Eastern Suburbs Art Group

Most of the works with the usual muted beige paletter. This one a standout however, the strong blues especially drawing attention from people in the gallery. It's like ICE agents beating Snow White. So interesting and deep. Zilinski is consistent, sort of puzzled lines that seem a bit surprised to find themselves on the canvas. The canvas embarrassed by all the attention, feeling  a bit unworthy.

This month I drove north for the annual Myall Creek Commemoration event. It's every year on King's Birthday weekend. On the Saturday before the ceremony I went out to this fair. They have some interesting sculptures. The countryside around there is grazing land, rolling hills, dry grass. Some areas of green evidcently there'd been some rain. The fair wasn't amazaing I sat down had some coffee. Saw some people I know. Actually almost had an accident. The satnav was telling me one thing the road sign another. I was in front of a caravan, then I braked and crossed to the other side of the road, turned back. In the end little drama though the driver of the car towing the caravan must've had a bit of concern. I did a U-ie and came back to the turnoff. Drove south. It was sunny and not too cold during the trip. Funny thing about country folk the cars are almost all utes or 4WD but for some reson like 60pc white colour.

Somehow this artist's works manage to be figurative, the mass of brushstrokes culminating in an image taken from the natural world. It's sort of like a revelation. I have seen his work at this gallery for years, many years ago I thought of buying one. Maybe it's the next stage of figuration after Fred Williams. What is it about the landscape in this country that drives artists to such depths of expression. I think Jun Chen who shows at Nanda/Hobbs sits on the same spectrum. Whatever it is it's great. I really enjoyed looking at Pennock's works this time. No doubt he'll be back again next year for another showing.

This was another stop on the Rushcutters Bay gallery walk. The works seemed a good fit for the particular gallery. It's not unusual to find a show like this with similar items for sale. Apologies if I'm not being clear. What I mean to say is that these items look similar. But this is normal in Sydney, and probably elsewhere. In fact the titles of the works are as interesting as the works themselves. Grounded, carved by memory, holding the story. I wondered who the artist was. Is. The gallery walk is worthwhile. Visiting commerical galleries is good fun, well if you're a little weird. Or if you don't mind wasting time. I usually go with friends.

Mark Dober, a solo exhibition, The Splendour of Nature, at Manning Regional Gallery, Taree. Exhibition ends 12 July 2025. Mark has made his wall-sized gouache and watercolour works on site in the landscape. The gouache shown in this post is 168 x 380 cm. Mark lives in central Victoria, he is a member of the Eastern Suburbs Art Group.

The drawing is excellent but the meaning is hidden in the gloss. Something about gay airmen, fighter planes. I couldn't make it out. But the drawing, wonderful. Reminded me of this guy, I think name is David Salle. I think New York in the 90s, but really not sure. Anyway I liked Fuller's work.

This event took place in Centennial Park. I located the relevant tree I think a banyan on a hill. Underneath hundreds of young people jogging or cycling. The TVS sat around and ate some prepared food. We each broght something to eat. These kind people. Everyone has something to say. The sharing circle meant about two minutes each person. Many different concerns. One person talked about a sustainable house being made in the Blue Mountains. I said I want to be more intentional, borrowing the sustainability theme. Being intentional as an artist, what does that mean. I had a discussion later with someone else, I wondered when the idea of "practice" became sort of mandatory for artists. We talk about an artist's practice. I am not sure why it is necessary to practice being an artist, being an artist is a choice. Being a journalist is a practice, you "do" journalism but an artist just "is". When you think in terms of practice you end up with stacks of works ...

This show is closed now but I went along on the opening night to see. I had bought one of the artist's works before at a different show. They are linocuts, large ones often. Sometimes they are coloured with paint and sometimes they are just the black ink. But the work below is a painting. There were a few people at the opening and I chatted with Susan and Vincent.  The linocut on the left in the top photo is striking. It is a scene of tress and nature, in a very dramatic phase. The trees seem to move. The leaves are dense and the execution is brilliant. A coloured version of the ame print was in another room.

