Face masks of dough, wire and the Australian flag; portraits of royalty dripping with black paint; veils, dots and paper cut-outs masking memory and identity; videos hinting at masked abuses in Australia’s history—these are a few of the contemporary art works by approximately 20 Australian artists on display at the TarraWarra Museum of Art (TWMA) Biennial 2014 exhibition, ‘Whisper in […]
Nature is being exploited by a greedy world; its original abundance is now close to exhaustion. Artist Nita Jawary celebrates the power of nature to replenish itself in her new exhibition, ‘Exuberance! A celebration of nature in paint’. Nita greets me at the door of the Leo Baeck Arts Centre in Kew with her usual penetrating gaze, yet kindly disposition. […]
As I wing over to London I think back on the whirlwind that was New York. For 10 days I criss-crossed Manhattan, visiting different areas each day, observing the art that is unique to each area: Greenwich Village, SoHo, Little Italy, Chelsea, Battery Park, Central Park, Uptown, Midtown, Downtown, East Side and West Side . . . I have already […]
A sense of timelessness pervades the circuit walk at Stourhead garden in Wiltshire, England. This is a sublime place of beauty where nature has become art, ordered and arranged by humans. The last time I experienced this eighteenth-century landscape garden was on 28 October 2012 when rain tumbled softly, unhurried in the calm weather. Autumn colours were heightened by the […]
Australian artist Jenny Watson believes that painting should be as natural as breathing. Without doubt her paintings convey an honesty and directness that can only be achieved if the subject is personal. For four decades Watson has painted images of herself in various places at home and overseas: an isolated female with penetrating eyes and long, flowing hair that ranges […]
Cavernous interiors with staircases spiralling through claustrophobic space, and derelict buildings, are often described as communicating a Piranesian mood. You can be forgiven for not having heard of Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778). He was an Italian etcher, architect and printmaker, who achieved fame for his revolutionary etchings of real and imaginary buildings that featured ancient Roman ruins and fantastical underground […]
Written in his passionate and robust style, Lord Byron described the majesty of Rome’s Pantheon (“pride of Rome!”) in his lengthy narrative poem, ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’ (1812-1818): Simple, erect, severe, austere, sublime— Shrine of all saints and temple of all gods, From Jove to Jesus—spared and blest by time; Looking tranquility, while falls or nods Arch, empire, each thing round […]
At its core, Melbourne is a labyrinth: a network of streets and back alleys connecting spaces and places that give this city an intimate personality, an undeniable energy, an edgy culture, and a strong sense of community. How can this be denied when ‘Melbourne Now’, the biggest exhibition of local contemporary art ever staged at the National Gallery of Victoria […]
January 1st 2014: time to jab a pin into my list of destinations yet to be explored. Apart from the consideration of important aspects such as available cash and security, travel to distant countries is a lot easier than a century or so ago. Today’s travel writers not only narrate their journeys through the written word but also through images […]
For most of us, Christmas takes us back to our childhood: Christmas stories, dressing up as Mary or Joseph or the shepherds (with a tea-towel head covering) in the kinder nativity pageant, family gatherings indulging in traditional Christmas food, leaving out milk and cookies for Santa Claus, the Christmas tree and Christmas carols. Since the 1970s and the Vietnam War, […]
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Madelaine Dickie
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Thupten Lekshe
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Percy Rogers