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Sam Jinks exhibits at Venice Biennale satellite exhibition, Personal Structures
Jun 6th
Unsettled Dogs, by Sam Jinks
The Melbourne artist Sam Jinks has been included in Personal Structures: Time, Space, Existence, a collateral event of the 55th Venice Biennale, which opened on June 1, 2013.
I have interviewed Jinks twice before, so I thought I would dig out my 2012 interview notes with him and share them here on my website.
First of all, here is a link to Jinks’ exhibition at Sullivan and Strumpf Fine Art last year. And here is a link to my story which appeared in the Daily Telegraph. The artist’s gallery made the announcement about Venice, which you can read here.
The works included in More >
Indigenous artist’s painting on museum rooftop to be visible from the Eiffel Tower
May 26th
Dayiwul Lirlmim, by Lena Nyadbi. To be painted onto the rooftop of the musee du Quai Branly in Paris.
Sydney: One June 6 this year (2013), a black and white painting by the senior indigenous Australian artist Lena Nyadbi will be unveiled in Paris. Uniquely, the painting will be on the rooftop of award-winning architect Jean Nouvel’s museum of the world’s “first peoples”, the musee du Quai Branly, located on the banks of the Seine in central Paris.
Nyadbi’s work — enlarged 46 times from its original size — will be visible not from the museum itself, but from the iconic Eiffel Tower More >
Sculpture at Scenic World, a great addition to Sydney art scene
May 12th
Sydney: A week or so back I spent a fabulous day in the rainforest of the floor of the majestic Jamison Valley in the Blue Mountains, where the event Sculpture at Scenic World had just been installed. You have until May 19, 2013, to see it and I highly recommend that you do. Here’s what I wrote about it for the Daily Telegraph.
Sculpture at Scenic World, curated by Lizzy Marshall, is an annual art event which began only last year and comparisons with Sculpture by the Sea are inevitable.
Rather than starting out in the shadow of David Handley’s coastal art extravaganza, however, Sculpture at Scenic More >
Sad death of Smudge, Archibald Prize dog
Apr 29th
Artwriter was sad to learn of the recent death by snake-bite of Smudge, the little terrier which featured as one of the psychological trappings in Tim Storrier’s Archibald Prize-winning self portrait from 2012. The painting is titled The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch).
Smudge was much loved by Storrier, who appreciated the dog’s lack of critical opinion in relation to his master’s work.
The dog accompanied Storrier faithfully in the studio, and was even allowed inside the Art Gallery of NSW for the gala announcement of the Archibald Prize when Storrier won.
According to Storrier’s wife Janet, it wasn’t the first time Smudge had More >
Nicholas Harding in conversation with ArtWriter about being in Paris
Apr 1st
Last year I asked the wonderful Sydney artist Nicholas Harding if I could “follow” him on his Parisian trip by sending him questions and publishing his answers on my Artwriter website.
To my delight, Harding readily agreed.
The artist, whose latest exhibition launched at Olsen Irwin gallery recently, is now in Europe and has just answered my first batch of questions.
Here is our exchange:
Elizabeth: Hi Nicholas, How long are you in Paris for, and what are you doing over there?
Nicholas: In Paris for 3 months. 2 months as an AGNSW artist-in-residence in the Moya Dyring Studio at the Cité More >
Angels-Demons, an exhibition in Sydney by Russian artist collective AES+F
Feb 18th
If you were on Cockatoo Island for the Biennale of Sydney in 2010, you would have seen the extraordinary, gleaming piece of video art by the Russian artist collective known as AES+F. Titled The Feast of Trimalchio, the video was projected onto a 360-degree circular screen and was mesmerising and seductive, marked by some of the grand excesses of a 1950s Hollywood extravaganza about the Bible, complete with Charlton Heston in sandals and leather cuirass.
Last week I interviewed Tatiana Arzamasova, the A from AES+F, at Anna Schwartz Gallery in Carriageworks, Sydney. Arzamasova was in Sydney to represent the rest of AES+F More >
Toothpaste tubes and bird cages: photographs of Waste Not, by Song Dong
Feb 17th
Last week I visited the Song Dong exhibition, Waste Not, about which I have written previously (see my earlier post) and took some photographs which show the detail of this wonderful Chinese artist’s installation at Carriageworks, Sydney.
It is strangely moving to walk quietly between the carefully laid-out groupings of hoarded objects, almost a sense of respect such as you might feel upon entering the home of a person who has just died.
A gallery staff member approached me to ask whether I liked the installation, and I told her I found it compelling. She told me something interesting. She said it More >
Song Dong and Waste Not: the artist and his work
Dec 29th
A few weeks ago, Chinese artist Song Dong arrived in Sydney prior to installing his Waste Not project in Carriageworks, Eveleigh, as part of the Sydney Festival 2013. He was also preparing for his wider exhibition at the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in Sydney. I met the artist shortly after he arrived at Carriageworks, and had many questions concerning what I thought was a fascinating project.
Song Dong turned out to be a quiet and self-effacing person. But he was also engaging, and very keen to discuss the intricacies of the project.
A short preamble: Waste Not (or Wu Jin Qi Yong in More >
Sculpture by the Sea 2012: a Bondi experience
Oct 23rd
This fabulous artwork by Dave Mercer (left) is one of the stand-outs at this year’s Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi. “It often seems that even the most basic of human experiences need to be branded in order to seem important and valid,” the artist writes in the SxS catalogue.
The work, in powder coated stainless steel and acrylic, pulses in bright, vivid red on the cliff-top overlooking the ocean at the Tamarama end of the sculpture walk.
Here is a selection of pictures I snapped at the media preview for Sculpture by the Sea last week. Hover the mouse over each picture More >
Bernard Ollis: an artist’s insight
Sep 11th
Bernard Ollis‘s latest exhibition, Paris Considered, was recently on show at NG Art Gallery in Chippendale. I had the pleasure of opening the exhibition.
I thought the time was ripe to post a transcript of my first ever interview with Bernard. There have been many since then, and Bernard and I have become firm friends. But during that first interview on June 6, 2006, there was a lot to ask Bernard because we had never met before, or if we had, it was only briefly. We spoke about his exhibition, The St Peters Suite.
Here we go, starting with Bernard.
Bernard: I’ve titled [the More >
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