Melbourne's walk to art

365 days weeping, crying and shedding tears

15 June 2011

Travelling takes you to places and gives you experiences that you may never have at home. Maybe it is because you go searching for that something to excite you.

As I spend my last few days in New York, I write about the artist who has ignited yet again my love for beautiful photography: 35-year-old New York City based photographer and video artist Laurel Nakadate.

I was first introduced to Nakadate at MoMA PS1 whilst researching for walk to art New York. Excitement filled the air as I very happily sat and watched video work and engaged in the stills that covered the walls.

Nakadate’s work is soft, with 1970′s coloring and beautifully shot. The exhibition at MoMA PS1, Laurel Nakadate: Only the Lonely, brings together bodies of work over a 10-year period.

These works touch:

voyeurism
loneliness
the manipulative power of the camera
the urge to connect with others.

I feel very lucky as not only is Nakadate showing at MoMA PS1 (until 8 August 2011), but also at Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects. 365 Days: A catalogue of Tears and Lost Party Guest is on until 25 June 2011.

Laurel Nakadate's artwork

This body of work is a visual diary of Nakadate photographing herself over 365 days weeping, crying and shedding tears.

“Nakadate’s year of suffering, her calendar, her breviary, is a recognition of a shared language of regret that yokes us together, therefore, and a recognition that this regret and loss are somehow beautiful, no matter how they look.”

It has been wonderful to discover Nakadate’s work. The beauty, discipline and passion are evident.

I am very happy that Nakadate cried for 365 days of 2010.

MoMA PS1
22–25 Jackson Avenue at the intersection of 46th Avenue (view location on Google Maps)
Long Island City, NY

Thursday through Monday, 12pm to 6pm
Until 8 August 2011

Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects
535 West 22nd Street (view location on Google Maps)
New York, NY

Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm
Until 25 June 2011

Into the Dark: memory, moments, relationships

artists, spaces

17 May 2011

It has been such a pleasure to follow Bonnie Lane‘s journey as an artist in the last 4 years. I discovered Lane’s work in 2007 at Platform artist run initiative.

I suppose what I was attracted to was not only the concept of her video installation, but her drive, focus and ability to engage in conversation.

To me, Lane is an old soul and her work is about:

memory
moments
childhood
adulthood
personal relationships.

Her work has grown from strength to strength. Lane is a clear example of an achiever, someone who has an idea or goal and makes it happens. Whether it’s travelling to Berlin, completing her masters or fine-tuning her video installation work.

Lane has also been very successful in receiving grants, and this current body of work, Into the Dark, is supported by the City of Melbourne through the Arts Grants Program. Into the Dark is showing at BUS Projects Gallery, basement level, Donkey Wheel House, 673 Bourke Street, Melbourne (view location on Google Maps).

BUS Projects Gallery is located in an incredible basement, and I have seen shows there that have completely used the space to their advantage and others that have not been so successful.

Into the Dark works so well at BUS Projects Gallery. Lane has made the work for the space, and the darkness, coldness and narrow pathways add to the viewer’s experience.

Bonnie Lane's artwork

Lane’s work clearly is about the light, repetition and reframed memories. The most haunting piece would have to be the “girl skipping” – tucked away in a small alcove, the continuous loop of a girl facing away from the viewer and continual skipping allows us to reflect and remember our own childhood memories, lost or forgotten.

BUS Projects Gallery
Donkey Wheel House
673 Bourke Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Wednesday to Saturday, 12pm to 6pm
Until 28 May 2011

Don’t miss: James Cochran’s London Street Portraits

artists, Melbourne tours

22 March 2011

You have this week only to see James Cochran’s London Street Portraits at Lindberg Galleries in Melbourne. I have popped in numerous times with my walking tour groups to see this excellent show.

Cochran has excellent technical skill and his paintings are automatically striking. Cochran fuses techniques together using aerosol pointillism, using multiple dots of spray-paint to render the entire image. In his late teens and early twenties Cochran began his career as an artist out on the street. Cochran began exhibiting oil paintings in the late 1990s while continuing his graffiti and mural work. He is best known for his gritty street urban subjects, but in this show there are only portraits of the homeless people in London.

