Eastern Suburbs Art Group

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.

Managers at Sketch On Stage, an Eastern Suburbs Art Group production, met over a nice meal in Randwick this week. It had been a busy few months since the project started and we had just opened the website to the world.  The agenda will be busier going forward as we manage rehearsals. Tickets should be on sale soon, I'll keep everyone posted. In the picture: Simon Kahn (producer), Michael Acland (director), Matthew da Silva (me, executive producer), and Tom Yousif (scripwriter).

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.