Eastern Suburbs Art Group

 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.

 I went to see this show of painterly works in July with a friend. It is a public gallery near Sutherland. Inchbold uses lots of paint and basically just areas of colour to achieve his effects. The titles are strange and unsettling, like 'Mango Flesh Identikit' which is the show name and is some sort of critique of consumer culture possibly. I wuite liked some of his works, such as the following painting, which features signature brown and a sort of rich abandon. It's not always brown, as the following painting shows.  He also showed some drawings, but where the colour is missing thre is a kind of structural element absent if you know what I mean. I mean colour is Inchbold's main resource. There is something like Philip Guston in these black and white drawings, but that may not be an analogy that sits well with everyone. I think there is also something 80s about Inchbold, partiocularly the works of Peter Booth, whose oeuvre has pretty much disappeared nowadays. Perhaps ...

 This is the third installment in a post on modernist works displayed in Adelaide in July. The works on loan from Toledo Ohio. The following is a picture by Robert Delaunay, 'The City of Paris'. The following collage is Matisse's 'The nightmare of the white elephant'. Then there is Laszlo Moholy-Nagy's 'Am2'. Then Giorgio Morandi's 'Still Life with A Bottle'. And George Braque's 'Still Life with Fish'. Finally Richard Diebenkorn's 'Ocean Park No. 32'.

 These two paintings tell a story. The first is 1959 and looks like Cezanne. The boxy objects. The muted colours. A slight claustrophobia caused by proximity. The painter is standing beside the stream, he is near the trees, he is close to the arms of the forest. The second image (below) is 1971. No longer close. The air feels like it is moving, but it is still a landscape. Even though the trees have been reduced practically to smears and daubs of thick impast paint. The air is free and the vision is complete. This is the painter's mature style.

 Other paintings in this show from Toledo Ohio were more conventional Impressionist works including landscapes. Of course landscapes. Like this Pissarro from 1886 (below). The Jules Breton work below is more a mannerist work, but like a lot  of Impressionist works it uses as subject someone not traditionally associated with the Salon, in this case a poor farm worker. Notice the bare feet. It is touching and the pathos is extravagant. Below an amazing Berthe Morrisot work showing two children sitting on grass. The work below a Paul Signac painting of Venice from 1905. Below a Pierre Bonnard painting or a coastline. The yellow rock and pink sky are incredible inventions.

This was the second modern masters show I saw last month. There are more modern masters works in Toledo Ohio than in all of Australia. It was great to see so many here. In addition to many of the usual representatives however there were some North American proactitioners liks Maurice Prendergast (see below). Another (below) this one by Robert Henri. The painting below by William Merritt Chase. Yes there were the usual practititioners but the North Americans also worth seeing and appreciating. It is hard to characterise the difference, but perhaps a certain mannered approach aplies in their case. Less impressionist and more realist. A similar thing happened in Australia, the so called Australian Impressionists were really just 19th C relists after the fact, not using impressionist techniques much at all. And I wonder why it is that settler societies have trouble adopting avant garde style.