Art thoughts

Susan York

Susan York install shot, Del Dio & Barzune

Susan York, New and Recent Work, January 18 - March 30, Del Dio & Barzune, New York.

'The work might first strike one as Minimalist and literal, but it soon sheds those associations and becomes something else, a meditation on time, landscape, and architecture.' John Yau 'An artist's devotion to exactness', Hyperallergic.com.

I've been following York's work for some time. I think what impresses me most is her ability to convey a full and satisfying personalized art experience with seemingly minimalist means.

Louise Blyton

Louise Blyton
Butterfly Milk
57 West 57th Street
New York
January 12 - February 16

Louise Blyton, install shot 'Butterfly milk' 57 West 57th Street.

Congratulations to Louise Blyton on her first solo exhibition in New York City.

Louise's sculptural paintings are hand built. Her colour raw pigment, repeatedly pummeled to build up the unpainted linen surface.

Green House

Green House, Preston South

I spent my later childhood living next to a house like this. The owner I was told was in an asylum. One day I peered through the front window heavy lace curtains. I could see a room in disarray, the unmade bed strewn with pill bottles and multi coloured pills. The bed stayed this way for years. No one ever came.

Gareth Sansom

Gareth Sansom ‘Transformer’ Ian Potter Centre, NGV

‘Looking for God in abstract art 2', 2010.

‘Gotterdamerungerdungerdumbergungerdung!’1981-82

‘Du hast keine chance, nutze sie’ 1981

Sansom’s show is rewarding. His work is brave above all and constantly questioning what can be a ‘painting’. One of the few senior Melbourne artists in the gestural field whose work successfully references and therefore sits within international practice.

NGV Triennial

NGV Triennial of contemporary art and design practice.

Pae White, USA,‘Spearmint to Peppermint’ 2013, tapestry (detail)

Edson Chagas, Angola ‘Tippa Passe’ 2014 (detail)

Sissel Tolaas, Norway, ‘Smell Scape’ 2017, detail of a series
(she is a chemist and has infused the work with artificial smells)

Oki Sato, Canada, emigrated to Japan, ‘Manga Chairs’ 1-50, 2015, detail, one chair.

Joris Laarman, Netherlands, Chair, 2014.

The triennial was lot of colour, mirrors, dark rooms and regional political issues. A few selected works which rather referenced and pushed the boundaries of practice.

Fontainebleau

Frederick McCubbin’s Macedon house and studio.

Fontainebleau, December 2017.

Remnant kitchen garden.

McCubbin's studio?

The pioneer, 1904, oil on canvas, 225.0 x 295.7 cm. Collection NGV.

At the suggestion of a day trip to Mt Macedon with architect and heritage conservator, Louise Lakier, I decided to try and track down McCubbin’s house and octagonal studio situated at the base of the garden that I had heard about many years prior. The house today is in a total state of disrepair. It’s here McCubbbn painted The pioneer, 1904, reportedly with his wife and a local gardener and his relative among the models. It’s an iconic Australian Painting. This was the only house McCubbin purchased (1901) and is in an isolated spot on the north side of the summit.

Whilst I initially learnt of the rotunda shaped studio from an artist who knew the occupants I can’t find any online references. This building is somewhat repaired, however the roof is definitely early 20th century circa federation design and woodwork. It’s also perfectly positioned to take in the north light and views. Most photos of the house online are taken from this vantage point. There is also an old road from the house via the kitchen garden to the ‘studio’ which goes no further.

McCubbin was a founding member of the Heidelberg School and drawing master at the National Gallery Art School, School of Design.

McCubbin’s painting, On the wallaby track, 1896, was the subject of a humorous Kit Kat television advertisement in the early eighties. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/N8BQb4apMkU