Exhibitions
James Guppy
- MUDWORKS, 2013
7 to 25 May
A few years ago my practice went through an important change as, rather than referencing the images of others, I began working from my own photographs. Friends became models and accepted various physical indignities to indulge my story-making impulses. Rich and unexpected things came out of these sessions with the photographs becoming an important part of my work process.
This process matured with the involvement of my wife, Trude. I wanted to dress the models in liminal garments suggesting archaic themes, she responded by making a bonnet of twigs, a corset of cow ribs, a crown of bark, and on fully grasping my intentions she added so much more.
I now see the photographs as works in their own right as, although technically different, thematically they are a continuation of my visual obsessions.
This process matured with the involvement of my wife, Trude. I wanted to dress the models in liminal garments suggesting archaic themes, she responded by making a bonnet of twigs, a corset of cow ribs, a crown of bark, and on fully grasping my intentions she added so much more.
I now see the photographs as works in their own right as, although technically different, thematically they are a continuation of my visual obsessions.
Waratah Lahy
- Hidden, 2013
7 to 25 May
I am attracted to hidden things: not just things that are well hidden, but things that are more subtly obscured, disguised in plain sight. I like to glean from my everyday observations, taking time to notice the details that prove themselves to be humorous, sly, tricksy and uplifting. I am taking time to paint moments and places that deserve more than a cursory glance, more than passing attention.
Nicole Welch
- Illumination, 2013
7 to 25 May
The Illumination works began when I was an artist-in- residence at Hill End in 2010. The archetypal Australian landscape that I encountered was overwhelmingly felt, along with the colonial histories imbued within. My ancestry is strongly connected to this region, dating to pre-1850 when my ancestors arrived to secure pastoral leases on 'uncharted' land. These personal family histories, the broader history of the region and the European idealism projected upon this landscape became the focus of this new work.
Benjamin Storch
- Slowly Turning, 2013
28 May to 15 June
The sculptures I create often embody mathematical principles related to dynamics and topology, as this provides a means of visualising their complexity via CAD. Gravity makes it difficult to use softer mediums, so there is an interesting tension between the ethereal, fluid intention and the often tedious manipulation of rigid metal. In a way, the manual process has become part of the intention and leaves a tangible trace of the tensile forces at work.
Helena Leslie
- again, 2013
28 May to 15 June
Helena Leslie’s exhibition continues the artist’s fascination with shadows in a series of delicate watercolours picturing scenes from found photographs and ephemera. The works draw on historical references and fragments of stories that have been removed from their original context to ‘float’ on the paper.
Capturing moments in time, the works are imbued with nostalgia and charm. Wrapped in the past, their subjects emerge both remembered and forgotten.
Capturing moments in time, the works are imbued with nostalgia and charm. Wrapped in the past, their subjects emerge both remembered and forgotten.
Janet Parker-Smith
- Little Wonders, 2013
18 June to 6 July
This new series of collages and objects deal with ways of seeing. Using humour, they explore displacement and aim to provoke enquiry into how one receives, perceives and imagines physical ‘otherness’.
The work explores nature’s boundless capacity for reinvention and rejuvenation, as well as the necessity for these processes as a means of survival. Referencing nature and alchemy, the work discusses the effects of progression and existence on nature and our environment.
The work explores nature’s boundless capacity for reinvention and rejuvenation, as well as the necessity for these processes as a means of survival. Referencing nature and alchemy, the work discusses the effects of progression and existence on nature and our environment.
Amanda Stuart
- Lines of Desire, 2013
18 June to 6 July
My art practice explores the crackling tensions that arise when natural and cultural heritage collide. Using my experience as a park ranger, my work strives to convey the complexities that characterize human interactions with outsider species, focusing on species that are perceived as repugnant, dangerous or vermin.
Presently a candidate for a PhD in Visual Arts at the ANU School of Art Sculpture Workshop, my current sculptural practice researches the tense relationship between wild dogs, dingoes and humans in southeastern Australia.
Presently a candidate for a PhD in Visual Arts at the ANU School of Art Sculpture Workshop, my current sculptural practice researches the tense relationship between wild dogs, dingoes and humans in southeastern Australia.
Mighty Small
- co-curated by Olivia Welch, 2013
9 to 27 July
Artwork on an immense scale often enthrals and consumes, whereas smaller works captivate on a much more intimate level, drawing the viewer in for closer inspection. This exhibition will not simply be concerned with works that are little, but works that defy the very notion of small meaning less or denoting an absence. It will present work that is compact, but is in every way just as powerful, notable and spectacular.
