An intimate video portrait of Joshua Yeldham, which describes his relationship with landscape, in particular the Hawkesbury River. Beautiful viewing.
Click here to watch video at SMH website
Please join us at the gallery on Saturday 23rd Nov at 3pm for an insightful Q&A with Joshua Yeldham, hosted by Prue Gibson – arts writer, lecturer and author.
Congratulations to Danelle Bergstrom on winning the Portia Geach Memorial Award People’s Choice with her portrait of dance collaborators and life partners Graeme Murphy AO and Janet Vernon AM.
When informed of the award Bergstrom said that she was humbled on winning the Portia Geach Memorial Award People’s Choice Award.
“The three of us – Graeme, Janet and I, would like to thank everyone that voted for us. It is a privilege to win this prestigious award again”, said Bergstrom.
This is Bergstrom’s 5th Portia Geach Memorial People’s Choice Award. She has previously won the People’s Choice with Independent Spirit, a portrait of artist Ann Thomson (2010), composer Peter Sculthorpe (2009), artist Nancy Borlase (2006) and art collector Michael Hobbs (2005).
Danelle notes that:
“Every portrait is a collaboration between the artist and sitter. With Graeme and Janet I felt truly comfortable working in their presence. They were so supportive, encouraging and understanding of what was required and of the challenges I faced. I was captivated by their life stories and their 31 years at the helm of Sydney Dance Company, creating more than 50 works, and by what they have worked on since. It would have been logical to portray dancers in motion – graceful agile bodies in action, engaged in their craft. In trying to distill their art to its essence, it became clear that their connection is as much intellectual as it is physical. A dual portrait painted in close perspective, to reveal the collaboration of body and spirit, a representation of memories made together expressed through Janet’s sinuous neck and Graeme’s mindful pose. Two lifetimes of motion, energy, power condensed into a stationary image, expressing the strength and elegance of two bodies and two minds together.”
The Portia Geach Memorial Award People’s Choice Award has been generously donated by Mrs Josephine Delacour.
Portia Geach Memorial Award 2013
S.H. Ervin Gallery
Until 17 November, 2013
Sydney
We are delighted to announce that Darren McDonald has been selected as a finalist in this year’s renowned Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, with his portrait of distinguished Australian ceramist Stephen Benwell.
For 25 years, the Moran Prize has encouraged both excellence and creativity in contemporary Australian portraiture. The acquisitive prize is a very important part of Australia’s art calendar boosting a first prize award of $150,000. The prize is to be judged by art historian and museum curator Daniel Thomas, and artist and previous Moran Prize recipient Ben Quilty. We wish Darren the best of luck ahead of tonight’s announcement. The exhibition opens 24th October at Juniper Hall, Paddington, Sydney.
Arthouse Gallery would like to congratulate Chelsea Lehmann on her selection as a national finalist in the Portia Geach Memorial Award for her portrait of artist Deborah Paauwe, titled ‘Threshold’.
The exhibition of national finalists will be held at the National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery,
4 October to 16 November 2013.
Says the artist, “In this portrait of artist Deborah Paauwe I have grafted figural and compositional elements from pre-existing paintings onto an image of the artist through the process of painting.
The portrait is therefore hybridized; a transhistorical incarnation in the sense that it comprises of both contemporary and art historical sources. Its ‘temporal homelessness’ means the portrait is fixed only by it’s time of painting. The figure’s subtle incongruity with the surrounding landscape underlines the disjuncture of past and present images: they are not quite seamless, even if they are co-dependent. The ‘homelessness’ of the portrait reflects my aesthetic and conceptual questioning of the genealogy, inheritance and relevance of portrait painting today.
The intimacy of the imaging process between subject and artist derives from a relationship of sorts; reliant, in part, on physical proximity and (often) mutual affinities. It posits a slow release communion between people that belies the cultural imperative of rapidity.
The time, materiality and technical investment inherent in this painting constitute a ‘space’ and quality both rich and fraught with historical association.”
Arthouse Gallery would like to congratulate Hobie Porter on being selected as a finalist in the 2013 Paddington Art Prize. This national art prize encourages the interpretation of the landscape as a significant contemporary genre, its long tradition in Australian painting as a key contributor to our national ethos, and is a positive initiative in private patronage of the arts in Australia.
Hobie Porter’s stunning painting, ‘Tenterfield Widescreen’ can be viewed in the exhibition of national finalists at Mary Place Gallery until Sunday 6th October.
EXHIBITION OF NATIONAL FINALISTS
Tuesday 24th until Sunday 6th October 2013.
