Günther Förg

A Fragile Beauty
26 May until 14 October 2018
Stedelijk Museum
Amsterdam

Günther Förg, Stedelijk Museum

Günther Förg, Stedelijk Museum

The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam presents a major survey of the work of German artist Günther Förg (1952–2013) including work from Förg’s entire oeuvre.

Günther Förg, Stedelijk Museum

Günther Förg, Stedelijk Museum

Günther Förg, Stedelijk Museum

Günther Förg, Stedelijk Museum

Australian artist Julie Keating is on residence in the Netherlands and sent these photos. Forg is an artist I admire for many reasons including his mark making and his ability to make paintings work with minimal means.

Mike Parr

Australian artist to live ‘underneath the bitumen’ for three days
Mike Parr
Hobart, June 1, 2018

Mike Parr, Performance, Hobart

For 72 hours, he’ll survive inside the 1.7m x 2.2m space with a folding chair, waste buckets, some water and a sketchpad and pencils, but there will be no food, and there will be no contact.

Mike Parr, Performance, Hobart

Leigh Carmichael on the artist statement:

‘It acknowledges two deeply linked events in Tasmania’s history. The eventual transportation of 75,000 British and Irish convicts in the first half of the 19th century, and the subsequent, nearly total destruction of Tasmania’s Aboriginal population.

To my knowledge, it will be Tasmania’s first monument referencing both the Black War and The Convict System, because the abysmal treatment of the indigenous people and the extreme violence of the punishment meted out to the convicts are two sides of the same coin.

It is a story that is not well known, but is ever-present, just beneath the surface of our contemporary culture. The fact that Mike Parr’s work will happen underground, just out of sight, as everyday life continues above it, is clearly no coincidence.’ News .com

The Field 1968

There have been progressive moments in Australia's post-settlement history. At the turn of the twentieth century Australia was leading the world with workers rights for an eight hour day, the suffragette or women’s rights movements and film production. Similarly in the 1960s-70s there was free health and education and a move for equal pay for women. Perhaps the most symbolic event for Art in Australia at this time was the purchase of Jackson Pollocks' Blue Poles in 1973 orchestrated by the Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. 

The staging of 'The Field', 1968, for the opening of the new National Gallery building in St Kilda Road Melbourne is now legendary as a time when 'cutting edge' made its way into the mainstream. The exhibition showcased then avant-garde, hard edge colourfield abstraction.

The Field, NGV, 1968.

‘The biggest Australian artists of the time — such as Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd and John Brack — were all conspicuously absent from the 1968 exhibition. 

Instead, curators John Stringer and Brian Finemore selected works by young and emerging contemporary artists. Eighteen of the 40 artists included were under the age of 30, and some had never had a solo show. 

These young artists were rejecting the conservatism of the Australian art scene and turning away from Europe, looking instead to the avant-garde art coming out of New York. 

So were the curators: inspired by what he'd seen at Andy Warhol's Factory, Stringer had fitted out the exhibition with silver foil-covered walls and geometric light fittings. It was the first instance of a 'designed' show at the NGV.’ Hannah Reich, ABC. 

The Field Revisited

The Field Revisited
NGV Federation Square
To August 26

View of The Field Revisited, NGV 2018.

Trevor Vickers, Untitled, 1968 (remade 2017).

Tony McGillick, Arbitrator 1968.

Mel Ramsden, No Title, 1966

L: Robert Hunter, Untitled 1968. R: David Aspen, Fifth Force 1968.

Wendy Paramor, Diablo 1967

Sydney Ball, Ispahan 1967

'The National Gallery of Victoria’s inaugural exhibition at its new premises on St Kilda Road in 1968 was The Field, the first comprehensive display of colour field painting and abstract sculpture in Australia. Regarded as a landmark exhibition in Australian art history, The Field was a radical presentation of 74 works by 40 artists who practised hard-edge, geometric, colour and flat abstraction, many of which were influenced by American stylistic tendencies of the time. With its silver foil–covered walls and geometric light fittings, The Field opened to much controversy and helped launch the careers of a generation of Australian artists, including Sydney Ball, Peter Booth, Janet Dawson and Robert Jacks. Eighteen of the exhibiting artists were under the age of thirty, with Robert Hunter the youngest at twenty-one years of age.' NGV Website

David Wallage

Studio visit with David Wallage

Reasoned Explorations No. 5, 2012-3. Acrylic on Linen on Board, 75cm x 75cm.

