Eastern Suburbs Art Group

I was in Ruschutters Bay on 2 May and we popped into M Contemporary to have a look at two artitsts' work. Eloise Cato uses a black substance to create vibrant and dynamic objects (see above). These look like something out of a Harry Potter movie, which I guess was the intention. Somehow they are both traditional and futuristic. Hannalie Taute's work (above) uses an embroidered feature in large reproductions of historical photographs. There is a feminist dynamic here due to the use of a traditionally female medium (embroidery), as well as the association with outdated ideas belonging to the past. Punchy and interesting.

Yesterday went with friends, including one who is also an artist, to sell paintings on the Goods Line in Haymarket. I got there early so by the end of the day was quite tired. We got a spot ear xthe east end of the area designated for selling. I sold one 4-panel painting but importantly had three nice conversations with prospective buyers. The busiest time was from midday to about 2pm. It was a gorgeous sunny day. My friend happily sold two paintings, so everyone was happy. I got the bus/train there and back.

Bronwen and her mother Pamela came along to the show in Ensign, and we met other friends there in Enmore including Christopher, Natasha, Yianni, and Christine. A wide range of mediums and subjects all with the commonality of the colour. A lively crowd kept up conversation for the 90 minutes that we stayed. I made a purchase (see below) and the artist Henry Yuan was in the gallery for the show. Henry in fact has done some beautiful portrait photos of me, which I use regularly when applying for things online. He told me his parents were in the theatre business, so performing is in his blood. The photo looks like a painting it is so detailed.  On the way home I stopped off in Botany and bought Indian food to eat.

It was my honour to be selected to feature on this occasion but I'm afraid my renditions of worls I'd written wasn't all that crash-hot. In addition to some sonnets and dream journals I read a chapter from a prose poetry collection titled 'Winter Nouns'. This was a first for me. I had done sonnets on many other occasions but the ones I chose this time felt wrong. The dream journals were fine. The prose poem was just a jumble of words. But it was great to have the opportunity to air my creations. With an audience. In fact it's always a knowledgeable audience, and I was particularly indebted to Jordan for his insights. I also brought along copies of 'Gold 4WD', my book of poems.

Esag got together with dancers for a casting meeting tonight at Coogee Diggers.  We filmed the performances, which were I think uniformly interesting. It was amazing to me how people could get together and in ten minutes choreograph such diverse routines. We have pencilled in 21 August as the night of the performance. A new website will be made soon.

I had to drop something off so caught this show while at the gallery. Obviously the common element of all the items in the show is the round shape. The one on the left in the photo below is by Kate Riley who runs the gallery with Felix Oppen. There was a large variety of circles, in different objects. The one below shows an emu mum with emu chicks and some other type of bird. I thought it rather sweet, but also slightly enigmatic. I bought the following photo by Michael Comerford. I liked it aesthetically but it also struck a chord with me because it dhows Anzac Bridge and Pyrmont.

Full house tonight and three of my friends turned up (John, Paul, and Mic). We had limericks, opera, and folk songs, haiku, and sonnets and everything else in-between. Jordan (see pic above) read a long rhyming poem. We chatted about rhyme a bit during the break and both agreed that the restriction that rhyme puts on you can be liberating. Caroline (above pic) read out some of her haikus that have been published in the 'Poets at Petersham Bowlo' Anthology. Short and interesting works of high entertainment value. Above pic shows Reggie, John's friend. I didn't take a photo of John singing it was so extraordinary. Another good singer was Marcus who moved the room with his lyrical meditation on being robbed in New York. We had to cut short the second reading session because there had been so many performers, a second session was unnecessary. It's never happened before, said Ann, one of the convenors.

