Eastern Suburbs Art Group

This is my personal situation so far, but there hopefully will be more listed later on, I can't be sure but I'll definitely be promoting myself so who knows? I didn't do much artmaking this month as I've been busy with marketing activities, and it's been rewarding. Group shows Boomer Gallery, London, 'Dreams and Nightmares', 12-17 Jan (opening 12 Jan) The Holy Art, New York, 'Art On Loop', 22-24 Mar Solo shows Tiliqua Tiliqua, Enmore, 'Dark alphabet', 1-5 Feb Gallery 59, Goulburn, show title TBD, show will be in May Happy Christmas and thank you to all the people who have supported my art practice. I wish you a happy 2024 and ask affiliated artists to get in touch if they want to have their agenda featured here. I'm available to help write, and I can post any day.

Today I went by bus and train to Newtown then walked down through Enmore to Tiliqua Tiliqua at 257 Enmore Rd. The hanging complete I came to an empty gallery because I'd got the time wrong, but a friend was there and we talked among ourselves with Kate and Felix going about their business getting ready for the crowd due at 4pm. All the art in two rooms (there are over 40 artists) were secured by open call, which means there was no entry criteria. Nevertheless the quality is uniformly high. This is approachable and accessible art,  nothing standofish at these prices, they're available to take away for very small outlay. I saw one work with a red sticker that sold for $50 though most are more than that. The two works in the above photo are prints but there are even 30cm square oil paintings ready to give as a special gift to a loved one or friend. You probably won't see a crowd like this if you go in from now up to 23 Dec because so many people usually only come to openings, ...

I popped into this gallery to drop a couple of items off and took in the show of this artist who is a brilliant draughtsman. The texture and subtlety of his works is astounding and I felt transported to a foreign city. In some of his works, like the one pictured above he draws on odd materials, in this case old postcards. This gives his work a contemporary feel but also grounds it in the past. Luccio was born in Italy and has evidently retained a sense of place that anchors him in that country. I was glad to have the opportunity to catch this show by a significant artist working today in Australia. I noticed on xthe table in the centre of the room a newspaper article from 'La Fiamma' an outlet based in Luccio's country of birth. Having studied Italian I was able to read it briefly and took away some ideas about how people over there think about this bilocal artist.

Jumped in the car at 5.30pm and made it out thru the rush hour traffic to Seaforth an hour later, but it was worth it, these big, colourful works are acrylic and oil on canvas and they pack a punch. Imaginative use of text adds intrigue to the paintings each of which had a long excursus to give context. Extremely Pop, almost fetishizing the likes of Liechtenstein and all the greats from that long-gone era of experimentaion. You almost consider the possibility that Romeo was born at the wrong time, what kinds of work would he make if he'd been working in the 60s? The titles often are in the small handwritten-style script (see bottom right in photo above) and this is exciting as though there were a puzzle to solve. The line is confident and the palette is extreme, matching the hyperbolic tone of the writing that I imagine came from Romeo himself. When I was there -- not for long, the person I was going to be with couldn't come on time -- Romeo was standing in one of the rooms tal...

I loaded up with bags (see photo below) and headed out by bus, at Redfern found the trains weren't running so dodged back to get the replacement bus which took me to Newtown Station. I walked down Enmore Rd and arrived early.  The first thing I did when going inside the shop was write out a sign for the pavement. I set up quickly (see photo below) and the other vendors arrived later eventually filling up all the space on the tables. Once customers arrived I saw my failings however as browsers tended to sneek past my setup but I sold some works, all single-panel $10 paintings, as well as cards. A couple of days later I dropped by Officeworks to buy something I needed and picked up some marketing gear (see photo below) including plastic film sleeves for the cards and a stand to hold them. You really need something dazzling like this to make people pay attention, otherwise they just saunter on past to more enticing displays. I wish I'd had this stuff on Sunday but there might be m...

I popped out to see this show because someone I know was in it, we had a long talk about the pictures and other things. The photo below shows me with Natasha Allen's 'A4'.The sky and the hillside are both used with Payne's grey, of course with different amounts of water. The photo below shows a work using text, it's Diane McCarthy's 'Untitled (Mobile Home #2)' employing text from a work of French literature in translation. I like the shapes. The following work is Lynn Godfrey's '60% :(' which uses postage stamps with works stencilled on them, again it's a delicate work which requires you to approach close to it to get the full effect. The following work is Chantal M Grech's '"I cannot remember exactly what she looked like ..."' which has a story behind it that you need to know in order for the work to have full effect. You need to read the text, which I will not include in full here. The story in the text refers to a...

