Eastern Suburbs Art Group

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.