer Hawkins, TT.O. Pre Text, Australia Poet folio 1989 Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of the Ruth Cowen Literary Estate 2011 Leonora Howlett Series A No.5 1979–80 oil on canvas 120 x 100 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of Leonora Howlett 2014

Heidi Jackson Untitled, Australia Poet folio 1989 Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of the Ruth Cowen Literary Estate 2011 Col Jordan Blue Falling 1967 synthetic polymer paint on shaped marine ply 220 x 220 cm Courtesy of the artist, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne and Mossenson Galleries, Perth Les Kossatz Day lights and night lights no. 9 1968 mixed media 52 x 35 cm Courtesy of the Estate of the artist Les Kossatz Day lights and night lights no. 13 1968 mixed media 69 x 36 cm Courtesy of the Estate of the artist Les Kossatz Untitled 1967 fabric dyes on calico 282 x 166 cm Courtesy of the Estate of the artist John Krzywokulski Suspended Visibilities (Recently Direct) 1968â&#x20AC;&#x201C;69 synthetic polymer paint and fibreglass on composition board 133 x 122 x 13 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of John Krzywokulski 2013 John Krzywokulski Black Painting 1969 synthetic polymer paint, lacquer and plastic on composition board 41 x 31 x 13 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982

Jean Langley Untitled (Daisy Chain) c.1960 oil on composition board 27.7 x 38 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Bequest of Barrett Reid 2000 Alun Leach-Jones Charlie Asked for Ibsen, This is What He Got! c.1964 synthetic polymer paint and screenprint on composition board 26.2 x 37.9 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982 Alun Leach-Jones Noumenon X. Viva! 1966â&#x20AC;&#x201C;67 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 92 x 92 cm Private collection, Melbourne Sandra Leveson Empryean I 1975 oil and synthetic polymer paint on linen 200 x 200 cm Macquarie University Art Collection, Sydney Allan Mitelman Carolina Shout 1974 oil on canvas 173 x 213 cm Private collection, courtesy of Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne Sweeney Reed Impounded Illusion (Horizon) 1976 cast steel 33 x 334 x 1 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of Ruth Cowen 2000

Sweeney Reed Reaching 1977 synthetic polymer resin on automotive paint on composition board 30 x 93 x 6 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of Mishka and Danila McIntosh 1981 Sweeney Reed, Alun Leach-Jones Time Breathes Poster Poem 1967 screenprint 71 x 62 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of Barbara Stiebel 2009 Sweeney Reed Love Dunes 1978 embossed etching Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of Pamela, Mishka and Danila McIntosh 1990 Sweeney Reed Telepoem 1977 screenprint 48 x 51 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of Alex Selenitsch 1989 Ken Reinhard AB2 + A = C4 1970 mixed media on composition board 89.7 x 75.5 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982 Ken Reinhard Lumflo Box 1970 1970 Perspex, composition board, synthetic polymer paint, chromeplated brass, adhesive vinyl, pencil 30.6 x 30.6 x 30.6 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982

Ken Reinhard Blue Frontal Girl 1971 screenprint 76.5 x 51 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982

Alex Selenitsch mudlark 1969 screenprint 50.5 x 37.5 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of Alex and Merron Selenitsch 2011

Bridget Riley Wall Painting 1 (Print) 2007 screenprint 56 x 91.5 cm Private collection, Canberra

Alex Selenitsch balloons 1969 screenprint on acetate, timber frame 20.5 x 19 cm Gift of Alex and Merron Selenitsch 2011

Bridget Riley One Small Step 2009 screenprint 44.1 x 29.1 cm Private collection, Canberra Bridget Riley Sideways 2010 screenprint 46 x 32.5 cm Private collection, Canberra Robert Rooney Variations Slippery Seal 4 1967 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 106.8 x 106.8 cm Macquarie University Art Collection, Sydney Gareth Sansom Re-entry 1973 oil and synthetic polymer on canvas 167.5 x 176.5 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Purchased from John and Sunday Reed 1980 Alex Selenitsch monoton eeeeeee 1969 plastic letters on enamel on composition board 71.5 x 60 x 4 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Gift of Alex and Merron Selenitsch 2011

