Eastern Suburbs Art Group

“Small Works” at Tiliqua Tiliqua presented a group show featuring small-format artworks—each no larger than approximately 30 cm. Despite the modest scale of the works, the exhibition carried significant visual impact, showcasing a broad range of techniques, styles, and individual artistic voices. The opening attracted a very large audience, even busier than previous events at the gallery, and included returning artists as well as familiar faces from earlier exhibitions. The curatorial execution was one of the strongest elements of the exhibition. The layout followed a clear and intuitive reading flow—left to right—with works arranged in a visually coherent sequence. The curation strongly emphasised chromatic harmony, allowing the viewer to experience the show as a progressive visual journey despite the diversity of artists and mediums.

Studio 551 is a small but elongated gallery, easy to walk through even when full. The space benefits from two large street-facing display windows, one on each side of the entrance, which bring in strong natural light and make the gallery visible from the street. Despite working in very different mediums, the artists ( Fiona Roderick, Maggie Stein, Marina Civiero, Paola Talbert, Helen Ashley) formed a surprisingly harmonious group exhibition. A key curatorial factor was that each artist had a dedicated table, creating personal “micro-spaces” within the room. The exhibition attracted a lively crowd. Conversations flowed easily; many attendees mentioned they enjoy these events for the pleasant social experience and the opportunity to connect with beautiful work while sharing a drink or fruit.

Sausage Gallery is almost certainly one of the smallest gallery spaces in Australia—essentially a single glass-fronted display window functioning as an installation space. Its extremely reduced scale forces the visitor to engage with the work in an unusually direct and intimate way. Yellow Journalism by Jenny Brown is a politically charged installation addressing misinformation, propaganda, and the historical roots of media distortion—particularly in relation to wartime narratives. The title references the term yellow journalism, originally used to describe sensationalist reporting associated with newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. According to Brown’s accompanying text, excerpts from a film biography of Hearst and imagery linked to political cartoonists are interwoven with contemporary references.  Elizabeth went o the show in her car and took the photos. From a distance the iconography of the show nis intriguing due to the presence of the Bayweuz Tapestry, a sort of embro...

Elizabeth went along to this show in October at a time  when the gallery was already completely full . From the outside you could sense a lively , positive energy . The space , though small , felt warm and inviting , with good lighting and an atmosphere that encouraged people to stay. The exhibition featured Carol Muller and Fiona Ferguson , two artists with distinct visual languages that complemented each other beautifully. Muller is passionate about architecture , presented images capturing fragments of different cities - she mentioned Lisbon , Hong Kong and a few others I couldn't fully catch because of the noise . Ferguson on the other hand , works with image layering and digital    manipulation . She uses photographs of details many taken by Carol herself , as she told me to build complex compositions full of depth and texture. The warm , festive mood and intimacy of the venue embodied the idea of " living art , approachable and unpretentious . ..

I wasn't there unfortunatley I had too much occupying my mind but some friends went along and took photos on my behalf, so thanks espcially to Mark for his shutterwork. Some of the textual apparatus for Fergus Berney-Gibson's photographic work is a bit opaque but you sort of expect no tto be able to understand public gallery labels these days. I find it a bit hard but other people might have a different opinion. I liked this artist's use of photos from personal archives, images from his family past. Above just a shot of people in one of the staircases in the odd shaped buildings that make up the school. I liked the camera angle. The following two shots show works I cannot find attrabutive material for apologies, I just liked them. Funny how we have here two black and white images that caught my attention. Below- another great camera angle from Mark, very inventive use of the window as a frame. Below - works by Aislinn Connolly, lovely soft focus and minimal colour rage. But...

 The recurring themes were evident: the female figure and flowers dominated the show, rendered in a way that balanced sensuality with delicacy. Some pieces clearly belonged to the same collection, while others — though stylistically related — seemed drawn from earlier series. Thommen’s visual language blends the beauty of the feminine silhouette with the organic richness of floral forms, creating compositions that feel both intimate and decorative. His palette and framing choices enhanced the emotional tone — warm, expressive, and accessible.

Elizabeth from Esag went along to this show and she felt that the space was too stuffy and the works not ordered correctly. When she spoke with James they discussed 'No. 4, Tiger Prawns, Cottesloe, Perth 2025' and explained that it represented family gatherings at Christmas, a cultural custom where his family eats prawns every year. This was his way of reflecting moments that hold emotional and personal meaning, Elizabeth said. She stayed for around 50 minutes.  The above image is one James told me about. It is a shot showing a deserted urban space, actually in Rozelle before Westconnex. I had mentioned to him that it reminded me of a scene in a movie.

Last month I had a chance to go to Concord to see a friend's works in this show. The friend is a member and I joined too because I am an artist as well. The quality of the work is high, I bought a watercolour by Oliver Addis showing Lake Burley Griffin. Other members of the society were exhibiting their works as well including Chris Smith who had paintings and tea towels on display in one room (see below). We had works and objects by Angela Iliadis (see below). Paintings and tea towels by Diana Borinski (see below). These works are nicely packaged too suitable for presents. Not excess packaging but what is needed, just right. There were also works by Lois Janik, including cyanotypes (see below). It's funny because today I applied to join a cyanotype group on Facebook. Serendipity you see! More (below) by Lois Janik including polymer clay earrings.