David Wallage is dedicated to the exploration of the grid and non-objective painting. There are up to 80 layers (and counting) in each work that takes months if not years to complete. In the process several layers are laid and then at intervals are sanded back to a smooth surface and the layering starts again. Quite often he has a plan for the work such as a preliminary drawing. The result is looking into a blurry glass fine surface with real depth. It’s hard to locate the individual makes rather they fuse and hum in unity.

David Wallage in his studio

David Wallage in his inner Melbourne studio. Wallage is represented by Block Projects in Melbourne.

David Wallage studio

Northcote Hall

This small hall in Northcote has been recently sandblasted. There is something wonderful about the tonal effect.

Dani Marti

Red on Red
17 May - 16 June
Dominik Mersch Gallery
Sydney

Dani Marti, photo Marlene Sarroff

Dani Marti, photo Marlene Sarroff

Dani Marti (detail), photo Marlene Sarroff

For decades the boundaries of traditional fine art practices have been blurring as artists academically trained in one field explore others. Within this context Dani Marti has been talking about minimalist painting solutions using weaving techniques and everyday materials including hardware bought ties and rope, kitchen scourers, melted reflectors and recycled glass beads.

David Gatiss

Density of Darkness
9 May - 3 June
Tacit Gallery

Melbourne

Untitled (detail) mixed media on paper

‘Density of darkness. My favourite hour, that ambiguous pause between darkness and dawn when you sense the imminence of light.’ 

David Gatiss

Convoy of boats, (detail) mixed media

This exhibition is in memory of the artists’ father. The large drawings are reflective of the coal seam in the UK mine his father worked. Many of the sculptural pieces reference his father’s time in the navy. Other more figurative works detail the family life of a coal miner.

David Thomas

David Thomas
MONOCHROMES & POLYCHROMES
To May 19
Tristan Koenig
19 Glasshouse Road
Collingwood 

Install of individual works: Untitled (On + Off Series), 2018,
synthetic polymer on gesso panel 30 x 20 cm.

Untitled (Listening to the silence between two colours), 2018,
Synthetic polymer on gesso panel, painters tape, 30 x 20 cm.

Untitled (Listening to the silence between two colours; Yellow/Blue), 2018,
Synthetic polymer on gesso panel, painters tape, 30 x 20 cm.

Install: Untitled (Listening to the silence between two colours), 2018.

Robert Hunter

Robert Hunter (1947–2014)
Retrospective
Ian Potter Centre NGV
27 April 18 – 26 August 18 

Untitled 1968.

‘When Robert Hunter decided to exhibit 13 white-on-white paintings at his first solo show it was an audacious decision, marking the beginning of a lifelong dedication to minimalism. After that first exhibition at Tolarno Galleries in Melbourne in 1968, his paintings were critically acclaimed. Later that year he was included in The Field, the groundbreaking exhibition that heralded the opening of the National Gallery of Victoria’s new building on St Kilda Road.’ Bronwyn Watson, The Australian.

Installation. Earlier work, materials: House paint and masking tape on canvas. 

'Hunter is one of very few Australian artists to participate at the centre of an international art movement, exhibiting in Eight Contemporary Artists at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1974, and presenting solo exhibitions at Galerie Konrad Fischer in Düsseldorf in 1974, and Lisson Gallery in London in 1975.' NGV website

Untitled 1970 painted paper and masking tape. 

‘Practical and no-fuss, Hunter's stock-in-trade was Dulux house paint, rollers and masking tape. Asked why he chose the 8x4 feet size of his plywood paintings Hunter offered two off-hand replies: it was the same size as the pool tables he liked to play on; and it fitted into the transport van he drove.’ Ray Edgar SMH

Untitled works c1986 - 87.

