The Abstract Project

Work from Paris
Elizabeth Bodey
Jan Handel
Alexandra Kennedy
11-21 April
Factory 49
49 Shepherd Street
Marrickville Sydney

Elizabeth Bodey

Work made in situ or response to three residencies at Abstract Project, Paris, 2017.

http://www.abstract-project.com/

Samara Adamson-Pinczewski

Spatial Persuasions
22 March - 14 April, 2018
Charles Nodrum Gallery
An exhibition of shaped paintings inspired by Oblique theory and Brutalist architecture.

Neon Crease (from the left) 2018, acrylic, iridescent acrylic,
fluorescent acrylic and Topcoat with UVLS on wood, 111.50 x 156.50 x 17.00 mm.

Irised, 2018, acrylic,
iridescent acrylic, fluorescent acrylic and Topcoat with UVLS on wood, 111.00 x 151.00 x 7.50.

Excerpt from the exhibition essay by Kate Nodrum:

‘The specific inspiration for this series of works was a visit to the Church of St. Bernadette du Banlay, an example of Brutalist architecture built in 1966 and designed by Paul Virilio and Claude Parent. The founding principle of the design was the pair’s theory of the ‘Fonction Oblique’, whereby the convention of building on the horizontal or vertical is literally broken by sending the architectural lines of a building off the diagonal or by blocking them all together. The sense of sudden jarring or disorientation that this produces is exemplified at St Bernadette and translates directly into Samara’s existing practice of devising geometric formations that are themselves Oblique, fractured, and yet resolved. On her visit the artist studied and photographed the interior and exterior of the church throughout the day. These photos were converted into monochrome line drawings, then made into studies in aluminium sheeting; each line, fold and hole in the study referring to a wall, shadow or void in the building. For the final works, made of custom-cut plywood, the artist undertook a painstaking process of trial and error to select a colour and application technique for each plane of the composition that would produce just the right balance of movement and tension, but also harmony.'

Small Works - A Survey

Curated by Julie Keating and Debbie Hill
RRRTAG

to April 29
520 Corangamite Lake Road,
Cororooke Victoria

Selected abstract works:

 

RRRTAG

David Coles of Langridge Artist Colours opening the exhibition

Emma Langridge

ian Wells

Sue Beyer

TJ Bateson

Louise Blyton

RRRTAG

Terri Brooks

Red Rock region

Michael Cusack

New Works
April 5 - 29
Martin Browne Contemporary
Sydney

Arena, 2018. Mixed media on board, 112 x 240 cm. 

Black Gate, 2018. Oil on board, 38 x 46 cm.

Michael Cusack has been exhibiting at Martin Browne Contemporary since 2004. This latest exhibition continues Cusack’s restrained exploration of shape and colour, representative, perhaps, of memory and relations. Poetry as both a formal reference and conceptual play informs the work.

Originally from Dublin, Cusack emigrated to Australia in 1982 and currently has a studio in Mullumbimby, NSW. He recently completed a Master of Visual Arts from Griffth University, Brisbane.

Lee Kyo Jun

Universal space
solo exhibition at GALLERYDATE

Busan, South Korea
The exhibition will be on view until April 05 2018

Lee Kyo Jun, Gallery Date

Lee Kyo Jun, Gallery Date

Lee Kyo Jun, Gallery Date

Robert Hirschmann

‘Same Same’
King Street Gallery, Sydney

March 27 to April 21

 

Boilerwood Track, 2018, gesso and oil on linen, 183 x 213 cm. 

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Found Acorn

Found acorn

My grandmother

I picked up this acorn fallen from the same tree as I did out with my grandmother 50 years ago. She said ‘if you carry an acorn in your purse you will never run out of money’. My grandmother grew up during the suffragette movement. I grew up during the women’s liberation movement. Not once in my childhood in my home or at a school did I feel inferior or that I could not do anything I wanted. It took greater society to impose those feelings on me particularly in the last 15 years. Thank goodness there is another upsurge. #suffragette #womensliberationmovement #metoo

Hannah Quinlivan

IMPULSES, RESTRAINTS, TONES: NEW COMPOSITIONS BY HANNAH QUINLIVAN
1 March - 20 April
JanKossen Contemporary
529 W 20th St, 7th Floor, Chelsea, New York

Hannah Quinlivan at JanKossen Contemporary

Congratulations to Australian artist Hannah Quinlivan on her first solo exhibition in New York.