We had four participants as well as me. I was basically administering, handing out supplies, offering advice, and making coffee.  There were different appoaches. Some people added collage to prepared sheets with watercolour paint on them. You can see the results of this method above. Other people painted their own sheets of paper, as shown above. Mic took a third avenue with a pure watercolour composition. We all had a good time.

I'd heard of this painter before but hadn't had the chance to see a group of his works together in one place like this before. These are from the 30s. There is something like contemporary illustration here, I mean they are very modern, ahead of their years. They look like they cd've been painted in 2019. Shades of El Greco. I quite like the simplicity, the reduced palette, the conception. The above is a portrait of Spencer done by a different artist. The Biblical themes of Spencer's works also suggestive. Old debates. An enduring spiritucalism. Questioning. But over all the works not flashy. They are as they should be. Communication, just getting the job done.

The heart of the city is remarkably empty esp on a weekend. You see all these security guards, from shopping centre owners, from the city government, and of course police. Because there's nobody around. Anyway i spent a bit of time in the gallery near the train station. Pushpa Kumari There was nobody in the gallery either. I sort of bobbed around like a fishing lure. Ryan Presley There seems to be more of a focus in WA, at least in the gallery, on contemporary Aboriginal culture, for example the painting above. Vincent Namatjira I loved the portrait of Gina Reinhart (see above) by possibly the most famous contemporary Aboriginal artist. So refreshing and real. Naturally mining is viewed differently in WA compared to the rest of the country (with possible exception of regional Qld). Revel Cooper The above painting beautiful with super saturated and almost cartoonish colours. Remainds me  of a painting granny bought when we were small, granny's painting hung over the dining table...

I booked a ticket to Perth and got there, got into the hotel, and drove to Wanneroo to see the Antipodean Manifesto exhibition but it was shut. Google said it was open but the gallery site said the opposite. From Wanneroo it was a quick 50 minute drive to Fremantle. This small port town is not far from the Parth CBD but anyway the motorways are so amazing in the western capital there wasn't a traffic light for 100km. I had some quick food then wandered a bit. The Shipwrech Museum is free to enter and I had time  so dropped by. For some reason these empty shells are in the display, something about making buttons from moother of pearl. I didn't spend a lot of time looking. There was also part of the hul l of a wrecked slave ship (see below). I think the ship had been a prize captured by the Navy following outlawing of the slave trade. Fremantle is a small town but it is sort of like Maroochydore or Manly,  pine trees and apartments. On the way back to the motorway passed Murdoch...

I wore a new shirt (see pic). The shirt was made from art show cloth, my tailor did a good job putting it together. The art show in question in Surry Hills. The show had one of my works. The work was picked up from the printers the same day I delivered it to the gallery, so ddni't really have time to check it out beforme hanging. Kate Riley did a good job with the hanging as usual. The opening event really packed (see pic above). Will go to collect unsold work this weekend. Some really nice works featuring the colour yellow. I particularly liked one linocut of a sun by Stephen Westgarth.

Anglo women and Chinese artists the standouts in this show. I went there recently one evening. I was alone and this didn't bother me as it allowed me to conentrate more on the drawings than might otherwise be the case. Sally Simpson Amelia Carroll They had a separate room for the contributions by Chiense artists. Whereas all the local artists seemed to be coming from one place -- don't get me wrong their work was often really excellent --  the Chinese artists offer a different perspective. Some surprising insights and new ways of seeing. Li Jiaman Anyway a good show. One issue with the curation is that with the Chinese names it's completely impossible to know if the artist is a man or a woman. Again the works are good enough to stand alone but this small item of information can be critical to the viewer's resonse to a work.

The artist is clever in introducing Instagrammable elements, pieces of signage, furniture, entire shopfronts. I mean people like to get photos to put online and the artist obliges. It's sort of cool and quirky as well as considerate. Maybe good busienss too, but the extra elements must increase the cost of showing. The above photo illustrates what I mean. Actually the major part of the show is in two movies. The movies are the primary method of conveying meaning. The viewer hunts for referents in the movies that he or she can relate to. The paraphernalia is just like extras. The above photo shows a movie on an outside screen, but there is also like a small theatre where a longer film showed. Much of the material relates to China's industrial development, but of course being China it's interlaced (not so much with romance but) with ideas to do with family. Underpinning the story from a plot perspective is technology transfer from Russia, China's old friend. Yes where rom...

