UnpackAssembleAddDiscardCreate opens Friday 2 November; opening event: 6-8pm

UnpackAssembleAddDiscardCreate by Adrian Hall, Sibylle Hofter & William Seeto

Opening Reception: Friday 2 November 6-8pm

Artists’ Talk: TBA

Open Hours: 11am – 5pm, Friday – Sunday,  2 – 11 November 2018

The exhibition examines individual artworks created in diverse locations with works that engage with environments. The concept of location initiates a way of working individually and between artists with established practices and the difficulties encountered are made more prominent by duration and distance.            

            The exhibition is by three artists who deal with location as they merge and intervene through metaphoric gaps, virtualities not easily categorised as one or the other. By extending experience of localised environments, situations are created whereby sites are adapted and changed to challenge perceptual and personal awareness. In analysing diverse areas and environments, new ways of working are discovered.

            By examining differences in work perceived knowledge and experience is extended and heightened, changed and challenged. The bringing together of three established practitioners is significant in that it showcases innovative and exciting new works by artists in the geographical locations of New Zealand, Germany and Australia.

Adrian Hall, ‘yes YOU WILL be’_2016. photo: w.seeto 

Adrian Hall, ‘yes YOU WILL be’_2016. photo: w.seeto

Adrian Hall

Adrian Hall is an artist with five decades of living and working in the United States, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. His practice involved and moved from painting to formal structures, photo/ video installations and sound works, and all combinations. Currently, photographic works with textual addenda at gallery scale rival his live practice; objects and structures and drawings too. His work practice includes colleagues and friends in improvised visual/ sonic collaboration. He relishes conjugations of mixed gender, race, and generations. He continues to challenge preconceptions of the world; and eliminates that which seems irrelevant, as he also examines the sanctity of art as it is presumed to be.

http://www.adrianhall.space/

Sibylle Hofter, ‘Portrait of the Continent in 4 Weeks. June – July’ & ‘219x132x219cm’_2012. photo: w.seeto

  Sibylle Hofter, ‘219x132x219cm’_2012≥ photo: w.seeto

Sibylle Hofter

Sibylle Hofter has over two decades of multi-media art practice that includes extended research into extra-artistic fields, curatorial and participative approaches. She is driven by a desire to create multi-faceted collaborative photo-portrayals of countries she visits. Her interest is within regional contexts and beyond, which operates outside the schemes of photographic genres. Her work involves the ongoing Agentur Schwimmer photography project, which promotes a simple approach in a complex world by asking what is behind facades? What makes our daily reality work? What are our possibilities to perceive and to show? Her approach is one of unrestrained enthusiasm to get to know more about the inner workings of society and the questions arising out of representing a multiplicity of background and other aspects of art in developing visual languages that are beyond our daily visual experience.

http://www.hofter.de/

https://agentur-schwimmer.de/index.php?id=7

            William Seeto, ‘RmG 3’_2018. photo: w.seeto

    William Seeto, ‘RmG 2 (in deconstruction)’_2016. photo: w.seeto

                                

William Seeto

William Seeto is a site-specific constructed installation and photomedia artist with a practice of more than three decades with experience in creating perceptual installations and photomedia works. His practice examines sensory and visual perception and interrogates different ways artworks heighten or displace experience and referential codes in photo-imagery. His constructed installations examine perceptual qualities in built environments and his ephemeral artworks are based on everyday materials that seek to extend the dialogue by blurring the lines in order to expand contextual meaning, and in so doing continue connections generated by reworking ideas formed by deconstruction and reconstruction that is inspired by Arte Povera.

http://williamseeto.blogspot.com/

Then and Now opened tonight

Michele Beevors and Nuha Saad

open 11am-5pm Friday - Sunday 6-21 October

Then and Now: Nuha Saad and Michele Beevors - opens Friday 5 October6-8pm

6 – 21 October 

Open 11am-5pm Friday - Sunday

This exhibition addresses the shifts in working methodologies over many years of encounters between two artists, Nuha Saad and Michele Beevors who met while sharing a studio at art college.

