Eastern Suburbs Art Group

My first impression of these dreamy landscapes was that they look like the covers of 19th C novels. But there must be some method in the artist's replication of almost exactly the same pattern in canvas after canvas.  And I'm not saying that I have seen precisely the same paintings elsewhere. What you are left with is this basic sense of something having been experienced. Perhaps that's the  point. Not a statement. Not a call to action. Not another sad complaint. Just a faint green smeared across linen. A gap between trees.  A far horizon. Faintly yellow air. While it seems facile it's surprisingly not. Actually not at all. It's not easy.  This is not to say that I thought about the paintings long after leaving the gallery. To say this would be to lie.  And I don't lie. What I can do is recall the company I was with. The types of conversations. The faces. The words, or at least some of them. Even my own. In Vlavianos' works you don't see the paint brushs...

So quiet around Mary Street you cd practically hear a leaf hit the pavement. Crash. Playoust has a nice line and great colour sense. It was sort of Rees meets Whiteley, but also Claes Oldenberg as a detour. Playoust added de Stael for good measure.  Playoust is very precise, but of course he's an artist. I told him about a street where we lived growing up. We would skateboard diagonally back and forward  across the descending face of th street then shoot across the busy road at the bottom, zip, heading down another street that then went and angled to the left. So sure he said but my scenes are in the countryside. Just look at the colours! A few people came into the gallery while I was there. I picked up my umbrella and left. The car parked on Oxford Street.

When I spoke with Graham he said he wanted to take photos but he wanted people to look at them like they were paint ings. What an amazing idea, I thought.  If you wanted to find the word that most easily epitomises the works perhaps 'atmospheric' would work well. Some of the prints are large. There are also sets that are designed to go in a triptych. They quickly grow on you. The immediate impact is there, but if you spend even a few minutes with one of these photos it's sort of like meditation. Obviously there's the influence of the Impressionists, Graham said. I saw a photo of tree leaves on a body of water. But, I thought, this could be anywhere in Sydney. I've seen this before. I guess that the only thing to do is to enjoy the works. I think the show is closed now unfortunately.

'Fork' has a stunning catalogue with the two artists' names in different inks. Kate said that she came up with the idea. The two lists are intermixed. Normally in shows with two artists the lists are kept separate. Kate and Felix run the gallery together. The two works above are Kate's, I think they would work really well  framed as a pair. Felix makes prints (see below) in a sory of Poppy style with bright colours and writing. I stayed til the end, there were a few people sitting round  chatting and just shooting the breeze. I also met Mark Elliot-Rankin who I've met before, but he wasn't among the oysters. Mark is a great conversationalist however. This show has unfortunately already ended.

Have been thinking about how to write about this artist. I wouldn't go so far as to talk about derivativeneess, though of course you might choose to take that route. One thing that sets Jaimen slightly apart is the looseness of the execution. This is almost outsider art. In fact Dune the gallerist used this word in a brief discussion we had when I was in the gallery.  A loose execution is the one thing that saves Jaimen from being derivative but I am guessing he would ignore it if you said that about his work. I like the apparenet quickness of execution, the fleeting nature of the mark making.  As if the scene were frozen in time. A more well rounded execution would invite more criticism. Jaimen might be imagined in the mind's eye standing on KinG Street painting with the crowds of people flowing round him, the beggars outside the IGA, the people leving restaurants and cafes or on their way to the train station. It's a kind of Impressionism but like 160 years after the fact...

There's something familiar about Elabdin's small rough textured paintings. It's like you've seen them before somewhere but I'm not trying to say they are derivative. Just something about them that hit me. Maybe it's the colours. Ochredfern is known for its colourful artist gatherings. I dropped by when I had time free expecting to see a different artist. At least a diffrent artist had been advertised.  But then this. You'd probably say that Elabdin is a very spiritual artist. He paints not what he sees, or at least not what he sees from his worldly eyes. he seems instead to paint what he sees with his hidden eyes. 

This month I did a bit of community work. With the Tree Veneration Society, that is. It included a couple of street appearances in support of nature conservation. The TVS had sent in a proposal for an installation in Kandos but we weren't successful. There are more such efforts pending but in the meantime in light of Labor government inaction on protection of old growth forests we hit the streets. A man I spoke with named Michael suggested 1000 people but there was no way to verify from my vantage point. Everyone shouting except me. I calculated that just staying upright for three or four hours would sap all my strength and I was right, I collapsed when I got back home. No I didn't shout. The people about me seemed to enjoy the shouting which was enough, I decided to participate in vocalising vicariously. Rap, speeches from politicians (Greens). The day had it all. Actually the rapping was good, but again I didn't dance. Energy conservation yes that was it, gosh it's bo...