James Cochran's artwork

The work is extremely personal and intimate – there is an emotional and humane connection. You can feel that Cochran is close to the subject and has spent time being involved in their lives. This understanding has come from a period of homelessness himself when he was a teenager and forced out onto the streets.

In Hosier Lane (view location on Google Maps) there is a portrait in the laneway that Cochran has painted; it is an extension of the show at Lindberg.

Lindberg Galleries (view location on Google Maps)
2/289 Flinders Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000

Tuesday to Friday, 11am tp 5pm
Saturday, 12pm to 5pm

Until 26 March 2011

Street artists: from public open areas to indoor commercial galleries

artists, spaces

1 March 2011

Andy Mac (Until Never and Citylights Project, in Melbourne) has educated and worked with communities and building owners in Melbourne for several years.

He is the reason why Hosier Lane (view location on Google Maps) is the most photographed lane in Melbourne.

In 2004 Andy Mac assisted the National Gallery of Australia, in Canberra, in the acquisition of a large selection of stencil work for its works of paper collection.

His gallery, Until Never, is an independent gallery in Melbourne, presenting contemporary art by Australian and international artists. Founded in 2005, it was the first commercial gallery supporting street artists into the gallery system. The works sold at Until Never remain very reasonably-priced and the exhibitions, strong.

“Hosier may feel impossibly offbeat, but its twists and turns are the essence of the city. This is embodied by Until Never, a small gallery that punches above its weight with some of the most influential emerging street founded art in the world.” Financial Times (March 2011).

Larger commercial galleries, such as Metro Gallery on High Street, Armadale, have followed in Andy Mac’s vision but with a highly commercial edge. They have invested a substantial amount in support of this style of art. In return, the works are highly priced and are being purchased by a larger middle market.

In 2010 Metro Gallery hosted Blek Le Rat and in 2011 it is Swoon.

Swoon's artwork

“Swoon has been working on the streets of New York City for over 10 years, creating large scale paste-ups of the every day inhabitants of the Big Apple. She uses traditional print making techniques to reproduce these beautiful images at life size before hitting the streets to create her own unique, narrative driven cityscape. Swoon also ensures that each piece she creates is inherently unique by physically cutting details into her works, this process of subtraction allows the pieces to take on a life of their own on the street because the textures and tones of the surface they are pasted on then become integral to the construction of the work themselves. While the method of her work is indebted to both traditional craftsmanship and classic painterly technique, her execution is entirely modern. It is this method of incorporating both age old techniques and contemporary graffiti practice that makes her work so compelling, not to mention highly sought after. She has contributed work to MOMA, Art Basel Miami, and the Brooklyn museum.”

Swoon's artwork

Swoon is on until 5 March 2011. Swoon has totally reconstructed the space and the installations look great. All her hours and hard work are definitely noted.

Metro Gallery
1214 High Street Armadale VIC (view location on Google Maps)
Monday to Friday, 10am to 5.30pm; Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 5pm

A new year in the art world: Debut

artists, spaces

1 February 2011

The art industry has reopened for 2011 with Debut VII at Blindside.

For the last 7 years, Blindside Artist Run Initiative has opened the new year with an exhibition titled Debut.

“Debut is in its seventh incarnation. Every year since 2005, a curator nominated by the Blindside committee visits the graduate exhibitions of Melbourne’s major art schools and invites artists to exhibit early the following year. This year’s curators, Shae Nagorka and Julian White, have selected group that, if we are being overly simplistic, could be described as formalists. However, the methodical and prescribed practices displayed reveal a deep emotional understanding of the often-overlooked subtleties of our everyday experiences that, taken en masse, make up our lives.”

In the 2010 exhibition I particularly enjoyed Ted Mckinlay’s work and in 2011 standouts would have to be Alice Wormald and Jessica Honey.

Alice Wormald's artwork

Alice’s beautiful oil painting of an intimidation pot plant is technically very sound and textural. The different tones of green emphasise the real being the hanging pot basket and the unreal being the pot plant itself.

Jessica Honey's artwork
Jessica’s smaller images of “yacht–owning” children are also successful in representing a purely aesthetic level. The children’s gaze and light colour scheme of white, baby blue and pink all successfully work in an exercise of formalism.