Ronald Upton Little Blue Anna Blume 1966 polyester resin, plastic, fiberglass 87 x 32.5 x 33 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Purchased from John and Sunday Reed 1980 Ronald Upton Untitled 1965 ink and gouache on paper 50 x 36.5 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Bequest of Barrett Reid 2000 Trevor Vickers Untitled Painting 1966 synthetic polymer paint on composition board 91 x 91 cm Private collection, courtesy of Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne Margaret Worth Genus 0 No. 1 1967 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 91 x 275 cm Courtesy of the artist and Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne

Margaret Worth Sukhavati No. 4 1967 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 61 x 61 cm Courtesy of the artist and Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne Michael Young Stepped Vertical 1968 polished aluminium sheet laminated onto particle board; auto lacquer on rear 165 x 61 x 12 cm Courtesy of the artist and Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne

PUBLICATIONS

All publications are held in the Heide Museum of Modern Art Archive. A.C.R. Atlanta 1975 Fitzrot Publications poetry booklet Sweeney Reed Archive TT.O., Peter Murphy, Alex Selenitsch Missing Forms: Concrete, Visual and Experimental Poems 1981 Collective Effort Press poetry book 21.5 x 12.5 cm Barrett Reid Archive Bev Aisbett Amathema c.1970 Gift of Bev Aisbett, 1989 Bev Aisbett Life Logos 1 c.1970 concrete poetry booklet Gift of Bev Aisbett 1989 Bruce Dawe Heat-wave: Poems 1970 Sweeney Reed Publications Russell Deeble A Trip to Light Blue 1968 Strines Publications Russell Deeble High on a Horse With Wax Wings 1969 Still Earth Publications

Russell Deeble, Sweeney Reed, Joy Hester A Poem That Wants to be Painted 1977 Sweeney Reed Publications

Tony Figallo Mixed Concrete Poetry, no. 1 1975 Collective Effort Press Barrett Reid Archive

Shelton Lea Corners in Cans 1969 Still Earth Publications

Thalia Night Flowers 1988 Collective Effort Press

Sweeney Reed a keepsake for strangers 1976 artist’s book, Overland Press Gift of Pamela, Mishka and Danila McIntosh 1990 Sweeney Reed, Alun Leach-Jones Sightings 1977 printed publication, Macquarie University Gift of Alun Leach-Jones 2003 Sweeney Reed (ed.) Selections from Still Earth 1969 Still Earth Publications Alex Selenitsch short circus 1969 artist’s book published by Still Earth Publications edition of 350 21 x 21 x 0.5 cm Gift of Alex and Merron Selenitsch 2011 Richard Tipping, Rob Tillett (eds.) Mok, issue 4 1969 Mok Publications Russell Deeble, Sweeney Reed Manic Magazine 1970 Still Earth Publications

ENDNOTES

Sweeney Reed: Demon Art Man 1 The trial resulted in John Reed’s successful defence against the charges, which at that time were unprecedented in Victoria, but not without the entire courtroom first proceeding to the gallery on foot from the Carlton Courthouse (now La Mama theatre) to view the work in context. The incident followed Mike Brown’s infamous prosecution on the grounds of obscenity in Sydney one year earlier. The attention of police was no doubt attracted by the existence of numerous outstanding parking fines in Sweeney Reed’s name and the publicity surrounding the new gallery. 2 In the late 1960s, Australia was emerging from the post-war conservative Menzies era. It was period of widespread upheaval in the Australian cultural landscape marked by the emergence of a youth counterculture, radicalised fashion and popular music, protest and public demonstrations against the Vietnam War and conscription, established mores and restrictive morals. It was a time that produced a general questioning of authority and a prevailing optimism for the future. 3 Humorist ‘Afferbeck Lauder’ (Alastair Ardoch Morrison) coined the term in 1965 with his song lyrics With Air Chew (Strine for ‘Without you’), and subsequent book Let Stalk Strine in 1965. 4 Russell Deeble, cited in Kathy Leos, ‘Strines & Sweeney 1966–1968’, Master of Arts thesis, unpublished manuscript, c.1990, Heide Museum of Modern Art Archive, Melbourne, p. 8. Russell Deeble is a poet and co-founder with Reed of Still-Earth publications. 5 Other artists that held their first solo exhibitions at the gallery include Peter Booth, William Kelly and Michael Fitzjames. 6 In 1971, it was renamed Osborne and Polak Gallery and later relocated to South Yarra.

