Eastern Suburbs Art Group

Smith took a 2.5 month residency organised by Randwick Council. She would go down to the beach. She took photos of underwater features - rocks, steps - through the shallow water. She said normally the water was clear. For the first time I had spoken with her Smith revealed to me an influence, Berenice Abbott. This photographer had made photos of evidence of frequency by visiting scientific labs. On the other hand Smith herself uses the natural environment. The show is titled 'Precious Water' and is closed now. The day I met Smith there it was raining, I had some lunch from a small cafe nearby.

Had to go to the conservators wo while up north I popped into Manly Art Gallery. This show is a bit of a mixed bag. There are some items more interesting and others less so. Jennifer Turpin's sculpture is quit vivid, made also from seaweed derived materials (see above).  Danielle Creenaune's striking print (see above) has a looseness that is at odds with the form.  For personal reasons I liked Georgia Macfarlane's Poppey rendition of the suburban oasis (see above). Often it's Aboriginal artists who adopt the naive style in paintings, but not here. Louise Fowler-Smith's extraordinary paionting of a flower (see above) really stood out however. THere's something powerful and ambiguoous about the rendition of a flower.

 I was down in Melbourne for a few days. I popped into No Vacancy which is in like a shopping centre, surrounded by restaurants. It's a novel experience. These works are nudes and they are rendered in a delicate style with an excess of form. The semi sharp angles of the legs, torsos, arms, heads combine with a realistic palette. It's difficult to find analogues and I haven't really seen anything like this though obviously Lucien Freud comes to mind. Feeling tired from all the walking and not liking too much socialising I left before the opening began. Spoke with the gallerist for a while though as she was putting out wine glasses.

I was in the area to meet Natasha and we had a coffee then dropped by the gallery. It was a rainy day. The walls inside the gallery held colourful embroideries. Leslie Lockwood's minimalist works in soft colours are not big but they seem to burst out of their frames. See below. Joanne Steele's abstract designs are also forceful and solid (see below). The gallery is staffed. It's a bright and airy space. There are lots of windows to enable the outside light to filter in. Parking in the area is a bit difficult at times, the train station is close by.

The reason no posts here of late is because I was out of the country. While overseas I visited Hiroshima. In fact Hiroshima Day is today at least in Sydney, it might be the same elsewhere I haven't checked.  Probably no elaboration is needed but one thing I hadn't thought about is the extent of the blast. About 4km to be exact. If you take a train from the north side of Hiroshima Station (where the bullet trains arrive) you pass along a coastal track to Kure where the Japanese Navy made its ships early last century. Kure is about 25km from the blast zone so the old 19th C buildings it had then are still there today. I got a cab from Kure and went to Yasuura. The gallery is a large rambling wooden home and it has a number of display cabinets. One cabinet even has a fan of golf clubs. You take off your shoes to walk on the beautiful wooden floors in slippers. The real treasures are out the back. Minami was a very talented Impressionist painter but I had never heard his name befor...

To get to this show took weeks of effort. Things kept cropping up. Events got sheduled. At last a friend agreed to go with me and I was able to find two days running. These larger paintings are huga and really probably will only work in a public setting. I have seen Dober's smalol works up close before but this was the first time in a while I had seen the multi panel works in real life. I think I had seen some in Windsor years earlier. They shimmer and dance. They seem to move. They are engrossing and complex. They do more than an artwork is ucually expected to do. They entrance. There was a small group of people there when I came to the front entrance from my car. The people asked if I was in the drawing group. I said no. Many Australiuan towns have a big something. Taree has the big oyster in the Kia sales yard. I thought about my ruthless will in organising the trip. In fact I felt like a big oyster. But I made it happen. Actually the big oyster is grotesque. As if the builders ...

With the Tree Veneration Society I was in a parade in Berry last month. Berry is a sort of small town with one street and two pubs, so typically Australian. In the parade we all wore bird masks. The parade was led by the Femmes Fatales. I stayed in a motel with two cockroaches and no charge cord for the phone. To charge the phone I sat in the car for two hours in the carpark. It was my fault the charge cord was missing I had forgotten to pack one. There was also a workshop led by some people from Sydney. I'm not sure what it's about but something to do with writing to MPs regarding climate change. Actually after getting back to Sydney I planned to attend another session but unfortunately had no time. The parade was also neglected. I am not sure the message was clear. Something about trees, nature and the arts. There was no media. The organisers did a great job though bringing together so many people. The Femmes Fatales are quite fun. Burlesque has for a while been popular in cu...