10am-5pm Sunday 12-5pm
Mary Place Gallery
12 Mary Place, Paddington, Sydney
Tenterfield Widescreen
Oil on linen
50cm x 100cm
“Cadence of Time” Danelle Bergstrom 100 x 300 cm – oil on linenArthouse Gallery
Wednesday 9th – Sunday 27th October 2013
“Sweden has become known round the world as the land of detective novels. In those books by authors such as Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson, there are frequent scenes set in forests or remote, isolated townships. Even in pulp fiction one begins to imagine Sweden, and Scandinavia in general, as a place where human life seems small and trivial alongside the vast presence of nature.
In 2011 Danelle Bergstrom spent an entire year in Sweden, undertaking a residency at Konstepidemin in Göteborg, a not-for-profit institution that provides 105 studios, but only five for international artists. Bergstrom is half-Swedish by birth, but born and raised in Australia. This was the first time she has been able to spend such an extended period in her father’s country. Her parents had divorced when Bergstrom was five years old, and she grew up with little knowledge of the European side of her family.
Travelling north into Lapland, Bergstrom was struck by the silence of the forests. For an artist accustomed to the cacophony of the Australian bush, the atmosphere was eerie and perhaps a little disturbing. Yet she admits to never previously having experienced such peacefulness and tranquility.
It was an opportunity for introspection, as Bergstrom was able to look back on a sad and difficult period in her life. Spending time in a foreign landscape to which she felt some residual connection, was a way of restoring the balance of her existence.
The paintings she made in Sweden put Bergstrom firmly within a tradition that sees landscape as a mirror of the mind. The recurrent motif of the empty boat on a calm expanse of water is an image of perfect repose, as if a mass of turbulent thoughts and emotions had been tamed. The boat may represent the self, but also a journey into the unknown. One thinks of those ancient Swedes, the Vikings, who would bury their dead in a boat.
Although there is a melancholy aspect to these paintings the outstanding feature is Bergstrom’s attempt to capture the special quality of Nordic light. Sunlight glistens on the surface of a lake that reflects sky, clouds and trees with mirror-like precision.
Inevitably there are echoes of Monet in his garden, painting reflections on the water of a lily pond, as his vision grew increasingly blurred. Bergstrom is aware she is venturing into territory that will always be associated with these late Impressionist masterpieces, but she is working from her own observations and experiences, not from the art history books.
In these pictures Bergstrom has responded in a spontaneous, lyrical fashion to the experience of an unfamiliar landscape. In doing so she has diffused her own cares and sorrows into her experience of the physical world, letting the senses chip away at the emotions. There is a feeling of optimism in these works, a suggestion of catharsis and renewal. The exhibition describes a slow spiral outwards, from the dark recesses of the mind to the clear light of a Scandinavian summer’s day.”
John McDonald is art critic for the SMH & film critic for the AFR
“Betide” Danelle Bergstrom 153 x 183 cm – oil on linen
Danelle Bergstrom has been selected as a finalist for this years prestigious Portia Geach Memorial Award. Her gorgeous painting depicts choreography and dance duo Graeme Murphy AO and Janet Vernon AM .
Say the Artist: Back to back the dancers sit. Touching, communing. Such is the life and work partnership between the multiple international award winning duo, choreographer Graeme Murphy AO and his wife, dancer and creative associate Janet Vernon AM.
Every portrait is a collaboration between artist and sitter. With Graeme and Janet, I felt truly comfortable working in their presence. They were so supportive, encouraging and understanding of what was required and of the challenges facing me. I was captivated by their life stories and their 31 years at the helm of Sydney Dance Company, creating more than 50 works, and by what they have worked on since.
It would have been logical to portray dancers in motion – graceful agile bodies in action, engaged in their craft. In trying to distill their art to its essence, it became clear that their connection is as much intellectual as it is physical. A dual portrait painted in close perspective, to reveal the collaboration of body and spirit, a representation of memories made together expressed through Janet’s sinuous neck and Graeme’s mindful pose.
Two lifetimes of motion, energy, power condensed into a stationary image, expressing the strength and elegance of two bodies and two minds together.
The Portia Geach Memorial Award is a celebration of female Australian artists. It’s Australia’s most distinguished portrait prize for female artists and has greatly contributed to the development of female artists in this country.
It was established by Florence Kate Geach in 1961 in memory of her sister, Portia Geach and is awarded each year to the best portrait painted from life of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters or the Sciences.
The finalists work will be on display at the S.H Ervin Gallery from 4 October – 17 November, the winner will be announced at the opening next Thursday 4 October. This exhibition will be running concurrently with Danelle’s major solo exhibition of her beautiful landscape paintings at Arthouse Gallery. 9 October – 26 October 2013.