I saw Robert Hunter's 1989 exhibition at Ian Potter Gallery, Melbourne University. The works were a collection of his white paintings (above) done whilst artist-in-residence at the uni. At that time I found the works almost impossible to gaze at. They were so white and so hard edge and the gallery was all white too. Hunter's painting grew on me over the years as he stuck rigidly to his core vision and process. He seemed reassuring. Seeing this period of works again as a group I thought this time about the macro and micro. The white of snow and the unique cellular pattern that is each snow flake.

Robert Hunter painting detail 

Robert Hunter painting detail 

Pleinair

A man you don’t meet everyday. Diamond Creek area. Out and about. Mother’s Day. In the zone he seemed too.

Monochrome: Empty and Full

Margaret Lawrence Gallery
4 May - 2 June 
VCA School of Art
Melbourne

Curated by David Sequeira

Monochrome with Ian Wells

A few selected works:

Rose Nolan, A Small Orange Constructed Work, 1994,
oil paint, cardboard, dressmaking cotton, glue and metal tacks. Courtesy Anna Swartz Gallery.

David Serisier, Untitled Black Vertical 1, 2002, oil on linen. Courtesy Charles Nodrum Gallery.

Allan Mitelman, Untitled, 1983, oil on panel. Courtesy Charles Nodrum Gallery.

Over 30 artists explore the idea of colour as its own entity – a kind of presence, connected with form but not beholden to it, that has the capacity to both embody and conjure a range of meanings, associations and emotions.

Per Kirkeby

'The artist Per Kirkeby died today (9 May) in Copenhagen, aged 79, according to his gallery, Michael Werner.

Born in the Danish capital in 1938, Kirkeby was a painter, sculptor, poet, novelist, film-maker, and costume and stage designer. He experimented with Fluxus performance in the 1960s with people like Joseph Beuys before becoming particularly well known for his opaque, semi-abstract canvases that critics and historians regularly discussed in terms of geological strata, recalling the artist's background as a student of geology and natural history at the University of Copenhagen.’ The Arts Newspaper.

Per Kirkeby, Untitled, 1999, Oil on canvas 300 × 500 cm

Returning to the Field

SNO Contemporary Art Projects
Leichhardt Sydney

Curated by Ruark Lewis and Andrew Leslie over three separate exhibitions, 2014-18.

Incorporating artists from the inaugural landmark 'The Field' exhibition 1968 for the opening of the new National Gallery of Victoria with contemporary practicing artists. In 'Return to the Field' 2014, the selected contemporary artists were mostly women to address the gender imbalance not considered in the 1968 exhibition. The exhibited work by the participating 'Field' artists is from a period of each artist's oeuvre. The subsequent 'Return to the Field' #2 and #3 became more experimental, playing with media and narratives. 

To read more about these 'intergenerational, interdisciplinary and multi-faceted' exhibitions please follow this PDF link 

Returning to the Field
July 12 - August 24 2014

TREVOR VICKERS
DEBRA DAWES
GUNTER CHRISTMANN
WENDY PARAMOR
BINGITI NGURRUWUTHIUN
JACKY REDGATE
SUZIE IDIENS
ROBERT JACKS
JACQUELINE ROSE
NIGEL LENDON
MICHAEL JOHNSON
LYNNE EASTAWAY
WILLIAM WRIGHT
SYDNEY BALL

Selected work by Robert Jacks, Nigel Lendon, Jacqueline Rose.

Selected work by Wendy Paramour, Bingiti Ngurruwuthun, Jacky Redgate.

Returning to the Field #2
5 March - 10 April 2016

PHILIPPA CULLEN
DEBRA DAWES
JANET DAWSON
FRANCESCA MATARAGA
AMINA MCCONVELL
BENGITJ NGURRUWUTHUN
WENDY PARAMOR
JACKY REDGATE
CAROL RUDYARD
NORMANA WIGHT
MARGARET WORTH

Selected work Debra Dawes.

Returning to the Field #3

14 April - 13 May 2018

ALAN OLDFIELD
NIGEL LENDON
ERIC SHIRLEY

Selected work Eric Shirley.