Arun Sharma
- (de)composition: lovers
9 to 27 July
The artwork in this exhibition deals with the cyclical pattern of nature. Between birth and death there is the complex life we live. Being aware of our mortality we seek connections and form relationships. Intimacy leads to new life, which becomes the remnants of ourselves.
Al Munro
- Patterns from an invisible world, 2013
30 July to 17 August
I use drawing-based media to examine processes of scientific representations of the natural world. The work in this exhibition stems from research in crystallography; the study and mapping of atom arrangements within a solid. It is fascinating how crystallographic diagrams form endlessly repeating grids of complex symmetries that translate the natural world into the visual and mathematical language of geometry and pattern.
The drawings in the series Patterns from an invisible world take a number of complex crystallographic grids as their starting point. By using the intersections of the grid lines as a template, I map a random series of points in space to create new maps of an undiscovered invisible world.
The drawings in the series Patterns from an invisible world take a number of complex crystallographic grids as their starting point. By using the intersections of the grid lines as a template, I map a random series of points in space to create new maps of an undiscovered invisible world.
Marguerite Derricourt
- Travelling Light, 2013
30 July to 17 August
My initial investigation into the life of moths started with the journey taken by the Bogong moth from Queensland to the caves of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales and the mountains of Victoria. The annual migration of these creatures is long and arduous, and often they are blown off course and end up clustering on the lighted windows of city buildings.
This exhibition is a variation on the theme of nature, migration, flight and the changes that come about during this process.
This exhibition is a variation on the theme of nature, migration, flight and the changes that come about during this process.
Joel Bliss
- Hard Metal, 2013
20 August to 7 September
I am investigating techniques of traditional hand-worked metal fabrication sparked by an interest in early 20th century car manufacturing - a process which relied on skilled metal workers. With this new body of steel works I have endeavoured to use hand tools, making way for a more intimate relationship with the material. I think of steel as a substance that can be transformed from a hard, rigid medium into a softer, more malleable and flexible material.
As a performance piece on the opening night of the exhibition, I will relate my sculpture back to the cars from the early 20th century by assembling a complete working 1928 Model A Ford in the Gallery space.
As a performance piece on the opening night of the exhibition, I will relate my sculpture back to the cars from the early 20th century by assembling a complete working 1928 Model A Ford in the Gallery space.
Irianna Kanellopoulou
- Wild Things Roam, 2013
20 August to 7 September
In my work, narratives explore issues of identity and (dis)placement through a transformation of images and found objects outside of their initial intent and purpose.
The featured protagonists unveil a macrocosmos of masked identities, fragmented conversations and fleeting moments. Deliberately shifting relationships between human and animal qualities, the figure becomes a cultural object that projects a narrative of a ‘new and improved’ reality; a super reality.
The featured protagonists unveil a macrocosmos of masked identities, fragmented conversations and fleeting moments. Deliberately shifting relationships between human and animal qualities, the figure becomes a cultural object that projects a narrative of a ‘new and improved’ reality; a super reality.
Todd Fuller
- There's no place like Rome
20 August to 7 September
In 2012, Todd Fuller was the recipient of the William Fletcher Travelling Fellowship. Included in this award is a three month residency at the British School at Rome from April to June this year. During this period he will undertake an autonomous study of the works of the Masters, refining and developing his skills as a draftsman while granting new life to the parchments of the past through animation.
Doble & Strong
10 to 28 September
Robert Doble and Simon Strong’s third collaborative exhibition, and first in Sydney, marks a return to their fascination with the science of modifying and manipulating the human body.
Their new works will depict imagined morphological changes and cross-species hybridizations, as well as continuing a visual aesthetic which renders the internal to the surface and magnifies cellular detail.
Their new works will depict imagined morphological changes and cross-species hybridizations, as well as continuing a visual aesthetic which renders the internal to the surface and magnifies cellular detail.
Art + Science
- curated group exhibition, 2013
1 to 19 October
The faculties of art and science are inextricably connected. Images are used to illustrate experiments and discoveries, and scientific ideas have influenced artistic movements, such as Impressionism and the Renaissance. Photography’s original scientific categorisation is another example of this relationship involving inspiration, cross-pollination and the rethinking of disciplinary boundaries.
'Art + Science' aims to explore and examine these multifaceted connections.
'Art + Science' aims to explore and examine these multifaceted connections.
Sugar, Sugar
- curated by Megan Fizell, 2013
1 to 19 October
As a species, we are predisposed to seek out sugar to supplement our diet. “Sweet tooth” and “sugar rush” are colloquial phrases used to describe our bodies’ cravings for and reaction to the substance. Our inclination to seek out the sweet stuff speaks to the pervasiveness of sugar in the visual arts. This exhibition, on view during the Crave Sydney International Food Festival, will feature contemporary art made exclusively with sugar.