I've spent a good deal of time over the past two weeks getting ready. Now my bags are packed. This looks like a lot to carry on public transport but it's not that heavy because it's mostly paper. I put the paintings in envelopes with the names and a picture stapled to the front. I made signs with a price list and an indication of how to pay. I included sticky tape and a stapler. I have these metal stands (see in front of bag) from Spotlight to hold the framed works. Most of the works on sale will be unframed hence the envelopes. In addition there are cards. I started out with a simple design for Christmas cards but then also made different designs including one based on that old movie 'The Castle'. I wanted to offer a range of things for people to enjoy. The cards involve watercolour and collage because this is my painting method. I got pieces of A5 paper and folded them and put colour on the front then inside added collage to give the card a special cachet. The add...

I popped into this gallery two days ago to catch a talk with the artist. I think his works are very beautiful but they work better when more abstract. I think the one about Juukan Gorge doesn't quite come off as if you don't know the title it's hard to work out that it depicts a cave. In the talk Tomkins revealed how he'd come from building industry to art. I can see how his experience has informed his art practice, the works are very laboooour-intensive. Pardt of his process includes cutting film and he said that for one work this can take up to five days to complete.  Many of his works have a background layer of board covered in cement render. On top of this and spaced different distances away from it is a layer of Perspex with the architectural film plastered to it. He also sometimes uses ink and watercolour to achieve the affects he aims for. I met Mark and Bernadette at the show and we had a chat outside before they went off to Flinders Street Gallery to catch anot...

I picked up Mic and Virginia and drove out to Parramatta on Monday night for a reading. Danny Gardner introduced a new segment where the audience has to pick whether the reader is telling the truth or not and it went off well, everyone got involved. I also Met Paul out there he'd come on his own steam. One of the poets Devina Bedford (above) gave us a performance of her witty poems, many of which rhyme. It was her 'Current Affairs' routine with politics the main subject. Alan Joyce got a roasting. Also on the schedule was Bhol Kumar Dhamala (above) who recited poems and gave us a performance on his flute. Bhol got us all together for a group shot so he could take it back to his country and Devina jumped in to nab a selfie (see above). It was a great night but my enthusiasm was dampened when i discovered that the motorway was closed on the way back to town. After a missed turning we got back to the main road without mishap.

Last week I went to see the ‘Porqueno’ show in Redfern and caught some of the engaged works on display. I particularly liked ‘Unplug’ by Mateja Jager because her use of text mirrors my own work.  It’s nice to think of someone else working on the same page as oneself. I didn’t stay long as I knew no one there but what I saw of the show was encouraging.

I was up in Newtown today picking up coffee fresh-ground and once I’d paid headed back to the car parked on Wilson Street. Of course I dropped by Laerk Space to check out the two photographers who’re currently exhibiting there as part of Head On Photography. Fiona Ferguson’s works are closest to the door so I’ll talk about them first. You can see the bright colours (above pic) and you can buy unframed photos in limited series as well. I was told the artist uses Photoshop with original material in layers. Carol Muller (above pic) takes photos of things in the street and she said all the shots in the show are of the local inner city area like Chippendale. It’s clear that Muller sees abstract elements in real life. If you're in the area on Saturday you can go to the gallery for the opening at 11am.

On Saturday I jumped in the car in the afternoon and scooted up the street to Camperdown to catch ‘Tree Tales’ a group show at Chrissie Cotter Gallery, arriving just in time to see the exhibition. The works were of a high quality and all inspired by the single subject of trees. I focused for this post on Mark Elliot-Ranken’s ‘Navigators’ which he told me was inspired by the idea of lost knowledge following the Council of Nicea, all the Roman temples and other religious sites closed down in favour of the Church. I got this information standing in front of Mark’s work upstairs in the gallery, then walked back to the car and tootled off home in the traffic.

The third show on Thursday night with Christine and Yianni was Marie Mansfield’s. The reduced palette and sombre tones used in these paintings gives them a sort of fin-da-ciecle feel as though you were in a café in Paris in about 1902. End of century is appealing to me, I wrote my bachelor’s thesis on a novelist practicing in the 1890s in Trieste, a city doomed to reduction once the Austrians were shuffled out after WWI. So I can understand the appeal of the aesthetic of darkness. These paintings were shown in the back room at the gallery, what they call the "project space" and the small size of the works and muted colours suited an intense atmosphere as people crowded in to see the works.

We parked on Abercrombie Street and walked two minutes to Nanda/Hobbs, which was packed with spectators. I was still with Yianni and Christine at this point and we walked around the gallery then joined the crowds of people out on the pavement. When we were getting back in the car Christine mentioned that Zilinsky's work reminded her of a particular artist whose work had been popular in the 1970s. It wasn't until much later that Christine remembered that it was Keith Looby she'd been thinking of when she'd brought it up. I remembered Looby's name and was familiar with dthe particular type of Australian painting with a cortoonish purpose as well as cartoonish style. Australia being a very mediated community has a richness of talent when it comes to political cartoonists and Zelinsky's humorous paintings seem to fit into that mould. I quite liked the line but wasn't overly impressed by the colours.

