Eastern Suburbs Art Group

 The recurring themes were evident: the female figure and flowers dominated the show, rendered in a way that balanced sensuality with delicacy. Some pieces clearly belonged to the same collection, while others — though stylistically related — seemed drawn from earlier series. Thommen’s visual language blends the beauty of the feminine silhouette with the organic richness of floral forms, creating compositions that feel both intimate and decorative. His palette and framing choices enhanced the emotional tone — warm, expressive, and accessible.

Elizabeth from Esag went along to this show and she felt that the space was too stuffy and the works not ordered correctly. When she spoke with James they discussed 'No. 4, Tiger Prawns, Cottesloe, Perth 2025' and explained that it represented family gatherings at Christmas, a cultural custom where his family eats prawns every year. This was his way of reflecting moments that hold emotional and personal meaning, Elizabeth said. She stayed for around 50 minutes.  The above image is one James told me about. It is a shot showing a deserted urban space, actually in Rozelle before Westconnex. I had mentioned to him that it reminded me of a scene in a movie.

Last month I had a chance to go to Concord to see a friend's works in this show. The friend is a member and I joined too because I am an artist as well. The quality of the work is high, I bought a watercolour by Oliver Addis showing Lake Burley Griffin. Other members of the society were exhibiting their works as well including Chris Smith who had paintings and tea towels on display in one room (see below). We had works and objects by Angela Iliadis (see below). Paintings and tea towels by Diana Borinski (see below). These works are nicely packaged too suitable for presents. Not excess packaging but what is needed, just right. There were also works by Lois Janik, including cyanotypes (see below). It's funny because today I applied to join a cyanotype group on Facebook. Serendipity you see! More (below) by Lois Janik including polymer clay earrings.

The key to this was an invitation from an environmental group I have worked with for a while. Dropping off the work in the inner west of Sydney easier than taking it to Avalon, where the sale took place. The image above not clear as it was taken from a video, apologies. They sold 150 works and raised thousands of dollars for Medecins sans Frontiers. "The exhibition turned into a wonderful show of support for the people of Gaza and also a powerful community building event," Lene Lunde wrote to me. Lene is the organiser of the event. I asked her to keep me notified of any future similar opportunities. The painting I gave was one from 2022 I think, 'Vera Stanhope', watercolour and collage with marker on paper. It is four panels framed in a single frame, 2 by 2.

Actually I didn't go of course for the purpose of seeing the painting but the painting turned out to be more engaging than the seminar. The mural is enormous and occupies an entire wall of the huge space.  The theme is the City 2 Surf marathon that is held in Sydney every  year, though it's not completely obvious from looking at the painting that this is the subject. The ICC's theatre is located in the same space. Because of this the mural by Hodgkinson (had never heard his name mentioned prior to today) reminded me of similar art in the Sydney Opera House. I don't mean that Hodgkinson has a mural in the Opera House, obviously not. If he had one there I would have known about him. Unfortunately as you can see from the above image the mural is sort of closed off by escalators. Most of the work is blue (echoes of Whiteley), cream, yellow and black. There are strips of orange in places. But due to the presence of the equipment required to get people upstairs to the third f...

The prize has been going for over two decades, which in itself is impressive, but the works on display are really nice. The works are personal in scope, which is intersting. They are also all quite different in style. The prize went to Auckland-based artist Virginia Leonard for Glad that you are not here all the time — an urn for unwanted limbs and other things, made from clay, pure gold and resin (see below). The work is interesting it sort of exudes a sense of fatigue, which aligns with the title. You want people to be around but not all the time, in fact the exhausting work of the artist mandates a lot of free time. In my world I call it grey flabby time, the spare hours surrounding creative moments, or rather creative periods. I'm not comparing my world with Leonard's by any means but I was struck by the sense of familiarity I had when viewing her sculpture. Another winner was for the Mayor's Choice Award, going to Alicia Cox for Rack (see below). The gallery says this ...

What a frantic week. Delayed materials. Last minute dash over the bridge. Forgotten bookings. Then four days talking to people wandering in the aisles of Hall 4 ICC. Last night Mark and I emptiued out the booth, put everything in the ute, and brought it home. Mark, Natasha and I took turns on the booth. The show every day from 10qam to 6pm. If you do that one day it's already enough, but the energy you get from talking to people offsets the fatigue. Down the track we'll have a debrief to mull over the consequences of the show, what it meant, how to package the ideas better in future. I hate marketing language too but the word "package" sort of works to collect a whole range of ideas, of words, and of memories. Dreams, too, and plans.