Flyer fail and paintings of flowers

Hilarity ensued on the way home from the National Art School where Simon and I had gone to distribute flyers for the first Sydney Sketch Soiree we’ve got planned for the Randwick Ritz. An intrepid pair slunk around like burglars but found it impossible in an art school to give away information that would encourage people to practice their art. 

Imagine! We ended up being entirely critical of institutions in what we were saying to each other as Simon drove back to the eastern suburbs from the city. 

After a break and some lunch I headed off on my own to pick up the lapel pins we’d had made (if you want one just send an email – see “Contacts” page for email address) and while in Chippendale saw Jun Chen’s show at Nanda/Hobbs.

Chen has been in Australia for over 30 years and did his initial art training in China to learn traditional ink painting. When he came here he did a masters in Queensland in oil painting. Reportedly he limbers up each morning with some calligraphy. “You have to control everything,” he said.

I showed the photos I took to a friend named Mingming who is Chinese and she said, “It’s not my type.” Another friend, Basia, who is Polish, admired the paintings and praised their execution and composition. She said that people love to have something attractive on their walls and the price of Chen’s works makes his paintings suit buyers’ ethos.

The small works are on sale for $15,000 and I asked Luke, who works at the gallery about the cost. He said Chen exhibits about every two years and his work sells briskly. In the photo below Chen is in the centre holding a glass of wine next to Ralph Hobbs (pale blue shirt).

Luke, who has sold me works before, kindly took a flyer and folded it up to put in his pocket. I left happy.