2007

Phillip McLeish : Recent Paintings

Opening Sunday 25 February 2007 3-5pm

Born in 1950, Phillip McLeish has lived and painted in and around the Northcliffe region in the deep South West Karri forests of Western Australia since 1975 and was for many years Howard Taylor’s personal studio assistant.
Painting has been a constant pursuit through all this time. He has spent many of those years at work in the South West forests witnessing on a consistent basis the distinct local phenomena.
Such isolation has enabled him to absorb the consequentiality of his subject matter. His paintings have a deep sense of place and reveal knowledge gained experiencing the intricate balance and play between light, form, growth and seasonal shifts.
Having recently temporarily moved his studio north to a beach side location in Bunbury, McLeish has experienced a dramatic shift in coastal structure, intensity of light and weather patterns.
This exhibition where paintings from the Southern Ocean meet paintings from the Indian Ocean follows on from a very successful exhibition at Galerie Düsseldorf in 2005

Image : Looking Back 2005 Oil on Canvas 122 x 213 cm

1 - 29 April

XXXVII Guantanamo Fence 2006/2007 Oil Acrylic Automotive Lacquer Enamel & Wax on Canvas 1800 x 3000 x 60 mm

John Teschendorff : History of Ideas Series IV

History of Ideas Series IV continues John Teschendorff's exploration into the potential for emotional
response to the materiality of the image and increasingly to the contemporary events that inform the works. Submerged beneath a seductive abstracted surface is an interrogation of conflict/war/religious bigotry/democratic process/guilt/death/torture/terror/. There is something in these works that seeks to reclaim some humanity from the calculated horror & depravity of twenty-first century conflict.

Valerie Tring : Anxious Watercolours

I am in possession of a large ( 22 colour pan) black metal ‘Made in England’ Winsor & Newton watercolour paintbox.
For several years now I have been obsessed with the medium of watercolour. The place of watercolours as paintings rather than drawings on paper – as finished and autonomous (‘Projective’ as described by Bois). This is not unrelated to the story of exhibition watercolours and the societies that promoted them alongside oil paintings. Watercolour’s peculiar qualities of transparency and portability made it the medium for recording the origins of flora and fauns; architecture and its ruins; landscapes and the weather. The shape of colour in water…sometimes fugitive pigments “ colours…held on the paper by a feeble binding of gum” (Thackeray). What began with ‘stained drawing methods’ (tinting- imitating tone in oils), opened out into pure washes of colour (British artists working in Italy @1780)
My own watercolour fetish began with the mysterious and delicate watercolours of jellyfish on vellum, and others kangaroos and possums by Charles Alexandre Lesueur in the 1999 Museum of Sydney exhibition ‘Terre Napoleon: Australia through French Eyes 1800-1804’ curated by Susan Hunt and Paul Carter. On display were wonderful watercolours by Lesueur & Petit unofficial artists for Nicholas Baudin’s exploration of Australia on the floating laboratories, the Geographie & the Naturaliste. Thereafter I began experimenting with watercolours on leather especially soft kangaroo skin- my local suppliers are two elderly Polish leather merchants and boot makers who are known for designing the best riding boots in Sydney including polo boots for the late Kerry Packer.
Anxiety is the subject and rhetoric of my watercolours – whether baby animals- brightly coloured - fragile and pensive -‘Others’ (2002-2004); or kangaroos and boys- play-fighting, ‘Anxious emblems’ (2005-2007) ; and Antipodean landscape ruins –of houses after bushfires, cyclones or floods- ‘Ruinscapes’ (2002+) . I first exhibited the ‘Ruinscapes’ in a touring exhibition ‘Academici: Australia Council VACB Rome Studio residency 1999-2004’ in May 2005 just months after the nightmare of the Tsunami in the Pacific Ocean. In recent years research on the physical science of climate change has been prepared and reported on with growing urgency, projecting extremes and intensities of heatwaves and cyclones.
One of D?rer’s most unusual watercolours is ‘Vision of a Cloudburst’, 1525 paitned by the artist after a disturbing dream of a deluge…when he tried to describe how the water struck the ground at a distance with such force it could be heard as a frightening roar. A wonderous watercolour, but anxious.

 

13 May - 10 June

Tom Múller : EXPEDITION

Galerie DüsseldorfTom Mùller’s sense of aesthetics is closely tied to his appreciation of functionality. His deliberations can therefore begin with an object such as a passport or a credit card or equally a scenario such as ‘what would a map of the world look like if all the nations were superimposed over their central axis?’ His practice is concerned with both elegance of appearance and versatility of application. Images, objects and events function as crisp signifiers for the circulation of value and meaning through global systems of all kinds.
Drawn to investigate processes and protocols that have been universally adopted, Mùller has issued passports on-line, posed as the concierge of a hotel and opened Supermart (2004), a supermarket for limited edition works. His digital prints and paintings have captured the patterns of rivers and airport runways in recognition of how these markers define territory.
In his upcoming exhibition Expedition , Mùller explores new uncharted territory, by delving into the lands of heraldry and national symbols. In Heraldic Animals, he groups animals borrowed from various coats of arms from around the world. The animals appear liberated from their national duties and are seen to be marching towards a common direction. With Fables he explores the myth behind these heraldic animals and narrates a modern tale of national symbols.
By resizing and juxtaposing deserts and likening mountain ranges to graphs, Mùller asks us to consider the future of nature and how the meaning of geography is shifting.
Expedition is an excursion into the worlds where culture and nature collide.