There are 8 artists in total:

Mari Adams
Sam Barbour
Fiona Boyd
Zoe Croggon
Jessica Honey
Adele Macer
Esther Stewart
Alice Wormald

Blindside Artist Run Initiative (view location on Google Maps)
Gallery One and Two
Level 7, Room 14, Nicholas Building
37 Swanston Street Melbourne 3000

Wednesday to Saturday, 12pm to 6pm
Until 5 February 2011

Platform Artists Group Inc. turns 20 years!

spaces

7 January 2011

For all the many people who conduct tours in Melbourne, Platform is a regular on the itinerary.

Platform is the hidden underground path of window boxes that over the past 20 years has displayed:

group shows
solo exhibitions
installation
even performance shows.

Melbourne would not be the same without these hidden public art spaces that are occupied by talented artists.

Platform has a continuos flow of traffic every day from Flinders Street Station and is a perfect art space for an emerging artist to showcase their body of work to a larger audience.

Platform Artists Group Inc. was established by artists Andrew Seward and Richard Holt in 1990 as a non-profit public art organisation.

Twenty years on and, as Melbourne’s longest running artists-run initiative and public art project in the CBD, Platform continues to provide an engaging contemporary art program to public audiences at its 2 main locations:

Campbell Arcade, the pedestrian underpass linking Flinders Street Station to Degraves Street (view location on Google Maps)
the nearby Majorca Building in Centre Way Arcade off Flinders Lane (view location on Google Maps)

Funding partners – Platform is supported by the City of Melbourne, Arts Victoria and the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

Celebrating 20 years of Platform - Melbourne

The current birthday show runs from 10 December 2010 to 29 January 2011.

Artists include: AND, Kate Cotching, Adam Cruickshank, DAMP, Michael Graeve, Brad Haylock, Richard Holt, Ash Keating, Simone LeAmon, Bridie Lunney and Meredith Turnbull, Simon Pericich, Tape Projects and Andrew Seward.

The event will also launch the publication “What Art, Which Public: Platform Artists Group 1990-2010″, which captures just some of the history, events and exhibitions from this period. Edited by Angela Brophy, featuring an introductory essay by Zara Stanhope, interview with former directors and short story by Richard Holt.

Details on how to purchase the book will be coming soon on Platform’s website.

Happy birthday, Platform!

Dane Lovett: name and work worth knowing

artists

8 December 2010

Dane Lovett has been in quite a few group shows in 2010. Recent exhibitions include Dedication at Chalk Horse (Sydney); Catch the Spirit, Seventh (Melbourne), and New and Used Paintings, TCB Art Inc. (Melbourne)

Currently on show at West Space, in Melbourne’s CBD, Dane Lovett’s Paintingss is located in the first room (gallery 2) until 18 December 2010.

Every time I see Lovett’s work it is fresh and alive. With the use of 1950′s, 1960′s colours, Lovett’s work takes on a strange mixture of various decades. Lovett gives still life a modern twist and a unique style.

“Dane Lovett’s paintings bring together subject matter from a variety of sources, moving freely between still-life, found imagery and portraiture. Paintingss is a group of not quite classical acrylic and watercolour works, where flowers, plants and interiors are twisted slightly with the inclusion of various musical iconography.”

As a visual person it takes me a while to remember an artist’s name. As I have seen and enjoyed Lovett’s work a few times in 2010, I now remember his name.

Maybe this is clever marketing or a constant reminder that he is out there and active as an exhibiting artist. Which ever way it falls I now know Lovett’s name and work.

Artworks by Dane Lovett

West Space (view location on Google Maps)
Level 1, 15-19 Anthony Street, Melbourne

Wednesday to Friday, 12pm to 6pm
Saturday, 12pm to 5pm
Until 18 December 2010

Artist talk: Saturday 11 December 2010, 2pm to 3pm

Tim Webster’s work: calming, mediative and hypnotising

artists

20 November 2010

I have been following Tim Webster’s work for a few years now.

I generally find it difficult to give video or screen work time, and normally I do not stay and watch.

However, with Webster’s work I am drawn in from the very start and am able to sit and appreciate. There are many factors that contribute to the success of Webster’s work and I have tried to narrow down why it has always worked for me.