From left Nuha Saad, Untitled 2018 (work in progress-detail), acrylic on wood; 
Michele Beevors, Dustcatchers, 2018 ( work in progress-detail), wool

Nuha Saad works with the formal aspects of the space between painting and sculpture. Saad has been engaged for a long period of time with the decorative and the architectural. The work reinvigorates long overlooked spaces and displays an inherited sensibility which is influenced by both (post)colonial woodwork with its turned ornamentalism and a Lebanese/Australian heritage where counting, patterning, and colour have remained consistent themes These themes undermine the grim, muted and dour colour pallet of our colonial past and reinvigorate, playgrounds, public spaces and home furnishings in unique combinations of colour and shape which confront the viewer in surprising ways and overturn our expectations of the inherently bland urban architecture we expect in cities and in vogue living rooms, negotiating the difference between formalisms strict, this not that formula, and Minimalism's phenomenological encounter with a body in space.

Michele Beevors' practice has been interested in figuration as an encounter between feminism and commodity culture attempting a materialist critique in large scale sculptures in a series’ dedicated to disarm Disney Princesses, the typical Hollywood movie star and particular examples from art history, in which the female forms appear as armoured, abject and rampantly humorous in a riotous array of domestic materials and assorted cleaning products that also examines women’s labour in terms of the clean and tidy home and handcrafted traditions of knitting, and sewing. Informed by a pop sensibility, with a nod to the coming environmental crisis brought on by rampant global capitalism and its stockpiles of waste Beevors' work moves between figurative sculpture and the domestic abyss.

Michele Beevors 2018

About the artists:

Michele Beevors is an Australian artist and a Senior Lecturer at Dunedin School of Art in New Zealand. Beevors holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University, a Master of Visual Arts from The Australian National University, School of Art and a Bachelor of Visual Arts from City Art Institute. Beevors has exhibited in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

https://www.michelebeevors.org/   https://www.instagram.com/woollyskeletons/

Nuha Saad is a Sydney based sculptor working in the areas of installation, galleries and public art. Saad holds a Master of Visual Arts from Sydney College of the Arts and a Bachelor of Visual Arts from City Art Institute. Saad has exhibited extensively in both solo and group exhibitions in public, commercial and artist run galleries and her public artworks have been featured in public buildings and urban renewal projects, including large scale commissions for City of Sydney and Transport for NSW. http://nuhasaad.com/nuha-saad   https://www.instagram.com/nuhasaad1/

Last weekend for De-Interlaced - closes Sunday 30 Sept at 5pm

Closing party last night

De-interlaced is open - Closing Party Friday 28 September 6-8pm

ROOMSHEET

Open 11am - 5pm Friday-Sunday until Sunday 30 September

The endless circulation of data and e-information that now travels in and around everyday existence, like an unabating convergence of starlings blotting out a Roman sunset, is not a subject one tends to frequently consider. Text, images and code fracture before committing to an imperceptible journey and only at their destination do the fragments rearrange themselves into their original forms. This is referred to as de-interlacing. 

De-interlaced is a response by artist Kenneth Lambert to this series of seemingly simple events, taking the form of a multi-panel installation, that examines the commonality between the artistic process of conceptualisation, scrutiny and final outcome and the way in which data behaves in transit. Lambert has created six containers of technological uncertainty that, while imposing due to their size and solitary, almost detached nature, cannot help but invite curious investigation by the viewer.  

As physical objects the installation embodies the sense of the de-interlaced. The outer layer exposed to the viewer is constructed of Mylar, a material commonly utilised when packaging electronic consumer products, while the interior is never revealed. In this sense the object itself and the viewer experience life in a middle ground of sorts, between conceptualisation and active use, both informed of a soon to be functional existence yet unaware of exactly what that existence may entail. Each seems as if it were simply opened whatever is contained would be immediately put to use. 