 

Douglas Sheerer : Articulated Constructions + Paintings + Holograms

Opening Sunday 13 May 2007 3-5 pm

GALERIE DÜSSELDORF The ‘Articulated’ and ‘Info Stack’ series of works are a originate from a constantly ongoing investigation into the simplicity and complexity of refracted and reflected light. Planes that seamlessly come together visually in one way will segregate and cause a ruptured in another. I try to keep as many components as possible equal in intensity, size and ambience - the articulation of many planes can be manipulated by the viewer to create differing structures, shadow formations and imbued colour. In this way and under a controlled system I stand a remote chance of creating a structure that is both simple and complex. The verso paintings are directly related to the ‘Articulated’ and ‘Info Stack’ constructions and depict the verso colouration structure used to cause the various infered colours
The holographic works for me are not just a record of the ‘interference pattern’ created when the beams of laser light interfere on the holographic surface. The resulting hologram stands in place of the ‘departed object’ recorded by the holographic surface, and preserved through the developing process.
The bands of light and dark act as an extremely sophisticated diffraction grating, so that when light passes through the plate, it interferes to form the exact image of the object and scenario that was recorded. Viewing the hologram at different angles will give a different view of the object, thus giving it its three dimensional appearance.

5 Aug - 2 Sept

Bruce Slatter : WAY, SHAPE OR FORM

Bruce Slatter : WAY, SHAPE OR FORM Bruce Slatter’s recent work plays with ideas of protection, containment and concealment. WAY, SHAPE OR FORM uses combinations of objects that imply potential actions and suggest narrative possibilities. Objects are linked through a purpose built casing; encouraging the viewer to imagine their utility, promise and failings Image : Wheelbarrow Dimensions – Height 1470 mm x Width 1400 mm x Depth 1400 mm Materials – Wheelbarrow, Plywood 5 Aug - 2 Sept .

 

5 Aug - 2 Sept

Sarah Elson : Anigozanthos (eudaimonia hybrid)

 

9 Sept - 7 Oct

Mike Singe : GROUP SHOW

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Mike Singe's work is not just witty - it is seriously reflective and re-manifests life and experiences within it. In this new exhibition entitled 'GROUP SHOW' Mike Singe presents a divergent series of superbly sculptured works each with their own unique conceptual and aesthetic properties. This approach reflects the artist's “art making” methodology over the past 18 months where a variety of materials, techniques and ideas have been investigated.

 

9 Sept - 7 Oct

Jánis Nedéla : RUNNING BACKWARDS

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JÁNIS NEDÉLA R U N N I N G B A C K W A R D S Opening Sunday 9 September 2007 3 - 5 pm (gallery open from 2pm) GALERIE DÜSSELDORF Artopia free Artist’s floor talk Sunday 30 September 3pm Exhibition dates: 9 September - 7 October 2007 Image : ‘TYPO #7’ 2007 - Etched Acrylic - Diptych 21 x 14 x 3 cm Photographer: Martin Farquharson

 

 

14 Oct - 11 Nov

Brian McKay : New Works

Brian McKay is one of Western Australia's most senior and respected artists. Born in Meckering in 1926 his work has been the subject of major surveys at The Art Gallery of Western Australia and most recently at the Holmes á Court Gallery. More dynamically than ever, McKay is pursuing his exploration into the properties of refracted light and imbued colour through the active manipulation of metal surfaces and the application of geometric design.

 

18 Nov - 16 Dec

Frank Morris : Chiming Wedgebill

Frank Morris : Woodlines 2007 Gesso + Acrylic on MDF 180 x 400 cm Photo : Pascal Veyradier 2007

 

 

18 Nov - 16 Dec

Jill Kempson : Skyscapes

Jill Kempson : Verdant Green 2006Oil on Marine Ply 22.5 x 30 cm

Vast skies under which one seems to disappear... The South West region of Western Australia holds these secret and majestic landscapes, virtually untouched, gracefully sculpted by time and the elements. Waychinicup is one place I have painted over the years, the Place of Emu Dreaming, as it is still revered today by local indigenous people. The clarity of light which characterises most Australian landscapes finds there, an unprecedented subtlety of tonalities. These elusive moods echo my previous series, Tonalities of Time - The Forgotten Ways, from my research in Europe in 2006 of Old Masters painting techniques. Skies and clouds, sand and water are in essence universal phenomena which, once on the canvas draw the viewer in, for a moment of stillness and reflection, on the primal power of nature as well as one's passage in time.