Performer Kirsty Lee interacts with Kanholtz’s painting during the collaboration – Photo: Victoria Cooper & Doug SpowartThe Memory Collective is a multi-disciplinary collaboration orchestrated by artist Damien Kamholtz. Kamholtz states: The Memory Collective Project is a creative collaboration between 12 artists across eight artistic disciplines exploring concepts and themes relating to the human condition such as change, constants, history, refection and memory. The artworks created during the project will make up an exhibition to be held at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery in September 2013.
There are different stages to the project. First Kamholtz created a large 2.2 metre square painting, while sculptor, Jessie Wright constructed the large vessel to hold the water. Kamholtz’s painting is embedded with personal meaning in the form of fragments of his past art, the ashes of diaries. In the presence of this artwork we are drawn into a poetic landscape where faces emerge; symbols and totems slip from passive dark spaces and come into conscious awareness.
The second stage of the work was the performance in the form of 9 responses to the painting by Kristy Lee. The painting and the pool created the reflective and reflexive performative space and the transformative process of the original painting then began. Integral to the space were David Usher’s delicate pots; these vessels contained the pallet of shades that then shrouded and clouded the memory of the work. Over the course of the day the painting’s physical form was transformed into something different loosing its current visual form as only a memory.
Our part of the collaboration was to witness, respond and record the transformation of the work over the day. The next stage of the Memory Collective’s work will continue over the next month our component will be to create 9 large collaged photograph memory states of the work for the show in September. Works by others include; a video art piece, a documentary video, a soundscape, interviews, prose and poems. It is a significant project and is being funded by the RADF and supported through the exhibition at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery.
Text written by ‘The Memory Collective’ co-collaborators Victoria Cooper and Doug Spowart. To view original post with more images click here to visit Victoria Cooper and Doug Spowart blog.
Damien Kamholtz is represented by Arthouse Gallery in Sydney to view early works by Damien click here.
The Memory Collective painting by Damien Kamholtz
Hobie Porter Tenterfield Widescreen oil on linen 50 x 100cmCongratulations to Arthouse Gallery artists Hobie Porter and Susan Baird who have been selected as finalists in the inaugural 2013 Colville Lloyd Rees Art Prize. The prize honours the name and legacy of the great Australian landscape artist Lloyd Rees. His principle of ‘light in the landscape’ will encapsulate the essence of this award. The $10,000 award will be announced at the opening this Thursday, 4th July. The judge will be Hendrik Kolenberg, Senior Curator AGNSW, who previously knew Lloyd Rees and has published a number of books including the new text on Lloyd Rees and his works in public collections. We wish Hobie and Susan the best of luck.
Susan Baird Last Light Gully oil on linen 25 x 30cm
Earthward, Skyward, Homeward, Kendal Murray 21 x 26 x 16 cm – mixed media assemblageKendal Murray will be exhibiting a collection of amazing whimsical miniatures as apart of the group show Story at Lewers Learning Centre, Penrith Regional Gallery from 25 May – 15 September 2013.
Kendal Murray was told by a teacher, as a nine year old, that she had a tendency to daydream and in her words she has been trying to live that down ever since. Humour plays an important part in her art practice where she creates miniature, parallel worlds, tiny snapshots inspired by dream states. In these works, she uses found objects like tea pots, compacts and grass covered purses as the setting for her tiny characters, to play out everyday activities with an odd twist. For example, in a mirrored compact we find shoppers involved in a shopping trolley race; and on a grass covered purse we see a marathon runner totally unaware that he is being followed by a small flock of sheep. On another purse which takes the form of a parkland setting, a small crowd is divided as to whether a young boy in the upper most branches of a tree should save the pet cat, or maybe the lost balloons. Which would you choose?
The Story exhibition will explore how a maverick group of contemporary artists use art materials and surprising objects in whimsical and ingenious ways to create theatrical scenes, quirky characters and artwork loaded with narrative potential. Each of the doorways into the four rooms of Lewers Learning Centre will be the threshold into an adventure of a different kind and each room will have a hands-on interactive element that invites visitors to continue the story. Story features the work of Shaun Tan, Kate Mitchell, Alasdair Macintyre, Naomi Ullman, Hendrik Gericke, Catherine O’Donnell, Myluyn Nguyen and our very own, ‘Queen of the Miniature’ – Kendal Murray
Fetch, Snatch, Stretch, Catch, Kendal Murray 12 x 11 x 12 – mixed media assemblage
JOSHUA YELDHAM
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