Margaret Preston- my hero!

 In cataloguing my favorite Australian artists, I have realised there has been one glaring omission; Margaret Preston.

I have been reading a book about her woodblock prints and was fascinated to read about her life. Born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1875 she decided to become an artist at an early age and trained under Frederick McCubbin and others, soon producing still life pictures of great fidelity. By the age of 28 both of her parents had passed away and as the sole beneficiary of the will she was able to save, then travel to Munich, then Paris in 1904 where she had some success before returning to Australia.

Her images, especially the woodblock prints are iconic, and amongst the first to really value the local flora, sometimes with Australian aboriginal motifs included. I love her banksias and gum blossoms especially, but most of all her design and composition which just "hits the spot"- balanced, pleasing, strong and simple.

Art Melbourne May 2011

Alberto Sanchez

Had a look on friday the 20th. Having been to the last couple of affordable art fairs, I can say there were a few contrasts, which may reflect the current trend towards saving, not spending.

Firstly it looked alot quieter than on my previous visits, and this was confirmed by a couple stallholders. Secondly I felt it was harder to find good quality art- some of the work looked as if one good idea had been discovered, then mass produced and from my perspective was frankly uninteresting. Others appeared be populated by artists who turn out on further investigation to exhibit at affordable art fairs worldwide! However there were a few stands that stood out. I suppose that with an emphasis on "blue dot" works for under $1000, one can hardly expect an artist to be selling their soul.

Good solutions included selling smaller works, prints, or works by really new, emerging artists, or alternatively just displaying good quality work for much more than $1000. Some of the aboriginal art centres were represented in a series of small stands collectively called "Reach".

One really interesting stand was by "69 Smith st Gallery", an artist run initiative based in Fitzroy, in which artists pay a joining fee to rent the space and then an additional fee to hold an exhibition at pretty affordable rates. I like this egalitarian approach and their work was interesting, original and varied.

I have photographed some of my favorite pictures.. 

Willy Rojas

Emma Hack- body art stand

Emma Hack- detail

Joel Rea

Warlukurlangu in "reach"

69 Smith st Gallery

Will & Caro

Will and Caro- detail

Leonard Joel Sunday art auction May 8th 2011

Went to the viewing today and there were two paintings that caught my eye and prompted me to research the artists. The first, dated 1916 was estimated at $800-$1000, painted by Marion Jones (1897-1977). I love its quiet simplicity, the thoughtful expression on the model's face, the grey tones; But I had never heard of the artist. I looked on the AASD database and the last time a painting by her was offered for sale was in 1998, so no wonder.
Here is an edited segment from her online biography;

Back in London, Jones continued to specialise in portraiture.  Jones's oil portrait of Senator D. Andrews was presented to Bendigo Art Gallery in 1930, the year her oil painting of Margaret Itarman was hung at the Royal Academy. She returned to Victoria in 1932, exhibited with the Victorian Artists' Society then abandoned painting professionally, partly because of family bereavements.
During World War II Marion Jones worked in the Bendigo Ordnance Factory. Much of her London work, which had been left in storage, was destroyed during the blitz. 'The world has changed. There is no place for art and beauty', she stated after the war. Despite living on for another three decades she never painted again. Extant work includes a self-portrait Moi Même (p.c.), which Peers calls 'Lambertesque'."

The second- so different to what I normally see here in Melbourne Australia,  was by Emmy Esther (Galka) Scheyer, who has a fascinating history, outlined in the following link. It begins as follows;

"In 1915, a young upper-middle-class German student of painting saw a picture, Alexej Jawlensky’s The Hunchback (1911). She was so moved that she decided she must meet the painter, and by 1916 she was modeling for him. The next summer she visited Jawlensky and his family often in Switzerland; through him she met many important avant-garde artists. By 1919 Scheyer had stopped painting to promote Jawlensky’s work."

