Eastern Suburbs Art Group

 I drove up to check on the display at the beginning of this month and there were a few issues, particularly with the placement of works. There were also some issues with labelling, and one fact sheet was in the wrong place.  The show includes a Tree Veneration Society tapestry. The large poem photoprints are a recent thing for me. I started including text in photomontages in 2022 and published a book about them this year. But often when you move away from the wall the text can no longer be read. With these parge photoprints of poems however this problem is largely eliminated. The tapestry was made in 2025 in Newcastle. There are also some collages in the show as well as paramontages, the text/photomontage hybrids I mention above. The drive up to New England was ok but the Satnav at one point took me on a dirt road which was a bit odd. I mean for me it is ok as I was alone and the car is built for this type of terrain. Not everyone travels alone in a 4WD however. A small car w...

There were a number of rooms full of original art on dispaly in Concord. The bright colours and full walls made a cheerful spectacle. I spoke with a friend and had conversations with people I had never met before. A couple of middle aged Chinese visitors wandered around a room I was sitting in, examining the works on the walls. In the end I bought some postcards one of the local artists had made. The scenes were landscapes, which are always popular. One woman I spoke with was from Germany one was from Lebanon, you meet so many different people in Sydney.

Esag participated this year again, tho our offering was different from last year. Over 4 days each of 8 hours I spoke with hundreds of people and sold 3 copies of the art book I published last month. Often people passing would look a bit hesitantly into the booth as my display is not (as you can see) large. I struck up a conversation and then tried to explain. I talked about the art book, and the collage classes. The second item caused most people to react as if it was something they expected.  You don't need to explain a class, everyone knows what a class is. The book however took more explanation.  The food this year was better. More protein less carbs. I talked with some other stall holders including the pranic healing crew next door whose guests filed in front of my booth, not that I cared. I was just glad I had a stool this year, last year I had like a deck chair from Bunnings but at that low level you sort of look straight at people's waists, which is awkward. A stool is...

I had two works in this show actually works prepared specially for the show based on recent images but also using old ideas such as the Domectic Pest figure I have employed since 2022. The show was obviously to commemorate war, but organiser did not want anything too dark or confronting. One work I found compelling was a student worsk of a digger with his hat on, done as a linocut (see above). The image contains relevant words and other decorative elements. Other works were less closely aligned with the show theme (see animals above). My own work (see below) contained a war theme but one filtered through my own experience of the postwar. There was a decent turnout and the mayor came too. I sat near the entrance. A woman with pastels made drawings of people. Another woman made watercolours. An RSL crew made sausages. It was  a nice sunny day and pleasant outside.

A few days after seeing this show in Roppongi I went to a suburban shopping centre where these was a Paul Smith store. Actually at that time I did not go inside the store. The Picasso show mainly interesting for the great paintings but also for the wall decoration, as you will see. Smith using striking colours to offset works that are mostly usually seen on white walls. These colours are quite amazing when seen along with works of such force and sophistication. Smith is taking those qualities and sort of spreading them all over the room, like some sort of magic. Not everyone is going to accept this sort of decor, it has to be admitted. Purists will have 1000 reasons it does not work. But in fact I enjoyed it. However this kind of setting does serve to emphasise how original and enduring Picasso's works are. Not everyone will like the man he was. That is their right. But he really did great things with paint.

 The site was where my old office building was located. The two buildings are torn down now, and they are preparing to put up a different structure. But the safety hoarding has some nice images on them. Actually these are not representative of Tokyoites, they are quite lively and sometimes even bizarre, more than fashionable. Most people there dress in plan clothes, go to work, and sit at a desk all day. As for women, who are expected to quit their jobs in many cases, once they marry, they go shopping and look after the kids and household. They do not play basketball. But anyway these photos are colourful and bright. Note the image size. In Australia the images in these cases are larger because otherwise people put up graffiti. In Japan graffiti is considered disrespectful. So in Tokyo the safety hoarding photos are like images you wd find in a commerical gallery. They are not plastered all over the surface of the wood.

 I went along to this show in July with a friend and we had some lunch while there. Jannides is an interesting lyrical figurative painter whose style sort of seems to reference early 20th C symbolism. I don't like to box artists in but I do like to try to respond meaningfully to what I see. The other reference might be Whiteley. These relaxed and skillful animals are easy on the eye. Jannides has said she draws inspiration from literature but she does not really seem to title her works accordingly, which is a bit odd.  Definitely there is something old fashioned about Jannides' work, and this is unusual in itself particularly as it is not performed ironically. Jannides is not using the past to position herself or to attract buyers used to flashier effects. These works are really nice and the space comes alive with them.