Artists include Matina Bourmas, Irianna Kanellopoulou, Judith Klausner, Stephanie Jones, Claire McArdle, Shelley Miller, Mylyn Nguyen, Janet Tavener, Claire Anna Watson and Elizabeth Willing.
Artists include Matina Bourmas, Irianna Kanellopoulou, Judith Klausner, Stephanie Jones, Claire McArdle, Shelley Miller, Mylyn Nguyen, Janet Tavener, Claire Anna Watson and Elizabeth Willing.
Will Coles
- Death Wish, 2013
22 October to 9 November
We are all kings and queens of this disposable plastic empire.
Consumerism is the core of everything we know; denial is everything we live by. Concepts of democracy and freedom are now meaningless, as the products bought own those who make the decisions. We are buying the rope to hang ourselves with, beautifully packaged and slickly marketed.
When triviality rules, when your possessions own you, when you aspire to subjugation to a brand, you have reached the end of your usefulness as an individual, a society and a civilisation.
Consumerism is the core of everything we know; denial is everything we live by. Concepts of democracy and freedom are now meaningless, as the products bought own those who make the decisions. We are buying the rope to hang ourselves with, beautifully packaged and slickly marketed.
When triviality rules, when your possessions own you, when you aspire to subjugation to a brand, you have reached the end of your usefulness as an individual, a society and a civilisation.
The OnGOING GaGa SaGa
- curated by Akky van Ogtrop, 2013
12 to 30 November
With this exhibition, curator Akky van Ogtrop continues her GaGa exhibition series, this time with the focus on Fluxus, Pop and beyond. It is Pop, with a twist — an exhibition of multiples, artists’ books, zines and other printed matter that turns art into a fingertip sensation.
Constructing a creative philosophy that was anti-bourgeoise, anti-aesthetics, anti-authorship, anti-institution and above all anti-art, George Maciunas urged Fluxus to be a living art that was relational, functional and approachable for all demographics. Fluxus became an ‘intermedia’ movement that spread internationally - adopted and adapted with its growth. The movement, which still continues, played an important role in the opening up of definitions of what art can be.
Constructing a creative philosophy that was anti-bourgeoise, anti-aesthetics, anti-authorship, anti-institution and above all anti-art, George Maciunas urged Fluxus to be a living art that was relational, functional and approachable for all demographics. Fluxus became an ‘intermedia’ movement that spread internationally - adopted and adapted with its growth. The movement, which still continues, played an important role in the opening up of definitions of what art can be.
Robert Boynes
- Translations, 2013
12 to 30 November
In 2012, I was awarded the fellowship from the Capital Arts Patrons Organisation in Canberra which will allow me to make a series of large etchings. These ‘experiments’ will be made in collaboration with master printer John Loane, and will extend the imagery of the street that has been central to my work for the last few years.
Each work will be unique, and on occasion, combine multiple print techniques. These will be shown alongside my paintings in the November exhibition.
Each work will be unique, and on occasion, combine multiple print techniques. These will be shown alongside my paintings in the November exhibition.
Lezlie Tilley
- Simple Beauty, 2013
12 to 30 November
The endless repetition of these gridded patterns, based on the honeycomb, can grow large enough to engulf the universe. They can be simple or complex, formal or informal, be stretched or squashed, distorted in endless ways, be flat or warped and can develop from a 2D plane into a 3D form. These possibilities provide endless ways to form and re-form the simple grid of down and across.
The graphics become an instrument for processing and connecting all kinds of information from technological, social, biological, philosophical, personal, geometric, mathematical and scientific networks.
The graphics become an instrument for processing and connecting all kinds of information from technological, social, biological, philosophical, personal, geometric, mathematical and scientific networks.
Christmas Show
- $1,000 and under, 2013
3 to 21 December
Continuing the tradition of the ever popular Access and Brenda May Gallery 'Birthday Show', the Gallery presents a special 'Christmas Show' to celebrate the end of another year. Included in the exhibition will be works from our represented and supported artists, made especially for the occasion.
As in previous years, the show will be unavailable for previews and will open at 6pm sharp on Tuesday, December 3 with, of course, all the works for sale at $1,000 and under. We hope you can join us for a drink and a bite to eat at what will surely be an exciting exhibition.
As in previous years, the show will be unavailable for previews and will open at 6pm sharp on Tuesday, December 3 with, of course, all the works for sale at $1,000 and under. We hope you can join us for a drink and a bite to eat at what will surely be an exciting exhibition.
