Current Exhibitions @ Latrobe Regional Art Gallery

Sunday, 14 February 2010

Dear Diary,

Latrobe Regional Art Gallery in Morwell is but an hour and a bit away from the Gippsland Art Gallery in Sale. It has a much larger and better purpose-designed building for its collection and exhibitions’ program. However, curatorially and content-wise it is worlds apart, and at times has not been able to match the curatorial strength of Sale’s gallery on exhibition by exhibition basis.

Its current offerings consist of the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award, that has been travelling around Australia since 2008; the John Meade exhibition; a selection of works from the CBUS Collection; and a multimedia installation based on works by indigenous artists. The gallery also has an Access Space, which is a necessary (though not necessarily the most inspiring) part of a regional arts centre.

LRAG’s custodianship of the CBUS Collection (which has been put together over the years with the advice from the late Dr Joseph Brown) allows it to pull out at will an exhibition of good works by big-name artists, even if the curatorial theme is a bit weak, hurried, or poorly researched. The current exhibition is the case in point. Entitled Women of the World, it has good examples by John Brack, George Baldessin, Richard Larter, Arthur Boyd, Juan Davila, Ivor Francis, Sidney Nolan, Ray Crooke, David Keeling, and others. Naturally, all feature women as their main protagonists. However, the wall texts give a bland, rushed, almost Wikipedian in its sécheresse explanations about who the artists are, and where else their works are held (as if this is relevant to this particular display). No attempt whatsoever is made to discuss the diverse portrayal of women, their meaning and significance in the exhibited works in particular and in the broader context of the artists’ oeuvre in general. Even a first year BA student (let alone any member of the professional curatorial team) could have been capable of pulling out short concise statements about the works that would have had more relevance to the works on display. It is yet another example of the curatorial “laziness” encountered on recent visits to public galleries.

Tandura – Resting Place is a video projection by Gippsland’s indigenous artists Eileen Harrison, Frances Harrison, and Jennifer Mullett (Gunnai / Kurnai women), with the assistance of the multi-media artist Ian de Gruchy. Black and white aboriginal designs are projected in a continuous slide show onto the darkened space’s four walls to the accompaniment of soothing indigenous music and sounds of the forest. The resulting effect is one of the total immersion of sight and sound, a transportation into another world. The laconic simplicity of the projection, combined with the sophisticated level of aestheticism, is somewhat reminiscent of Jenny Holzer’s projections at the ACCA, though the artists are using silent images instead of words to convey their message. In my opinion, this is the one of the best exhibits at the gallery at the moment, exactly of the kind one wants to see in a contemporary, public, non-commercial exhibition space.

I cannot adequately comment upon John Meade’s exhibition, as the space is overcrowded with objects, reminiscent of a high-end interior design shop rather than a selection of sculpture, installations, and video art by this talented inter-disciplinary artist. Even three works would have sufficed in this limited space for a more powerful visual and aesthetic impact than the kaleidoscopic jumble currently on view.

I did, however, thoroughly enjoy the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award. It does not have a pre-determined curatorial direction, and therefore presents a multi-faceted snapshot of Australian drawing today, in all its styles, media, artistic, aesthetic, and conceptual directions. There is a large-scale hyper-realistic drawing of a bull by Angus McDonald, and a pair of striking portrait studies by John Philippides. There are sublimely atmospheric, abstracted works on paper by Anne Judell, Gordon Watson, and Sussie Heymans. I had another encounter with the works by Ken Smith, whose drawing A Truck Crossing the Bridge by the Sea is most likely to be an original drawing for the painting I discussed earlier in the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery’s Master Landscapes exhibition, though the drawing is naturally less contrived and stylised than the finished painting. There is a most delicate and touching work by Michelle Cawthorn, reminiscent of a crocheted, patterned doily; instantly recognisable yet always superbly executed pastel of hair by Deborah Klein and chinagraph of the nude by Godwin Bradbeer; and an innovative laser drawing by Theresa O’Connell. Striking and powerful figurative charcoals by Andrew Antoniou and Ted May provide a wonderful contrast to the delicately whimsical ink drawings by Gosia Wlodarczak.

[© Eugene Barilo v. Reisberg 2010. This article is copyright, but the full or partial use is WELCOME with the full and proper acknowledgement.]

Natalie Ryan @ Gippsland Art Gallery

(cont.) Saturday, 13 February 2010

Dear Diary,

The other two shows on display at the Gippsland Art Gallery are video installations by the Korean artist Aehee from Caring for Aehee series (which have been previewed earlier at the Cowwarr Art Space), as well as an exhibition by Natalie Ryan.

Ryan creates sculptures of taxidermy animals; mounts them like Colonial hunting trophies on the wall; or arranges them on plinths in the style of a natural history museum setting. She abstracts the mammals to the bare essentials of their appearance, stripping them of fur and individual markings; cutting off their ears and tails; reducing their distinctive colouring to the choice of only three – white, black, or pink. She does use naturalistic eyes; the horns and fangs are also retained, thus preserving at least something of their primeval threatening attributes and ferocious nature.