7 In an interview with Peter Pinson for Cultural Conversations, a project of the Australian Centre for Oral History, Ken Reinhard remembers that in the lead up to the inaugural exhibition at Sweeney Reed Galleries, Reed decided the show needed some publicity, so Russell Deeble arranged for strippers to travel from Sydney to sit on top of Reinhard’s Marland House Sculpture, 1970–72, and then called the police. The story made the front page of the local papers. 8 John Kryzwokulski, email to the author, 21 June 2018. 9 Unfettered by any real regard toward turning a profit, Reed was liberated in his pursuit of innovative practice, and this was atypical in the world of commercial gallery dealings. However, Reed’s disregard for the financial stability of the galleries ultimately contributed to their closure along with his wavering interests and commitment. 10 Some of the artists associated with Strines and Sweeney Reed Galleries had lasting relationships with the Reeds and John and Sunday Reed purchased numerous works from exhibitions held at the galleries and over the ensuing years. Ron Upton’s Ciment fondue sculptures, for instance, can be seen as permanent fixtures in Heide’s Sculpture Park. In fact, works in Heide’s core collection from the late 1960s and 1970s predominantly represent artists associated with Sweeney Reed’s galleries and many have become key works in the museum’s collection including Sydney Ball’s Khamsa Blue 1966–67, Les Kossatz’s Love Kite 1967, John Krzywokulski’s Black Painting 1969, Ken Reinhard’s Lumflo Box 1970, Col Jordan’s Point to Point 1967, and Mike Brown’s Jupiter Fly Trap 1966. Conversely, many young artists who first came to prominence through MoMADA went on to exhibit at Strines including Mike Brown, Gareth Sansom, Ron Upton, Trevor Vickers, Les Kossatz, Sydney Ball and Col Jordan.

11 Russell Deeble, cited in Kathy Leos, ‘Strines & Sweeney 1966–1968’, p. 8. 12

orn to Concrete, 2011; Moments of Mind: B The Sweeney Reed Collection, 2003; Sweeney Reed Artist and Concrete Poet, 1996 and Words on Walls, 1989.

Revisiting The Field 1 Colour Field painting in the 1960s was characterised by large areas or ‘fields’ of monochromatic, saturated colour that emphasised the flatness of the picture plane. Reacting to the painterly gestures of abstract expressionism, artists engaging in the new style were differentiated by their intentionally impersonal application of paint which left little or no trace of the artist’s hand. The hard-edge variant of the new abstraction included the use of geometric compositions delineated by sharp—‘hard’— edges. Artists across both styles also experimented with shaped canvases and optical effects, with the latter tendency relating to Op art. 2 Trevor Vickers in interview with the author, Melbourne, 12 June 2018. 3 Trevor Vickers exhibition invitation, text by Paul Partos, Strines, 1967, collection of Trevor Vickers. 4 Patrick McCaughey, Survey Paintings 1964–76, exh. cat., Monash University Gallery, Melbourne, 1976, pp. 6–7. 5 In addition to artists listed, Peter Booth also held a solo exhibition at Strines in 1967 and was subsequently included in The Field. 6 Brian Finemore curated The Field with NGV Exhibitions Officer John Stringer. 7 Among other styles, Two Decades of American Painting included works of hardedge abstraction by Frank Stella, Ellsworth Kelly, Ad Reinhardt and Morris Louis alongside Pop paintings by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. 8 Charles Green and Heather Barker, ‘The Watershed: Two Decades of American Painting at the National Gallery of Victoria’, Art Journal of the National Gallery of Victoria, edition 50, 2011. Electronic edition first published in 2013.

9 Patrick McCaughey, ‘The Significance of The Field’, Art and Australia, vol. 6, no. 8, December 1968, p. 235. 10 Gary Catalano, The Years of Hope: Australian Art and Criticism 1959–1968, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1981, pp. 137–9. 11 Gareth Sansom, cited in Kathy Leos, ‘Strines & Sweeney 1966–1968’, p. 33. 12 Patrick McCaughey, ‘Cool synthetics for the switched-on set’, The Age, 30 August 1972. 13 Zara Stanhope, Les Kossatz: The Art of Existence, Macmillan Art Publishing in partnership with Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2008, p. 32. 14 Young made geometric constructions that found their inspiration in Russian Constructivism but which connected to then-current styles of minimalist sculpture and—though he was primarily a sculptor— to hard-edge geometric painting and the sixties fashion for shaped canvases. 15 Gareth Sansom, cited in Kathy Leos, ‘Strines & Sweeney 1966–1968’, p. 34.