Origianlly this show was to happen in May. Actually the planning started earlier in december when i  signed up for a residency. The outfit was in Brooklyn. It took the form of Zoom calls, sometimes very late at night. In fact early morning most often. But the residency fell apart. I pulled the plug when the convenor said, "In any case you have to eat chist." You're going to eat shit anyway. It was the last straw. I told the organisers I wanted to brainstorm the May show during the residency, I got about five usable pieces of information. Apart from the exhortation to "eat shit". I wondered if they would like it if they were told to eat shit. I still wonder. It's strange. Like what kind of art consirtium uses this sort of language. Uncool. Maybe that was the point. Ok so I missed the point. I didn't find out about this point until the residency was almost over, there were like two or three weeks left to run. I did get a partial refund but basically lost t...

Something tells me I saw this person't work at Peach Black in Chippendale some years ago. Having a distinct memory of the same types of works. The memory is definitely years old because I haven't been to Peach Black for a long time. The works themselves are quite entertaining, Poppey, light. But they have a certain knowing grin. I guess that this is something remarkable. I mean the works are remarkable because they visit places people seldom go to, which is the ways in which popular narratives (say, such as those contained in a novel) inhabit everyday life. I look forward to seeing more work by this artist.

My first impression of these dreamy landscapes was that they look like the covers of 19th C novels. But there must be some method in the artist's replication of almost exactly the same pattern in canvas after canvas.  And I'm not saying that I have seen precisely the same paintings elsewhere. What you are left with is this basic sense of something having been experienced. Perhaps that's the  point. Not a statement. Not a call to action. Not another sad complaint. Just a faint green smeared across linen. A gap between trees.  A far horizon. Faintly yellow air. While it seems facile it's surprisingly not. Actually not at all. It's not easy.  This is not to say that I thought about the paintings long after leaving the gallery. To say this would be to lie.  And I don't lie. What I can do is recall the company I was with. The types of conversations. The faces. The words, or at least some of them. Even my own. In Vlavianos' works you don't see the paint brushs...

So quiet around Mary Street you cd practically hear a leaf hit the pavement. Crash. Playoust has a nice line and great colour sense. It was sort of Rees meets Whiteley, but also Claes Oldenberg as a detour. Playoust added de Stael for good measure.  Playoust is very precise, but of course he's an artist. I told him about a street where we lived growing up. We would skateboard diagonally back and forward  across the descending face of th street then shoot across the busy road at the bottom, zip, heading down another street that then went and angled to the left. So sure he said but my scenes are in the countryside. Just look at the colours! A few people came into the gallery while I was there. I picked up my umbrella and left. The car parked on Oxford Street.

When I spoke with Graham he said he wanted to take photos but he wanted people to look at them like they were paint ings. What an amazing idea, I thought.  If you wanted to find the word that most easily epitomises the works perhaps 'atmospheric' would work well. Some of the prints are large. There are also sets that are designed to go in a triptych. They quickly grow on you. The immediate impact is there, but if you spend even a few minutes with one of these photos it's sort of like meditation. Obviously there's the influence of the Impressionists, Graham said. I saw a photo of tree leaves on a body of water. But, I thought, this could be anywhere in Sydney. I've seen this before. I guess that the only thing to do is to enjoy the works. I think the show is closed now unfortunately.

'Fork' has a stunning catalogue with the two artists' names in different inks. Kate said that she came up with the idea. The two lists are intermixed. Normally in shows with two artists the lists are kept separate. Kate and Felix run the gallery together. The two works above are Kate's, I think they would work really well  framed as a pair. Felix makes prints (see below) in a sory of Poppy style with bright colours and writing. I stayed til the end, there were a few people sitting round  chatting and just shooting the breeze. I also met Mark Elliot-Rankin who I've met before, but he wasn't among the oysters. Mark is a great conversationalist however. This show has unfortunately already ended.