This space was a new experience for me and though I wasn’t there in person I did get a cache of photos highlighting what happened on the opening. One of my works ‘Wind chimes’ was hung a bit high (see image below) which is suboptimal as it contains a sonnet that really has to be read in order for the artwork to be properly experienced. Apart from this it was a good location near the drinks table. Some people (see photos below) found the work and must’ve commented on it. Great to have so many shots to select from. The woman in the green-and-tan jacket in the above image seems to have singled out ‘Wind chimes’ for special mention. The woman with black hair next to the wall in the image above also seems to have found ‘Wind chimes’ interesting. I found some works more promising than others. There seems to have been a good deal of work with a pedestrian artistic vision but the paramontage-like works below – the ones with text as well as images – naturally caught my eye. They look sort of li

We had actually planned to meet at Camperdown Memorial Rest park but the rain put the kybosh on that, so sought a more comfortable refuge in the cafe next to the Dendy where we spent hours talking and colouring in. Above: the feet beneath the table. Due to privacy concerns faces of people aren't included, sorry. I wanted to show some evidence of what happened today however, with the suggestion of Suzanna Kertesz who thought of this.  Above: after some colouring in done by Natasha who is a moderator with Artists Supporting Artists International and came independently of ADHD Sydney though both have Facebook groups. ASAI is a group run by Kath Harding, who is (also) a Sydney resident. Suzanna wisely brought along colouring books and Textas she got just before arriving at the cafe. It was vey thoughtful of her and people took advantage of her foresight. As you can see from the inventive use of the medium shown below. This colourful scarab beetle was completed by one of the attendees a

PaPB usually runs a soiree on the third Thursday of the month but in Jan they went all out and added a meeting. I picked up Mic and went along to read out a recent poem. The theme for the evening was 'New Year New Work' and the item I chose had been made in the final months of 2023. John Hallam (see pic above) as usual read out a moving work that referred to Ukraine but also to Gaza. It was a good night with a reasonable turnout even this close to the New Year. I was a bit hungry so popped up and bought some delicious food for a change. 

Solidarity yesterday when I went along to see Bruno Valente's and Simon Kahn's work at this one-day show. I'd never seen such a large number of canvases by these two artists before, though the three of us had exhibited together in August. Kahn's works (above) are in this show made of glitter. The technique is nothing short of miraculous, the barriers between one colour on the canvas and the next are super sharp givng the works a sort of machine-made look. Valente offers something different and if you liek surrealism his works are ideal for you. These are really thought-provoking canvases that bend the edges of the possible and make your head fill with thoughts. Which is a good thing; art SHOULD make you think. I stayed for a couple of hours chatting then caught the bus home.

I had a strange encounter on 4 Jan when APAC Insider emailed me with notification of a prize win. I had seen emails from them earlier and had noticed activity on this blog through the back-end where the interface shows visits. The following image came with the email. I replied accepting the award then told the man behind the email address that I'd take the basic package, immediately getting on Facebook to spred the word. I was sincerely pleased but an online friend immediately commented that it was a scam. I got back to the staffer and said I wanted to pull out and he made some excuses adding that the blogpost I had linked to, and that my friend told me about, was from 2016. He noted that there was a "free' option for award recipients to choose if they wanted. He then said that he would go ahead to pull the award unless I had anything else to add. At this point I didn't know what to think but I asked about which other local community art groups had been considered when

I had a scare today when I caught the intercity to Goulburn because having not slept enough the night before I fell asleep during the journey. Lucky for me a friend called several times finally waking me up when the train had already been parked alongside Goulburn Statino for about ten minutes. I scrambled out with my bags and met up with Michael Garside who runs Gallery 59. The trip back on another train (see above) was less fraught because I didn't have to barrel on like I barrelled off before! Michael at his gallery discussed plans for my third solo show, to open on 8 March running for two weeks. When I got home I thought up the name for the show, I'd had a few ideas but seeing the space and seeing the works in the space I had a better notion of what to expect. I settled on "Gold 4WD" which is the title of one of the works. If anyone knows a person in Canberra or surrounds who likes good art please let them know about this show. Michael is a painter himself and he