In Splendid Isolation

Wonder what Sydney Ball would have made of the Covid crisis?

We met Syd in 2004, and as long as we knew him, Syd lived in splendid isolation, in his both simple and magnificent 1980s Glenn Murcutt designed home, set in relatively untouched bushland, in Sydney’s Hills District. He made the trek each day, from the house, to the studio and back again – about 400 meters all up. He went to the local shops once or twice a week, he came to the gallery a couple of times a month. His contacts were few in his later years and we like to think that if he were still alive, he probably would have been ok through all this, and would now be proficient in Zoom!

This month, we are celebrating the great man with a show titled Sydney Ball 1963-1973: Works from the estate. In these decades, Syd was certainly not in isolation – he spent much of this time in New York City, where there was lots of contact – contact with some of the most revered figures 20th century art: Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Helen Frankenthaler and Lee Krasner, to name a few.

The show includes some treasures – some of which have not been exhibited in Sydney before, and one particularly special Canto series work, Blue Vertical 1964 which has never been seen in Australia. With essays by Wendy Walker and esteemed critic, curator and friend, Patrick McCaughey, we hope that this gives you some insight into this exciting period of the artist’s long career.

Wendy Walker has also been busy, writing a book on the sublimely talented ceramic artist Kirsten Coelho. Kirsten is the 2020 South Australian Living Artist recipient and the monograph, an outcome of this award, will soon be published through Wakefield Press, and will also be accompanied by a solo exhibition at the Samstag Museum, University of South Australia. This month, we can read about Coelho’s otherworldly ceramic works which she has been creating in her home studio in Adelaide for the last three decades.

We also focus on contemporary Indonesian artist Irfan Hendrian and delve into his paper world. Director of Jakarta Biennale, Farah Wardani, looks at his latest body of work – a reminiscence of his hometown of Bandung Indonesia – and a meditation on the preciousness of paper.

For the first time we focus on a single artist’s work - eX de Medici’s magnum opus, The Wreckers 2019, a six-metre long watercolour construction of car, drone and plane wreckage which was recently acquired by the National Gallery of Australia. With Nostradamus-like prediction, The Wreckers is a powerful allegorical statement.

Conservator but not conservative, David Stein talks about his passion for mid-century art and architecture – and how an encounter with a Camille Pissarro changed the course of his career.

For the voyeurs amongst us, we go home with ceramic artist Glenn Barkley, meet his cats, Matthew and Milky and find out more about how serious collecting habits started with Star Wars figures. Sam Leach takes time out from preparation for his next show to give us a hilarious account of building a home studio in the age of Covid. And we go back in time with Hiromi Tango, to look over her vast body of work.

So hope you enjoy our latest issue.