‘The well-known “Spatial Drawings” walk the line between sculptural weaving and graphic mark making and explores concepts of temporal reality and memory.’ Excerpt from gallery site text.

Hannah is also working at the gallery making a site specific spacial salt drawing.

Hannah Quinlivan website: http://hannahquinlivan.com.au/art/

Jennifer Joseph

New in the stockroom
Niagara Galleries
Melbourne
Until March 3

Table no. 11, 2016, acrylic and gesso on jute, 80 x 69 cm. 

Untitled, 2005-06, acrylic on canvas, 107 x 76.5 cm.

Install shot of work by Jennifer Joseph.

Currently on view at Niagara Galleries in Melbourne is a solo exhibition by Rubaba Haider 'A Story of thread and thrum' and on the first level 'New to the stockroom' featuring work by Jennifer Joseph, Angela Brennan and Gunter Christmann. It is the work of Jennifer Joseph which I specifically came to see as her paintings are not frequently on display in Melbourne.

It’s possible to look at a work of art and receive an experience without knowing the artist’s intent. It happens with archaeological items whose meaning and maker are unknown. The work transcends its origin. Questioning and wonder are brought into play while appreciating the works' physical values. I wonder why insistence is commonly placed on knowing the complete impetus of a contemporary artist, particularly one following on from modernism when most modernist abstractionists referenced pre-Renaissance art (for reasons of expression beyond figuration).

Joseph's work is experiential. The artist herself states the process is as important to her as the outcome. This is not to diminish the work rather to explain that work comes from the act of painting. It is not preconceived. Her work has a 'deep' aesthetic. Joseph paints at night preferring the quiet and still meditational ambiance; 'the nocturne'. The work is often somber in colouring. There is nothing superfluous. One can enter the work knowing there is no 'glam bag', it's a trusted place. In this world now, individual aesthetic expression seems enough.

Erin Lawlor

Hiraeth
February 22 - March 31
Fox Jensen Gallery
Sydney

Erin Lawlor

Erin Lawlor

Erin Lawlor

Hiraeth, 180 x 130 cm.

Fox Jenson Gallery in Sydney is mounting 'Hiraeth', the first solo exhibition of English painter, Erin Lawlor. It's rare for an Australian gallery to show the work of a contemporary living international painter. For many years Lawlor lived in Paris before returning more recently to base herself in London. Erin's growth in stature as a painter is tied to the development of her work. Large swirls of alla prima paint in Northern European colours and tones amount to the visual content and context of the work. 'Process' underlies her painting (each seems a journey) however the compositions are carefully configured. The illusionistic depth of field leads the viewer on a physical journey as marks can be followed as if tangible or concrete. When drawing with 'sparklers' in the night sky the trace line becomes real for moments. In Lawlor's case her gestural trajectory is frozen like a bud in amber. 

'Erin works exclusively in oil on pre-stretched canvas that she lays on the floor. Working horizontally came about gradually, as she began to work with larger brushes and more liquid paint. She lets the first few layers of a new work dry, forming a base upon which to work “alla prima” (wet-on-wet), painting over and over and with what has gone before.

“In later layers, I work back through the colours with thick-bristled brushes, so the initial tones are sometimes visible and have their importance,” says Erin. “I aspire to a coherence – so often beautiful moments that occur during the process end up being sacrificed in favour of the whole. Just as line and form need to come together so do matter and subject, however inexplicit that subject may be. It’s a constant tightrope walk!” ' Camilia Wagstaff, Erin Lawlor : Pure Drama, In Out Design Blog.