Through slight visual cues Lambert dares each individual object to reveal a greater purpose, almost breathing life into dormant sentinels. Distinct colours are used to reference specific areas of research in which new media technologies have had a significant impact on the contemporary human psyche; personal identity, social interaction, cultural identity, environmentalism, political preference and spirituality. The de-interlacing of information suggests that increasingly digital selves made up of these varying aspects are perpetually swirling around the world we know, a tempest of our own and our peers’ personalities supposedly laid bare and immediately reachable yet still invisible, like each reflective techno-monolith Lambert presents.  

In De-interlaced microscopic voyages of fantastic proportions are revealed and through an attentiveness to human relationships with current technologies the artist transmutes this surging swarm of unobserved digital intelligence into tangible reflections of the intricacies of our own modern-day identities. Despite an impenetrable aloofness conveyed by the physical structures Lambert somehow pierces the skin to release a clearer picture of what the contents may become when data adrift reaches a terminus. 

Sotiris Sotiriou 

Gallerist and Curator

www.comagallery.com 

Kenneth Lambert's De-Interlaced opens Friday 14 Sept 6-8pm

Open 11am - 5pm, Fri - Sun,  15-30 September 

opening Friday 14 September 6-8pm

Artists talk 11am Sunday 23 September

Closing Party Friday 28 September 6-8pm

Kenneth Lambert De-Interlaced (detail) 2018

De-interlaced is a technical term borrowed from broadcast media, which in this situation represents the artist’s process of investigation, analysis and final response. The response takes the format of a multi-panel installation work. Each panel represents a specific area of research in which media technologies have had a noted impact on the human psyche. The areas of research represented in the work include personal identity, social interaction, cultural identity, environmental, political and spirituality.

These outcomes have been represented as soft metallic colour fields that intrude over the liquid mirror surfaces. The result is a series of suspended multi-dimensional paintings that are simultaneously translucent, reflective and chromatic in materiality. Further the artist’s intention goes beyond the physical work to include the surrounding space. Light and colour refract onto the gallery’s surfaces as the panels spin on their central axis. This immersive experience can be harmonious, sometimes discordant, and totally dependent on the external environmental forces of light, space and time.

“I strive to create work which is a catalyst for an emotive resonance. A way of beguiling the participant into a seemingly simple but deeply layered experience”.

Kenneth Lambert - Artist

Lambert is a conceptually driven artist whose practice investigates the human psyche through the lens of technology. His practice extends across digital media and installation. Lambert approaches his experimental art practice with the deliberation of a scientist and philosopher combined. His intention is to entice the viewer into a state that is self-reflective.

Lambert’s work has been recently recognized with his inclusion in 2018 the Churchie Emerging Artist Prize, Lismore Portrait Prize, Hidden Sculpture Walk and the Alice Prize. He is also this year’s recipient of the Newington Armory Award: Artist in Residency and has been invited to take part in 2019 Arteles Artist residency program in Finland.

www.kclart.com

Participate in It All Adds Up – Jody Graham

String Along is open 11am-5pm  Friday - Sunday until Sunday 9 September

An elderly woman who I called Mrs Left fascinated me as a child. She was my next-door neighbour and lived with Mr Left. He couldn’t see very well and she used to help him drive, telling him when to stop and where to turn. Mrs Left had wardrobes of extravagant dress ups and a spiral staircase in the middle of her house. She showed me flowers in her garden and told me the fuchsia’s were like beautiful ballerinas. Mrs Left spent time with me, liked showing me things and took the time to sit and teach me to crochet. I was very young and this would have been a challenging task to take on. I never remember Mrs Left getting impatient or having a cross word. Mr and Mrs Left moved away, to a retirement or nursing home I assume. I was young when this happened and never had the opportunity to say how special it was to have an elderly neighbour provide the nurturing gift of time and patience. I felt safe and inspired.