Galka went on to promote the work of the "blue four" in Los Angeles, that is, German modernist artists Klee, Jawlensky, Feininger and Kandinsky.

The painting, estimated at Au $1000-$1,500 is dated 1913- before she met Jawlensky. Born in 1889 she would have been 24 years old when it was painted. I think its a beautiful painting and wonder how it came to be here and whether she continued to do much further work of her own..

So, one auction viewing, two paintings and a wealth of fascinating and moving background history..

PS. Just watched the auction live on artfact ( another new experience) The Marion Jones sold for $1900, thats $2318 IBP , the Galka Scheyer for $3200, thats $3904 IBP..Think the estimates were a little low?
  

Rona Green

The first time I saw this local Melbourne artist's work- mainly prints on paper- I was struck by their dark humor.. Take loveable family pets- dogs, cats, bunnies- and turn them into tattooed thugs, goths, or social outcasts with names like "Floyd" and "dally-boy." I have a copy of "Slim" (middle pic) and, hung at eye level, found him quite disturbing at 3 in the morning and even found myself having a chat with him one night about how we were all on the same side.. (lactation and sleep deprivation does very strange things to one's mind)- Maybe you just have to be a bit strange to appreciate this artist, or maybe the work speaks to one's inner thug, lurking inside the cuddly exterior..

Lyon House Museum, Melbourne

Back in late January 2011 I was able, after a few months wait, to visit the Lyon House Museum in Kew, an inner eastern suburb of Melbourne. I had read about it in the local paper and was keen to visit as this was an entirely new concept for me.

Essentially it is a private home that doubles as an art gallery. The owners, Corbett and Yeuji Lyon live there with their children and, a few days a week, run personalised tours lasting about an hour, for groups of around twenty people, to view their collection of Australian contemporary art. Visitors pay $22 and there are fairly strict rules regarding photograpy and bags etc.

On the whole its a very enjoyable experience. Fascinating as much for the architecture  as for the art collection. I mean, how does one combine the long vistas and uncluttered spaces required to properly appreciate artwork, with the untidy intimacy of a family home? This is resolved partially by keeping bedrooms and bathrooms off limits in a series of "boxes" within the larger structure which also has dedicated exhibition spaces, a music room with a built in pipe organ and a video installation room which is used by the children for film watching and sleepovers!

As for the art collection itself, I am sure its very important, with an emphasis on large, colourful slightly abstract works, sculptures by Patricia Piccinini, photography and a huge Howard Arkley. Whilst I have to confess that the collection is not really to my taste, having a fairly architectural, hard edged masculine feel to it, overall it was congruent- both internally and with the house- and humorous,  and I enjoyed the challenge of examining and appreciating works that would not usually have interested me.

As there was no photography allowed on the day I have cut and pasted the following from Architecture Australia Jan-Feb 2010 which also has an interesting article about the museum..

The white cube-like exhibition space (with a bedroom at the end of the corridor behind a closed door)

The music room with the pipe organ at right

The dining room, featuring a huge Howard Arkley painting

The black cube-like video installation room

Patricia Piccinini, "truck babies" in the living room (kitchen behind)

Criss Canning revisited

Last year a really lovely painting by Criss Canning sold at Leonard Joel for A$19,200 with the buyers premium ( I work nearby on viewing day- fatal) Entitled "Iris and wallflowers 1983-1984." It combines some of my favorite things- colour, persimmons, flowers, a lovely arrangement and what looks like a Phillippa James jug in the foreground!  It renewed my desire to eventually buy and enjoy a very little one of my own.

Last week one popped up on Grays online via Deutscher and Hackett and I got excited-It was one that had twice before failed to sell at auction and I am not sure why except to say that is very small for $3500, only 24x16cm.

Then, just to confuse matters two small ones came up in the Leonard Joel sunday art sale of feb 27th; These were even tinier, about 12.5 x 23 cm and estimated at $800-1200; quite affordable. Both eventually sold just within the estimates, but not to me. I was convinced by my husband to wait and save for a larger one and by then the Grays online one had gone. I comforted myself with the thought I would buy a Gwen Watson possum, which i also missed out on!

