Eastern Suburbs Art Group

 Some of these works, which are quite large, not really suitable for ordinary domestic settings, are interesting. The overall show theme was not completely convincing but this was probably due to the fact I did not stay long as I had a long drive ahead in the car. The above painting is titled Encounter I, and shows animals in the landscape fighting. It is hard not to take this as some sort of political commentary, but if that point of view is correct the work is a bit flimsy from a conceptual viewpoint. For a start there is nothing really personal of the artist's own identity or feelings or emotions. While full of movement the work is strikingly cold and impersonal. These works (above) did have an overt bee theme but again the works are rather cold and impersonal. Would look great in a building foyer or somewhere institutional like that where scale is more important than emotional connection withn a viewer.

 I had never been to this gallery before and was amazed by the site with its convenient parking, long corridor like building across the valley, as well as the old 19th C part where there is a visitor centre and amenities. As for Muffle I had seen her works previously in the Wynne Prize hang, her website says she was a finalist in 2020 and 2021. The paintings have a reduced colour range and are large and impressive. However the curatorial apparatus does not really help to understand them. With First Nations are this is often the case, most curators just do not have the knowledge to judge or to explain. With Muffler this was certainly the case, and pretty much the only information comes from the show title. It is not that a painting has to have a specific and very narrowly defined meaning. But the style and painting method, the design logic and the overall sense that comes only from standing in front of an object like this - these things can be explained. For many people with Weester...

 Jane Theau and Jo Mellor-Stewart have put together this interesting show of embroidered works. Mellor-Stewart's warm colours in smaller pieces are organic in an intriguing way but there is also a sense of rocks being present in the designs.  You wonder is the design tracing the outlines of a body or is it a kind of Rorschach landscape. A tree appears then dissolves. Something organic. A portal presents itself then refuses to be named. This kind of liminal presence is confusing. It is like those escalators that only start moving when you approach them on foot. If there is nobody nearby they do not move. Theau's amazing works are photoprints on cloth onto which embroidery has been added. The one above is a tree protest of course, people trying to prevent logging of old growth forest. Parts of the foliage are embroidered, making them stand out in bright relief.

 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.