The key to this was an invitation from an environmental group I have worked with for a while. Dropping off the work in the inner west of Sydney easier than taking it to Avalon, where the sale took place. The image above not clear as it was taken from a video, apologies. They sold 150 works and raised thousands of dollars for Medecins sans Frontiers. "The exhibition turned into a wonderful show of support for the people of Gaza and also a powerful community building event," Lene Lunde wrote to me. Lene is the organiser of the event. I asked her to keep me notified of any future similar opportunities. The painting I gave was one from 2022 I think, 'Vera Stanhope', watercolour and collage with marker on paper. It is four panels framed in a single frame, 2 by 2.

Actually I didn't go of course for the purpose of seeing the painting but the painting turned out to be more engaging than the seminar. The mural is enormous and occupies an entire wall of the huge space.  The theme is the City 2 Surf marathon that is held in Sydney every  year, though it's not completely obvious from looking at the painting that this is the subject. The ICC's theatre is located in the same space. Because of this the mural by Hodgkinson (had never heard his name mentioned prior to today) reminded me of similar art in the Sydney Opera House. I don't mean that Hodgkinson has a mural in the Opera House, obviously not. If he had one there I would have known about him. Unfortunately as you can see from the above image the mural is sort of closed off by escalators. Most of the work is blue (echoes of Whiteley), cream, yellow and black. There are strips of orange in places. But due to the presence of the equipment required to get people upstairs to the third f...

The prize has been going for over two decades, which in itself is impressive, but the works on display are really nice. The works are personal in scope, which is intersting. They are also all quite different in style. The prize went to Auckland-based artist Virginia Leonard for Glad that you are not here all the time — an urn for unwanted limbs and other things, made from clay, pure gold and resin (see below). The work is interesting it sort of exudes a sense of fatigue, which aligns with the title. You want people to be around but not all the time, in fact the exhausting work of the artist mandates a lot of free time. In my world I call it grey flabby time, the spare hours surrounding creative moments, or rather creative periods. I'm not comparing my world with Leonard's by any means but I was struck by the sense of familiarity I had when viewing her sculpture. Another winner was for the Mayor's Choice Award, going to Alicia Cox for Rack (see below). The gallery says this ...

What a frantic week. Delayed materials. Last minute dash over the bridge. Forgotten bookings. Then four days talking to people wandering in the aisles of Hall 4 ICC. Last night Mark and I emptiued out the booth, put everything in the ute, and brought it home. Mark, Natasha and I took turns on the booth. The show every day from 10qam to 6pm. If you do that one day it's already enough, but the energy you get from talking to people offsets the fatigue. Down the track we'll have a debrief to mull over the consequences of the show, what it meant, how to package the ideas better in future. I hate marketing language too but the word "package" sort of works to collect a whole range of ideas, of words, and of memories. Dreams, too, and plans.

A friend had a painting in this show. The central theme is drawing. Many of the paintings evince a high degree of skill and application in the design.  Sorry I don't know where the room sheet as I went to this show a while ago. Only went back because some images dropped out of my phone. The above image reminds me of a set of paintings a friend of mine did some years ago. There is something of Cressida Campbell in this. This (above) is Mark my friend's painting, normally he does watercolour but this is oil. The above image is a painting by a woman, again apologies the room sheet has escaped. This woman has two items in the show and they are beside each other. I like the conception it is very evocative and sensual. The colour scheme is very restricted however, so there is a kind of tension in the work.

A special small space in the heart of the CBD, Macchiarto is tied to a cafe on the corner of Pitt and Livverpool streets. So close to Chinatown. Near the World Square development. The food is awesome, I had a version of shakushaka I have never had before. Actually and surprisingly the Mexican ambassador attended the function. It was a warm and close collection of people. The art is amazing, I bought two paintings. Torres talks about street art in respect of her work, and I guess so but the thing that really got me was the cartoon quality and the colours. Top is 'Children of the Sun Rabbit' bottom is 'Children of the Sun Fox' - these ones I purchased. Torres often uses this sort of ace-shaped opening to partially obscure a face, you can see in the bottom painting (above). I think it looks like hair. For her part Torres has long hair. So perhaps there is some form of self expression in the use of this shape. The shakushaka was called Flamenco Shaka. I sometimes make shaku...

While I am definitely drawn to this type of atmospheric landscape or dreamscape - and especially these ones as they are so nicely done - it is not precisely my favourite type of art. I went to the show with Virginia but we stood outside most of the time because I feared for my ankle, which I broke two months before. A crowd in a small room, I thought, not really a good idea. As it was I almost fell over in the street, which sloped in parts. Yianni came a bit later and we chatted in the warm spring air. A good night, the people milling around on the pavement, talking and sipping beer or red wine. I went home and cooked chicken and carrot for dinner, then work.

Today the first challenging day of a 3-day conference in Mascot. There are still some things to understand about the sales stack the consultants Connekt Coaching inroduced surprisingly during a meditation session. To be honest this was the first time I had entered into such a physical and mental state. Because it was so new I really don't know if it worked. Material covered in the conference was often new but there were some aspects of the curriculum I felt I already knew. It was good to get a refresher. I couldn't afford a one-on-one training program but the presence of other people was sometimes obtrusive. Organisers broke tasks down into manageable chunks so that it was easy to move through the program.  Sometimes it felt like I was looking at early abstract paintings. At other times it felt like being in an episode on 'I Dream of Genie'. You know, butcher's paper and diagrams. All very analogue, which is actually part of the day I most enjoyed. One element that ...

Natasha had paintings in a show at Breakfast Point. I brought the photogrtapher Henry. Mark and his partner Stephanie came by ferry. We shot a group phoito for the MindBodySpirit Festival flyer.  Henry also made individual profile photos for use elsewhere. Photo credit to Stepahnie (see below).