It All Adds Up is a rug I am crocheting out of salvaged fragments of string, rope, twine, shoe laces and other bits of thread like material. I am doing this as a reaction against buying new and sourcing from what would usually be discarded instead. Believing the desire for more and new impoverishes the human spirit rather than enhancing it. Mending and using what is available lends itself to being resourceful, having far deeper satisfaction than the often-short lived joy that comes from spending and discarding the old. The whole concept of striving for new, more and better I believe is the cause of Affluenza. A social condition where individuals strive to be wealthy and success is determined by how much money you have. Seeking connection and esteem through purchases deprives us of the real pleasure that comes from connecting with another through spending time and resources.

 

It All Adds Up is a work in progress that is being exhibited at Articulate project space until the 9th of September 2018. I will be at Articulate project space Friday the 31st of August

11am - 2pm and Sunday the 9th of September 2 - 5pm if you want to come and contribute string or similar donation to this community collaborative work.

You can also leave donations for this work on allocated pins next to the artwork during Articulate's opening hours 11am- 5pm Friday to Sunday or contact me on enquiries@jodygraham.com.au to participate in this project.

String Along Opened last night

Open Friday - Sunday 11am - 5pm, 25 August – 9 September 2018  

String Along shows the work of artists Helen Amanatiadis, Cathy Ball, Tricia Flanagan, Jody Graham, Judy Ann Moule, Christine Wiltshier and Marcelo Zavala-Baeza.

ROOMSHEET

String Along opens Friday 24 August 6-8pm

Open Friday - Sunday 11am - 5pm, 25 August – 9 September 2018  

String Along shows the work of artists Helen Amanatiadis, Cathy Ball, Tricia Flanagan, Jody Graham, Judy Ann Moule, Christine Wiltshier and Marcelo Zavala-Baeza.

ROOMSHEET

“Perhaps the key to the ontology of making is to be found in a length of twine.”(1)

The works in String Along are diverse and varied in form. But together they explore ‘line’ from its expression in the act of drawing, to knitting, weaving and to the filament extruded in 3D printing.  The process of making is also brought to the foreground in many of the exhibited works, as ‘lines’ create material traces that evidence their relationship with the body of the maker. 

Image: Details of work by Jody Graham, Marcelo Zavala-Baeza, Helen Amanatiadis, Judy Ann Moule, Cathy Ball, Tricia Flanagan, Christine Wiltshier

Public Events 

24^th August 6-7pm - Performance of the collaborative work Uncompleted Gestures Weigh Heavily… artists Judy Ann Moule and Christine Wiltshier 

25^th and 26^th August 12-2pm - Continuation of collaborative performance work Uncompleted Gestures Weigh Heavily… artists Judy Ann Moule and Christine Wiltshier 

25^th August 2 -5pm -  It All Adds Up – Community collaborative rug - work in progress made from salvaged bits of string, rope, shoe laces, cord and fabric discarded on streets, in alleyways, parks, train stations and similar places with Jody Graham. All salvaged string contributions welcome.

31^st August 1^st and 2^nd September 2-4pm

Continuation of collaborative performance work Uncompleted Gestures Weigh Heavily… artists Judy Ann Moule and Christine Wiltshier 

9^th September 2- 5pm It All Adds Up – Continuation of community collaborative rug - work in progress made from salvaged bits of string, rope, shoe laces, cord and fabric discarded on streets, in alleyways, parks, train stations and similar places with Jody Graham. All salvaged string contributions welcome.

The ancient technique of making string is one of humanity's earliest innovations that led to the evolution of culture from fishing nets in agriculture to weaving looms in industry, which were the forerunners of the computers of today. Helen Amanatiadis’ works, A Measure of Strings and Probability of Miracles, explore the tensions between the inherently ancient practice of making and working with string and the rise of industrialisation and rationalism. Her works quote architectural building structures, braces or jigs, and are created from industrial strings of synthetic twine and rope, which are crocheted and woven into bands that cut into and across the gallery space. Amanatiadis’ works bring to the fore emergent activities such as making from string, which have been repressed through modernity and industrialisation.

