Art thoughts

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.

Abstraction 2018

Stephen McLaughlan Gallery
Level 8 Room 16 Nicholas Building
37 Swanson Street Melbourne, ‘til May 26.

Curated by Steven Wickham.

Selected work:

L: Judy Marsh ‘Hyper-thetical’ 2018 timber, acrylic paint 86 x 78 x 13 cm.
R: Sarah Keighery, ‘Untitled Diptych’ mixed media 40.5 x 40.5 cm (each panel)

L: Lyn Eastaway, ‘Red Yellow Black constructed painting’ 2011, acrylic and laminated linen on cotton duck 50 x 63 cm.
R: Billy Gruner, ‘New work for a new system #1’ enamel on canvas, 78 x 630 cm.

Susan Andrews ‘Off Centre’ acrylic on ply, 63 x 40 x 6 cm.

L: Paul Zika ‘Terme' 16 2015 acrylic on wood 80 x 78 x 55 cm.

R: Gordon Monro, 'Alogos: Hexagonal 1 and II' 2018 limited edition prints mounted behind acrylic 70 x 70 cm.

L: Stephen Wickham ‘High key 'Modernist Mantra diptych' 2008 oil on linen 44 x 74 cm.
R: Susie Idiens 'Untitled #4' 2016 polyurethane, mdf 60 x 64 x 6 cm.

Melinda Schawel

Second Chances

Flinders Lane Gallery
137 Flinders Lane Melbourne

To May 19

Right Here 2018, ink and pencil on torn and perforated paper, 105 x 75 cm (120 x 89 cm framed size)

Crown of Thorns I 2018, perforated paper, 75 x 105 cm (91 x 120 cm framed size)

‘The abstracted compositions of Melinda Schawel conjure a kind of visual ecology; a symbolic world where concept and construct interact in quiet symbiosis. Immersing herself in the often-overlooked alchemy of paper, the American born, Melbourne-based artist summons formal dialogues between texture and mark to present her experiential vision of the natural world.’ Elli Walsh 2018 (catalogue excerpt).

Melinda Schawel monograph launch coinciding this exhibition opening see Flinders Lane Gallery website: www.flg.com.au

A Field of Interest - c 1968

ABSTRACTION 17
April 26 - May 19, 2018
Charles Nodrum Gallery
Richmond

'A group exhibition of hard-edge colour-field works to coincide with the re-staging of 1968 The Field exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria.'

Included in this exhibition are additional works from artists in the original exhibition and artists of the period who may have been included in the seminal exhibition if circumstances were different (namely, in this case, women artists).

L: Tony McGillick, National, 1968, acrylic on canvas, 168 x 275 cm.

R: Richard Dunn, NYC #1, 1968, pigment, acrylic and enamel on canvas, 183 x 488 cm.

L:Margaret Worth, Untitled, 1968, SPE on two shaped marine plywood panels, 122 x 30 x 30 cm.
R: David Aspden, Jnana, c. 1966, acrylic on canvas, 175.5 x 150 cm.

L: Ron Robertson-Swann, Across Matisse, 1964, acrylic on cotton duck, 56.8 x 86 cm.
R: Ron Robertson-Swann, Pink Alice, 1968, acrylic on cotton duck, 259 x 104.8 cm.

L: Michael Johnson, Frontal, 1968, acrylic on canvas, 198 x 172 cm.
R: Margaret Worth, Genus O No. 1, 1966 - 1967, SPE on canvas, 91 x 275 cm.

Virginia Coventry, Solid Blue Silence, 1969, acrylic on cotton duck, in original aluminium frame, 106.5 x 244 cm.

Trevor Vickers, Untitled, 1967.

Col Jordan, Blue Falling, 1967, acrylic on shaped marine ply, 220 x 220 x 15 cm.

It all looks so wonderfully medieval.

Abstraction Twenty Eighteen - Langford 120

Curated by Steven Wickham.
Selected work:

Wilma Tabacco, Bronze Construction 1 and 2,
Blue Construction, all 2013, acrylic on panel, 40 x 40 cm.

Andrew Christofides, Patriot, 2003, acrylic on canvas, 112 x 76 cm.

Emma Langridge, yaw, 2017-18, enamel / acrylic on wood, 40 x 50 cm.

Christopher Heathcote, Swingin' Easy, 2016, oil on linen, 112 x 56 cm.

Wendy Kelly, Traverse, 2017. Oil, acrylic, thread and inert pigment on linen, 61 x 51 cm.

Louise Blyton, Long Red Line, 2018, acrylic on linen, 190 x 26 x 5 cm.

Dan Wollmering, Penaga (1.2), 2016-7, balsa wood, acrylic paint, soap 2 part work;
15 cm D x 8 cm H, 4.4 cm D x 2.2 cm H.

Abstraction Twenty Eighteen - Five Walls

Five Walls Hall

Curated by Steven Wickham.

Selected works:

Adrian de Giorgio ‘Shadowplay’
Acrylic on Tasmanian oak coverstrap on board.

L-R Donna Comfort ‘’Proto Type’ 2018, Steel construction.
Magda Cebokli, Light Painting #2 2008, Acrylic on canvas.
Aaron Martin, Double Monochrome (cadmium orange) 2018,
oil and epoxy enamel on linen.

Chris Packer ‘Pythia’ 2017 Gesso on cotton tape on canvas.

Troy Innocent, Non-Objective World 68, 2018, laser cut plywood
and acrylic on hardboard with playable augmented reality.

Adrian De Vries, Lily Pads, 2018, Gouache, plaster on steel hooks.

Abstraction Twenty Eighteen

The biggest thing in Australian art right now! The inaugural opening of the new National Gallery of Victoria held 'The Field' exhibition in 1968. On the 50th anniversary the NGV is staging 'The Field Revisited'. In conjunction many Melbourne galleries are holding satellite exhibitions. Most notably Abstraction Twenty Eighteen. Curated by Stephen Wickham.

Marcia Hafif

“I’m just not painting a subject, other than the painting itself.” Marcia Hafif, 1929-2018, ArtNews

Black painting II, 1979. Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber on canvas, 84 x78”

Marcia Hafif (R) 1960s

‘Hafif, like many other female artists of her generation, was overlooked by most of the art world until recently.’ Ivy Olsen, The Art Newspaper April 19.