However, I am afraid that is where she stops.

One cannot deny Ryan’s sculpting abilities, nor her feeling for the theatrical and decorative in arranging her exhibition displays and the reduction of her palette to white, black, and the “in” shade of pink (expertly matched on the walls of this exhibition). The ecological theme about extinct or endangered species is obvious but shallow; further explanations and intellectualisations are left to the curatorial confraternity. Her works fall short of Louise Weaver’s imagination; she does not attempt to create her own creatures like Kate Rohde, or visualise their future evolution like Patricia Piccinini.

Her sculptures are pretty, decorative, and accessible. It makes them easy to sell; it also makes for an attractive display, whether in a commercial gallery or a public space like this one. In the country which is not short on the artists working on the similar theme and with the similar subject matter, it is sad that an artist of such obvious talents comes up last in imagination stakes.

[© Eugene Barilo v. Reisberg 2010. This article is copyright, but the full or partial use is WELCOME with the full and proper acknowledgment]

Anne Zahalka @ Gippsland Art Gallery

Saturday, 13 February 2010

Dear Diary,

My Cowwarr sojourn gave me an opportunity to visit the Gippsland Art Gallery in Sale. The gallery occupies the ground floor of a brick cement council office building, and wraps around the central courtyard. The space has been well renovated, and creates three distinct, separate exhibition areas, as well as a contemporary reception with the obligatory shop, which has well-stocked book-shelves and display cases with works by the local glass, ceramics, and jewellery craftsmen. The curatorial content of the gallery is current and contemporary, far removed from the preconception of a regional art centre being a showcase for the local Sunday painters. I did however notice the absence of a space for the gallery’s permanent collection. In my opinion, such space is necessary to showcase the gallery’s ‘soul’ and its commitment to the patronage of the arts through its acquisition program.

The gallery currently has three exhibitions, one of which is a retrospective of Anne Zahalka’s works from 1987 to 2007. I only have had episodic glimpses of Zahalka’s photographic work, so it was a treat to see and examine her oeuvre as a whole.

First and foremost, she is a great portrait artist, with strong imagination, and profoundly deep knowledge of history and theory of portraiture as evident from her works in this exhibition. Her series of artist’s portraits, which were began in 1989, should stand as an example, a benchmark to all those who produce formulaic, predictable portraits of artists, sitting in their studios, surrounded by their works and implements of their trade, frequently with a vacant stare in their face, and no connection either to the camera or the viewer. Zahalka manages to capture in her portraits not only the individual metier of the respective artists (be it painting, photography, or sculpture), but even convey their individual, unique artistic styles – whether Darren Sylvester’s fascination with the everyday mundaneity or Stephen Bush’s interest in the landscape tradition. Furthermore, she manages to turn every artist into her own model, the vehicle for her own artistic expression. As the result, she attains the ultimate goal of portraiture – capturing the likeness of the sitter, providing an insight into their life and character, and creating a credible work of art.

Her Gesture series is also an interesting take on portraiture. Not unlike earlier works by Sadie Chandler, Zahalka appropriates portraits by the Old Masters, but obscures the sitters’ faces. Ironically, one can still discern the profession and social standing of the sitters just by looking at their garments, decorations, and the surrounding factual or symbolic attributes. Photographs from the ongoing Resemblance suite, from which are drawn some of her most celebrated images, are also present in the exhibition. Though I am not the biggest fan of the Appropriation movement, I appreciate its place in Australian and international art history. Zahalka’s re-imaging of the Old Master compositions is a thoughtful, respectful, and reverential take on the well-known paintings by van Eyck, Vermeer, and others, often with witty and insightful ‘updates’.

Zahalka references Australian artists, such as Freda Robertshaw and Max Dupain, in her Bondi series as the means of reminding us about the accepted prototypes of Australian, predominantly male, and predominantly white, beach-loving culture. She uses them as a lever to counterbalance these stereotypical notions with the other images from the series, starting with the gender-ambiguous take on Dupain’s Sunbather, and continuing with Girls II, Cronulla Beach, of 2007, which I find as being the strongest work in this suite. It depicts three Muslim girls standing on the beach in head-to-toe bathing costumes. To the viewer’s eyes, their appearance may look almost theatrical, more suited to a music video than to an everyday beach-going experience. The nature of the Australian and national identity is further questioned, challenged, and explored in Woven Threads and Welcome to Sydney series, examples from which are also included in the show.

This retrospective exhibition is the evidence of Anne Zahalka being the master of photography as a medium and as her chosen metier, the vehicle for her artistic expression. It also shows her as an artist with a deep and vivid imagination, which is informed by the knowledge of art history and sharply attuned to the contemporary issues and the contemporary photographic practice.

[© Eugene Barilo v. Reisberg 2010. This article is copyright, but the full or partial use is WELCOME with the full and proper acknowledgment]