Rising HORIZON 1 Reed produced publications under four imprints: Strines Publications; Still Earth Publications (with Russell Deeble); Sweeney Reed Publications; and Overland Press (by arrangement with progressive literary journal Overland magazine). 2

The Broadsheet was published intermittently from 1967 to 1971 in Richmond and ran to eight issues.

3 Sweeney Reed letter to Sunday and John Reed, Highgate, London, 22 October 1964, Reed papers, State Library of Victoria. 4 Bob Cobbing was a pioneering concrete, visual and sound poet. 5 Of the forum, Reed wrote ‘They think Bill and I are way out … I hope to get these flipping English poets and give them a w[h] ipping. “Aye” says Bill’. 6 Bob Cobbing, ‘Description of Writers Forum activities’, The Gradient, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2015, https://walkerart.org/ magazine/boooook-the-life-and-work-ofbob-cobbing, (accessed 20 August 2018). First published in Boooook: The Life And Work Of Bob Cobbing, Edited by William Cobbing and Rosie Cooper, Occasional Papers, London, 2015. 7 During this period, Reed also had contact with Fluxus artist Robin Page through his happenings at the ICA and Australian expatriate concrete poet Alan Riddell. 8 It is unclear whether Reed accepted the job offer, however Michael Dugan confirms Reed came into contact at this time with experimental poets Allan Ginsberg and Ian Hamilton Finlay by attending their poetry readings. In May 1965, Ginsberg famously delivered his impromptu reading in the bookstore basement. Among other wellknown figures in attendance were the singer Donovan, Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick, and its success spurred the International

Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall in June 1965, an event now recognised as one of the first British ‘Happenings’ and a watershed moment of the countercultural revolution of the 1960s. Michael Dugan, cited in Kathy Leos, ‘Strines & Sweeney 1966– 1968’, p. 21.

Missing Forms 1

9 Trevor Vickers in interview with the author, Melbourne, 12 June 2018. 10 Alex Selenitsch in interview with the author, Melbourne, 22 May 2018. 11 Alex Selenitsch, ‘As it was, as it is’ in Born to Concrete, exh. cat., Heide Museum of Modern Art, 2011, p. 14. 12 Max Delaney, Sweeney Reed Artist and Concrete Poet, exh. cat., Heide Museum of Modern Art, 1996, p. 8. 13 Col Jordan, email to the author, 30 July 2018.

2 In his introduction to the collection, Π.O. writes: ‘These poems are then, literature’s … missing forms … slighted, dismissed, and repressed (by omission), by the almighty … misinformed …’ 3

I n 1960, Janet Dawson returned to Australia from four years in Europe to take up a director’s role at Gallery A (other directors included Clement Meadmore and James Mollison), where she also regularly exhibited and ran classes. One of the early proponents of Colour Field painting in Australia, Dawson was one of only three women artists included in The Field. Like Dawson, Virginia Cuppaidge and Leonora Howlett were working in a similar idiom to that promoted by the gallery but didn’t show at Reed’s galleries. Howlett was an early and often overlooked fourth member of the Annandale Imitation Realist group in Sydney with Mike Brown, who exhibited at both the Museum of Modern Art and Design of Australia and Strines.

T.O., Peter Murphy, Alex Selenitsch, T Missing Forms: Concrete, Visual and Experimental Poems, 1981, Collective Effort Press, n.p.

Published to accompany the exhibition

SWEENEY REED AND STRINES GALLERY Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne 25 August 2018 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 24 February 2019 Curated by Brooke Babington

ÂŠ 2018 Heide Museum of Modern Art, the artist, authors, designer and photographers. This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means whatsoever without the prior permission of the copyright owners. Design: Celeste Njoo Copyediting: Brooke Babington ISBN: 978-1-921330-63-6 Cover: Les Kossatz Untitled 1967 fabric dyes on calico 282.0 x 166.0 cm (irreg.) Courtesy of the estate of the artist Back cover: Installation view Sweeney Reed and Strines Gallery Heide Museum of Modern Art 2018 Photograph: Christian Capurro Heide Museum of Modern Art 7 Templestowe Road Bulleen Victoria 3105 Australia T + 61 3 9850 1500 F + 61 3 9852 0154 heide.com.au