Presentation – No matter where the work has been, back room at Seventh, first room at Blindside, or Screen Space Gilford Lane. Webster has always occupied the space on offer well. Webster’s approach is professional and has he has always used appropriate materials and technical equipment.
Technical standards – The work has always been of excellent quality and standard. I view many video works that lack excellent technical standards and it subtracts from the work instantly.
Image – The use of repetition helps draw the viewer’s eye into where we are. The overload is consuming and addictive. Within 5 seconds the viewer is engaged. I find this element to be incredible important to the success of the work.
Sound – The sound is an important factor to the work and Webster manages to work the sound into the image, adding to the work rather than distracting.

Forever, For Later, by Tim Webster

Forever, For Later is the current show of Webster’s showing at Screen Space and it is an excellent example of Webster’s work. It is calming, mediative and hypnotising.

“Forty video screens in custom built frames, each containing a series of video loops, are arranged in the gallery as a three dimensional collage. Shot over three days in Brazil and Argentina, the work continues the artist’s interrogation of time, memory and perception.”

I wish Tim well on his travels back to Brazil and I look forward to the next body of work!

Screen Space – 30 Guildford Lane, Melbourne (view location on Google Maps)

Two Sundays at Heide Museum of Modern Art

spaces

1 November 2010

I have recently spent two fabulous Sundays at Heide Museum of Modern Art in Heidelberg (Melbourne).

What a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I loved Nan Goldin’s 40-minute slide projection and, on the second Sunday, I viewed the Mirka Mora exhibition located at Heide I.

“Mirka’s art is characterised by a sensuous, colourful naïve style and an idiosyncratic iconography of recurring motifs, including angels, children, cats, dogs, birds and snakes. As well as painting and drawing she has worked in mosaic, soft sculpture and doll-making. Many of the artworks in this exhibition were once in the collection of Heide founders John and Sunday Reed and are inscribed with delightful personal messages, tracing the development of an enduring friendship.

“A highlight of the exhibition is a new large scale painting executed by the artist on the sunroom windows of the Heide I farmhouse.”

Mirka Mora's artwork

The Mirka show is opened until 1 May 2011, so there is plenty of time to head down and spend an afternoon wandering.

Indulgence – I suppose what makes the day so pleasant is the new addition of Café Vue at Heide. If you pre-book you will receive the Menu Du Jour, at a set price. Otherwise, the trick is, on arrival, to put your name down on the waiting list, and the staff will call you when your table is ready.

So, after you walk around and see the three spaces – Heide House I, Heide House II and also the main space and the Heide store –, you are ready to sit and indulge. The menu is very well priced, clever bistro food. If you just want coffee and sweets, they can do!

When the weather gets better and the sun is shining, you could have a gourmet picnic in the gardens, which are beautifully maintained.

A great way to enjoy a Sunday afternoon!

Heide Museum of Modern Art (view location on Google Maps)
7 Templestowe Road
Bulleen VIC 3105

Telephone: (03) 9850 1500

Daily (except Monday), from 10am to 5pm

New York art secrets and highlights

New York tours

12 October 2010

Oh, it’s been a while… I’ve been in the fabulous city of New York. It was a great trip with a lovely group of people (read about walk to art New York).

I was able to meet very talented artists and it was very special to catch up with those artists who have consistently supported and contributed to the walk to art program. There were many highlights and each tour changes with new contributors and new places to visit:

I discovered excellent quirky eateries and found special hang outs for me to people watch.

Unlike in Australia, many artists in New York have agents… This time around I noticed so much more marketing and networking going on. Charity functions and private house exhibitions have become an alternative for those artists un represented – which are many, especially in these economic times.

Bushwick Brooklyn is becoming the new artist area, as the rents are affordable with maybe a little more space.

The DUMBO Arts Festival 2010 was fun and I discovered so many studio spaces for locals and international artists.

Keith Haring's artwork

I loved going to visit Keith Haring’s Crack is Wack mural in Harlem and was surprised to see the playground surrounding the mural was named the Crack is Wack Playground.

Shepard Fairey's artwork

It was also great to wander the streets and discover new paste-ups by Shepard Fairey.

Want to know more? I need to keep a few secrets to myself and to those who will be joining us on tour in May 2011. I hope you will be there!

That is all for now!