Eastern Suburbs Art Group

Back in June on the first Thursday Yianni and I popped into Arthouse to see the Emma Walker show, 'Tender Internal'. Thinly disguised anthropomorphic forms rendered in wood and paint, an introvert's voice with an extrovert's attitude. It would take a brave man to make works like this. I quite liked the sinuous forms, reminiscent of organs, an admission that we do think of what is hidden as we go about our daily lives.

This was a crowded room earlier this month. I went with Yianni and we talked with a gentleman who lives in Surry Hills. The gentleman was very friendly and we talked about book clubs. He came straight over to me when I had found an open space at the back of the gallery. Greaves paints in impasto oils. I think I remember a couple of years earlier seeing a show of his in Darlinghurst, but I might be wrong. It sounds odd to say thism as if dozens of artists could paint the ame types of pictures with the same technique.

Apologies for the delay, we went as a party of three to this gallery at the beginning of the month but I haven't had time to get around to writing about it. Angharad Evans, Fabric of Society The gallery is a bit out of the way but my friends and I were having lunch in Chinatown so got a bus from Railway Square along Parramatta Road. We got off at Leichhardt, where the gallery is located. Actually we got off a bit too early. Leichhardt is on a very busy road so is a bit exhausting, unlike most galleries (Paddington Surry Hills etc). Then the person whose work in the show I had personally come to see arrived there just after we left the gallery to return to town. Nevertheless it was interesting. Vilma Bader, Pharmatopia The brief for entry involved displaying process and even now I'm not sure that the show met expectations. That is if you knew what it was before visiting. We all had a good time though.

Cast and crew got together to talk and socialise last month at a local restaurant. Since then we have had the first rehearsal, which was held at Coogee Diggers, just up the road from Yana Coogee. The May meetup was the first time that we all came together in one place. Fom now on we'll be meeting at Yana Coogee on Sunday afternoons.

A friend invited me to come along so I brought a work that I'd had framed. Most of the people at the gathering were studying at the National Art School, I was the exception. It was a sunny autumn day. We stood in the garden overlooking Tamarama Beach (see pic). To swap paintings we put our names on pieces of paper and put them into a pot. I pulled out the name of a young man who made his picture on an iPad. Finn is currently working on agraphic novel.

This is the third post with regard to Yianni's and my outing recently to galleries in Sydney. Nanda/Hobbs had the paintings of Peter Gardiner, sort of a cross between Surrealism and seventeenth century Dutch flower still lifes. They also had a distinctly sixties feel about them, a bit harlequin-ish. At Piermarq Javier Ruiz was displayed. Also something gay and feckless about these realist paintings (see below). Thick impasto paint going right over the edges of the canvasses made these works hefty and heavy-looking. I liked the Namatjira echoes.

Here is more evidence from Yianni's and my survey of local Sydney galleries last Thursday. After parking in Rushcutters Bay we also popped into Dominik Mersch Gallery to see the fabulous abstracts of Julio Rondo.  I love the colour and the synthetic qualities of these beautiful objects. I felt as if the colour had no place to escape. Next we went to Arthouse Gallery further down the street. The more colour you see, apparently, the more colour comes to you. Lydia Balbal's canvases are both artful and delightful. Later after chatting with some people we headed down to Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert where we'd seen the Donna Marcus show previously. Her work was still on and we spoke with the artist briefly.