Have been thinking about how to write about this artist. I wouldn't go so far as to talk about derivativeneess, though of course you might choose to take that route. One thing that sets Jaimen slightly apart is the looseness of the execution. This is almost outsider art. In fact Dune the gallerist used this word in a brief discussion we had when I was in the gallery.  A loose execution is the one thing that saves Jaimen from being derivative but I am guessing he would ignore it if you said that about his work. I like the apparenet quickness of execution, the fleeting nature of the mark making.  As if the scene were frozen in time. A more well rounded execution would invite more criticism. Jaimen might be imagined in the mind's eye standing on KinG Street painting with the crowds of people flowing round him, the beggars outside the IGA, the people leving restaurants and cafes or on their way to the train station. It's a kind of Impressionism but like 160 years after the fact...

There's something familiar about Elabdin's small rough textured paintings. It's like you've seen them before somewhere but I'm not trying to say they are derivative. Just something about them that hit me. Maybe it's the colours. Ochredfern is known for its colourful artist gatherings. I dropped by when I had time free expecting to see a different artist. At least a diffrent artist had been advertised.  But then this. You'd probably say that Elabdin is a very spiritual artist. He paints not what he sees, or at least not what he sees from his worldly eyes. he seems instead to paint what he sees with his hidden eyes. 

This month I did a bit of community work. With the Tree Veneration Society, that is. It included a couple of street appearances in support of nature conservation. The TVS had sent in a proposal for an installation in Kandos but we weren't successful. There are more such efforts pending but in the meantime in light of Labor government inaction on protection of old growth forests we hit the streets. A man I spoke with named Michael suggested 1000 people but there was no way to verify from my vantage point. Everyone shouting except me. I calculated that just staying upright for three or four hours would sap all my strength and I was right, I collapsed when I got back home. No I didn't shout. The people about me seemed to enjoy the shouting which was enough, I decided to participate in vocalising vicariously. Rap, speeches from politicians (Greens). The day had it all. Actually the rapping was good, but again I didn't dance. Energy conservation yes that was it, gosh it's bo...

Connolly has an easy facility with the medium, the works on paper mainly. Some more ambitious than others (see below) the colour and line are competent and interesting if not inspiring. When I visited the gallery Connolly was on the phone so I had no chance to discuss the ideas with her. I felt like Connolly represents a distinct and important stage in Australian art, the primary consideration being one of gender. Other works had evidence of this and while the smaller works were nicely priced I didn't need to see more.  Humour can be important in art. In Connolly's case works that reached beyond the routine political tropes of popular debate successful.

The name of the show is 'Burgeon' a sort of synonim of "growing' or "expand", a more poetic solution to the problem of communication. The sculptures are really great, I went with mark a friend and we found we were talking a lot more as we were standing among these large objects than we had at the other shows we went to. Abstract yet with an anthropoomorphic cast. There is something direct yet subtle about the works. While we were standing there the gallerist put a little black sticker near one work. I asked Mark where you could put one of them in your house. Probably  you'd want a back yard, somewhere outside but secluded.

Getting recognition as an artist is a slog. You have a solo show or a group show, take down the works that are unsold, and put them away in storage or else hang them on walls at home. Pack  up your creations and go to ruminate, think possibly deeply, or else you just move on and make new work. Some time ago I decided to be a sustainable artist. It's only recently that the word came to me but I understand looking back that this was what I had in mind from the start. Of course this also has to do with lifestyle. Eating regular meals, seeing friends, keeping in touch with family. All of that, sure. But it's more about not piling up tons of work that never gets seen. Earlier this year I gave some works back to a colleague. We had had a show two years before and for some reason she left her work in my garage. In the end I contacted her as I want to free up space for my own things. Two years. She came by with a van and collected the paintings and drove off. Another way to use work, o...

Last week during the customary gallery crawl mark and i went to see Dean Bowen's paintings at Arthouse Gallery. I'm not so much a fan of Bowen's sculptures as it is his colour that is so wonderful. Many of Bowen's paintings had ladybugs on them, these plant protectors with their black sopts and red wing casings. Not the painting above, obviously, but many of the paintings had ladybugs on them. One that didn't was titled something like "barking up the wrong tree" giving the ladybugs a benign force. I have seen Bowen's paintings before and he always delights. The gallery was quite full on the night. Mark and I stayed for a while and moved on to a different outlet.