Jody Graham’s works Missed Diagnosis, Urban Bowers and It All Adds Up address the accumulating detritus of the industrial world. Inspired by the use of found materials and the make do ethos that lay behind the creation of the ‘wagga rug’, which was thought to be created by Australian itinerant agricultural workers, from used wheat or jute flour bags and twine, during the late 1800s and early 1900s (2). Graham has collected and repurposed found string like materials into a life size cocoon and a series of nests that investigate metamorphosis and transformation. It All Adds Up is a collaborative work in progress, performed throughout the duration of the exhibition, which involves a rug being created from salvaged bits of string, rope, shoe laces, cord and fabric discarded on streets, in alleyways, parks and similar public places.

The evolution of the tools we make with informs the evolution of the way we think and the work of Marcelo Zavala-Baeza has developed through a micro interference with the processes of current technology. In Where is Gary? a series of miniature figurines appear to capture a moment of movement, an explosion of line that append the figurines bodies, a free expression of extruded filament from the otherwise controlled 3Dprinted description of the body – each have a unique character, expressed through aesthetics of the digital that he creates through a process that enhances chance encounters and happenings –and terms ‘serendipity”.

 From micro to macro gestures, the collaborative performance work of conceptual artists Judy Ann Moule and Christine Wiltshier, Uncompleted Gestures Weigh Heavily…moves the notion of string towards thread and yarn. Using constructed and recycled materials (red thread and hair stuffed tubing) and suspended knitting tools Moule and Wiltshier consider notions of subjective and constructed identity, teasing out what is visible and what might be hidden, and, what might be shared, by each unique individual. As the props become activated, and the pair crosses over and attempt to interpret fading knitting instructions, the process of knitting becomes a gestural dance where the artists’ bodies and the process of knitting are integrated, suggesting knitting as part of identity.

The works of Cathy Ball and Tricia Flanagan also involve the reimagining of intimate artist experiences, through a combination of string as thread, yarn, technology and weaving. Ball’s work, Day 10 involves a transformative process described in red thread, which accounts for the time involved in treatment and recovery during illness. The meditative nature of the weaving process was used therapeutically during this time to create this series of small panels.

Yarn, weaving and intimate experience are combined with technology in Tricia Flanagan’s’ work BODYecology; in this case the time counted in her work is that of sleep. A video reveals a performance installation and is displayed in the exhibition along with a blanket. The blanket has been produced during the performance. The video shows the artist sleeping in a gallery beside a portable dying machine which records her sleep pattern in indigo along a hand spun thread. When Flanagan awakes she weaves the resulting variegated blue and white thread into a blanket, whose varying stripes document in cloth, a night’s sleep, this process was repeated for 1 month.

1. Ingold, Tim. The Textility of making, Cambridge Journal of Economics 2010, 34, p.91-102

2. https://www.nationalquiltregister.org.au/wagga-rugs/

Dividing/Line closes Sunday 19 August

Video: Peter Murphy

This project is supported by funding from the Inner West Council

FINAL WEEKEND COMING UP: Alan Schacher's Dividing/Line

Active 3-4pm Thursday - Sunday till Sunday 19 August

Open 11am-5pm Friday - Sunday

Reservations :

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dividingline-tickets-48475600827

Roomsheet

Photos: Alan Schacher

This project is supported by funding from the Inner West Council

Dividing/Line week 2

Active 3-4pm Thursday - Sunday till Sunday 19 August

Open 11am-5pm Friday - Sunday

Reservations :

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dividingline-tickets-48475600827

Roomsheet

Alan Schacher, Dividing/Line, 11Aug. Images: Lynne Eastaway

This project is supported by funding from the Inner West Council