Eastern Suburbs Art Group

Went here last year with a friend. It was hot. These small works in series (above) had a sort of 80s vibe. Collage technique. Above: another fiend's works. Natasha makes watercolours. These are like an acrylic painting I made in the 80s. Above prints very evocative. They sort of look like real animals but not quite. Above painting lovely and well executed. It was in the upstairs area.

The second National Art School Grad Show was in December.  Above: Chaya Atkins 'Hold me'. Deliberate kitsch. A short of celebration of Netflix culture. Above: Katerina Asistin. Lovely colours and drawing. Simple scenes from everyday life. Above: Heidi Machama, 'Anticpiation'. More kitschy Netflix stuff. I love it. Above: Sally Parsons, September'. Restricted colour palette and nice line. Above: Chloe Lane. Pop kitsch, Tweety Pie and Sylvester. Above: Katerina Em, 'Better skin'. I love this ironic celebration of beauty culture. For every woman who wants to remove 10 years in 2 days. Above: Purva Jangra, 'Boyfriend'. Above: Felix Middleton, 'The Fool and Companions'.

This is a little late, sorry. Actually I don't remember when this was maybe earlier this month. Someone usually drags me along to the National Art School. I liked these screen prints in the main hall, they're confident and cute, with a limited palette and nice drawing. This poppey display featured what my father always referred to as "gunk", the many products women are enticed to apply to their faces. The above painting is obviously by a young artist. The young have a way of completely conceiving of a problem. I didn't come away with the names and titles, I was not motivated to be that comprehensive. Above is a cute painting of someone riding someone else. Sort of like working in an office. i wondered if this painter had ever worked in an office. I liked this painting even though I'm not a big fan of graffiti. The colours are nice. Often in art shows they have someone walking around in a costume. Or else, as in this case, with sticks in her hair.

These delightful colour paintings are so lovely and diverse. They suggest a landscape (they're done plein air I think I remember) but they are much more than that. I went to this show with Virginia. Some of the paintings (like the ones shown in the photo above) are small but others were quite large. Personally I think these work best in the smaller format. As studies in the effects that colour have the paintings are suggestive. The eye draws conclusions as it roams over the rough surface of the canvas. the roughness is an aspect of the impasto paint. There is a lot in these  works to consider and Mulholland's show expressed to me once again what a great range of artists we have in Sydney.

It was a good program. I arrived early and met Virginia a bit later. Juno Gemes was there to launch her new book of photographs (see below). Also present was Linda Burney. I reserved two copies of the book. There were two musical acts including Ceffie (see below) who is 17 and has a great voice. Very nice songs. A panel with two Anglo figures including Malcolm Knox and some guy from Newcastle University. These two were overshadowed by Koraly Demitriades who unlike the men has original ideas.

This was actually two trips. One day I went down with my friend Basia. Some of the works were better than others. I liked these shell Harbour bridges by Marilyn Russell. There was also a room full of works by Julie Mehretu and Jessica Rankin (see below). Some of these works were collages using words, so obviously I liked them immediately because my own work often involves such elements. I went back another day to figure out the name Julie Rrap, whose works are in different rooms. I found out later from Virginia that Rrap is the sister of Mike Parr. Rrap's works are of two types. in one room there is a movie and a charcoal drawing of a body outline. The body is the body being shown in the movie. In a different room are a series of panels showing Rrap's body. I liked these panels less than the movie. The movie is interesting because of the nature of the femal body with its soft lines and occlusions.

I went with friends Ming and Omer, as well as basia. We looked around the enormous collecion of works. I had certainly never seen so many Magritte works in one place at the same time. The show includes things such as the artist's early attempts at Cubism (see below). Obviously this is nothing like what we normally associate with the name magritte. It is awkward and derivative. Basia told me Margritte changed when he saw works by Giorgio de Chiricho. Now that's more like it. I had a great time. The show is immense and important.