One day, one day I will buy a Criss Canning, but meanwhile here are the ones that got away..

Gwen Watson 1916-1994

 There is a "special sale" taking place on thursday march 3rd at leonard Joels auction house here in Melbourne, which consists of a single collection of the work of a potter named Gwen Watson. Like so many of her contemporary potters in the first half of the 20th century she worked alone, untrained, modelling pieces in the kitchen, firing them in an electric kiln in the bedroom, initially as a hobby, later providing pieces to retail stores in Melbourne and Sydney, and eventually expanding her skills to make jewellry and murals.

I went to the viewing yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. The pieces are much more ornate and cute compared with my usual taste, and surprisingly big, but this was more than made up for by their sense of fun and I can just imagine her enjoying making them - with darning needles and hairpins according to the catalogue. The bug orchestra was hilarious, and there are other orchestras made up of frogs and koalas. Most are estimated at between $50 and $1000 Australian, but I don't know if anybody knows what they will actually sell for. Think I deserve an early birthday present..
PS. Sent my husband off with a shopping list of possible presents and he came back with nothing!  All the ones I liked went for about four times their estimate. Cest la vie.

Maringka Baker

I really love this artist's work. She is another member of my favorite art centre, Tjungu Palya, in the remote APY lands in central australia, about 100 km south of Uluru. Here it is on google maps - see how remote.. She was born circa 1952, so must be nearly 70 years old.  Superficially they look like vibrant, abstract works, but like most aboriginal art they have a hidden story, often representing an aerial view, with tracks, waterholes, meeting points and landmarks... At about $20,000 dollars australian for a large example they are beyond my range but that doesn't stop me collecting and enjoying pictures of the examples I have seen, mostly courtesy of Marshall arts 

I am no expert, and each picture tells a different story, but the target shaped objects are often waterholes or campsites, the curved banana shaped objects represent aerial view of a sitting person, often with a  spear and coolamon beside a waterhole. Here is a site that helps with interpretation of the symbolism of a picture. I just love the fact that there is a fourth dimension; a hidden story.

Black holes

Been very much enjoying a blog called "wandering the dream space" which puts into words all sorts concepts that I find difficult to express verbally. The most recent post is about a photographic artist called Gary Fabian Miller who takes images of moving purity and spirituality (I have borrowed one, above right) without a camera.

I was reminded of an image by Louise Hearman (below right) which has always troubled me, in the sense  wanting to move on quickly and not linger and that, along with the contrast between the two I find interesting. What is it that is so frightening about the second one? That core of black emptiness, the decay at the rim? Something struggling to surface, long repressed from childhood?

Superficially similar pictures but quite different, and equally powerful emotions in response.

Brett Whiteley at theTarrawarra Museum of Art

Wendy Whiteley with Brett Whiteley's Self-Portrait in the Studio at TarraWarra Museum of Art in Victoria. Picture: David Geraghty Source: The Australian

Whats not to love about this place?
Food, wine, art, architecture, beautiful scenery, affordable contemporary ceramics for sale by Vic Greenaway, Sandra Black, David Ray, all in the Yarra Valley an hour out of Melbourne.

Brett Whiteley The telephone 1976, oil on canvas, 91.8 x 91.3 cm. Gift of Eva and Marc Besen 2001, TarraWarra Museum of Art collection. © Wendy Whiteley

Always thought Brett Whiteley's work was wonderful but only ever saw it piecemeal before- so interesting to see it all in one place, in the flesh so to speak. Many of the pieces had three dimensions with real sticks and stuffed birds literally coming out of the surface- these are the things you just don't see unless you get up close and directly experience his work which can be fun, tactile and vibrant and then other times incredibly dark!
The exhibition closes on March 20th, 2011..