Art thoughts

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 (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

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.

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.