I went to this opening with Christine and Yianni and got there early on the crowded train to Parramatta. Adams uses either geometric lines or surreal drawing to convey meaning and this was a retrospective going back to the nineties. The ones in the photo (there is a series of them, in different colours) was painted in 2003 and they reminded Christine and me of 70s posters. I was put in mind of a series of posters featuring brutalist buildings that I used to see (not that long ago) advertised on Twitter (before the name change) for sale. Some readers will know that I’m a big fan of brutalism in architecture. Adams also uses words in his work, notably a large painting done in the 90s. The mentioned painting (apologies the room sheets weren’t for taking away and I didn’t snap a photo) also uses geometric lines. We met the artist in the gallery, which is a not-for-profit. Yianni got a parking spot on Station Street so afterward we walked down the street to the car and went elsewhere for mo...

The show was sort of like greeting the future, I felt exhausted like I’d been travelling in a time machine but the feelings were all of hope and anticipation. I discovered how hard it is to get people to come into the gallery off the street. They walk along, glance at the poster in the window, scope out the interior … … and walk on regardless.  I might have to do something about the impact of the feature pieces. The ones visible from the window. Bigger, brighter, most splashy. Vibrant. Entrancing. I did sell one piece (thanks Paul) a 2022 paramontage titled ‘Birth’ that includes photos layered and a poem. The photos come specifically from the TV and from a show opening I went to in 2008 at a time when I was struggling with my mental health. I might be in another group show, just putting the word out there and hope that people are able to keep in touch so we can meet up again and chat. My sticker campaign for the ‘Media of mass psychology’ was successful in that one person (in a yel...

Thanks to Devina Bedford (right in photo below) for the photos, I was a bit busy doing hosting duties, and thanks to Virginia (also pictured, left) for making time to be at the opening. It was a nice turnout to have people come along to my show though there were some no-shows due to illness. We had some people who come to openings with Eastern Suburbs Art Group as well as other friends and even someone who learned about the show from Facebook. One person had come along to see the pictures in the morning and popped back in at 5pm to meet the rest of the stalwarts. Below is me talking with Paul Mathew (who kindly catered) about 'Trial by media' (watercolour and collage on paper). I had been in the gallery for two days by this point and Sunday was cloudy so I left early at just on 2.30pm. I don't mind sitting in the shop, as I noted last time I did this, it's quite restful to be quiet surrounded by one's own works of art. You have more time to reflect and assimilate id...

Busy day today hanging my first solo show at Laerk Space 163 Wilson St Newtown. I got there in the car at 11.30am and we laid out the pictures along the walls to start with. Once all the picture were in the right place I hung them on drops using the picture hanging system installed. Each hook has to be positioned in the ideal eye line and the spirit level used to get the pictures perfectly straight. Annie the gallerist did the planning and adjusted the works on their hooks to get the ideal setting. I went away in the early afternoon and returned later on with some wine for the opening on Thursday night as well as some posters with material for the show. First day in the gallery tomorrow from midday. If you’re around the area drop by for a chat.

I met up with Virginia to go along to this show down in Enmore, it was a fine day with plenty of sunshine though afterwards it got a little chill in the wind. The opening was well patronised so there were lots of people there. There was a stark difference between Sharkey’s ‘Beauty of Impermanence’ show with photos of peonies in close-up, and Gill’s ‘One Story Ends Another Begins’ which is made up of large abstract canvases with a muted palette.  The speech was given by a woman who knows both artists and who worked at Stills Gallery. I mentioned a project that I did recently while talking with Gill, a man Virginia knows. My story was a bit unhinged and incoherent so I wanted here to put it down in more detail. In 2008 in the winter I was struggling with my mental health and in order not to stay at home I would go out. One day I got on the train and went into the city taking photos on the way. I went to an opening at Stills Gallery and took blurred photos, inside it was dark (see bel...

Our fifth gallery visit on 5 Oct took Yianni and I to the Hollywood Hotel, where, in the upstairs space, we saw the paintings of David Art Wales. Funky is probably the best word to use to describe this oeuvre, with dripping paint and Day-Glo colours. People were taking selfies in xthe "living room" and talking in the kitchen, just like a share house party in the 80s. It took me back to my misspent youth! We bumped into photographer Catherine Hourihan and had a short chat, then toddled down the stairs and back out intoi the night.

On Thurs 5 Oct the fourth show I saw with Yianni was at Piermarq in Surry Hills, the big colourful canvases of Galina Munroe. I really like the decorative feel of the paintings with their understated approach to contemporary gender politics. The paintings have something about them of the air of children's book illustrations, perhaps a first primer on the body. Some of the canvases show flowers, too, just tht I didn't specifically target them. The works are very large.