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Art Monthly Australia - Victoria Artnotes
Art Monthly Australia
#230 June 2010 Art notes Victoria
The June issue of Art Monthly Australia has just hit our desks, including the NETS team's wrap up of industry news and what's on in Victoria.
Send us an email at artnotes@netsvictoria.org and let us know about your new exhibitions, exciting events, changes in staffing and developments.
Blockbuster fever
Direct from The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Tim Burton: The Exhibition presents 700 works including paintings, drawings, puppets, costumes, storyboards and film from the highly acclaimed and visionary filmmaker Tim Burton. This retrospective, presented as part of the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, spans Burton’s earliest films through to his most recent project, Alice in Wonderland, and considers the elements of gothic fantasy, dark humour and motifs that characterise his work as director, concept artist, illustrator and photographer. From 24 June to 10 October. With works by household names including Degas, Picasso and Munch in this year’ major blockbuster European Masters: Städel Museum 19th - 20th Century, the National Gallery of Victoria is sure to keep their position as the 20th most attended gallery in the world, as determined by the Art Newspaper. Last year’s Winter Masterpieces exhibition, Salvador Dali: Liquid Desire, which attracted more than 332,000 visitors, was the 44th most attended exhibition in the world, and the most attended in Australia for 2009. This year over 100 works of modern European art from 70 artists from the vast and rich collection of the Städel Museum in Germany will be presented at the NGV. Masterpieces by Max Beckman, Max Klinger, Pierre Bonnard, Auguste Rodin can be seen alongside other iconic Neo-Classical, Realist, Impressionist and Symbolist works and German Expressionist paintings and sculpture. From 10 June to 10 October. And out of Melbourne, Bendigo Art Gallery presents McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907-1917 exclusively in Victoria. This National Gallery of Australia exhibition traces the radical changes in McCubbin’s work after he viewed the works of the European masters Turner and Monet in London. Until 25 July. GC
Work in progress
Throughout his career Raafat Ishak has been involved in a variety of activities that have allowed him to participate in artist-run initiatives, produce site-specific works and move beyond the confines of the 2D canvas. The Melbournebased Egyptian-born artist is the 6th artist to participate in the Ian Potter Museum of Art Work in Progress series, which focuses on surveys of mid-career artists. Revisiting work from the last 20 years, this exhibition references some important early projects and includes paintings (80 of them), site-specific installations, sculptures and wall drawings. Curated by the Potter’s Bala Starr, Raafat Ishak: Recipes for aversion and strategy. Work in Progress #6 continues until 25 July. www.art-museum.unimelb.edu. SV Vehicles for critique ‘That’s why I make the stuff and don’t write about it,’ is a commonly heard complaint regarding the pressure for artspeak, in this case it underscores the desire of artist Paul E Mason to fully embody meaning in his work and of the pure joy in the process of making. His sculptures are exquisitely assembled, playing with scale in a way that at times resemble oversized pieces of jewellery, and are composed from a plethora of materials including stainless steel, plastic, MDF, aluminium, graphite, even peanuts. Deceptively simple Paul’s sculptural forms have an elusive presence conveying moral, social, scientific and environmental issues with a satirical twist. His series of electro-ducks for instance reference the absurd in relation to climate change. Critical Vehicles 4 continues at Hamilton Art Gallery until 27 June and can also be seen at Counihan Gallery in Brunswick, Melbourne from 13 August to 5 September. EJ
Happy Birthday Craft Victoria
Craft Victoria is turning 40. To celebrate, Director Joe Pascoe has curated an exhibition of works by master potter Owen Rye whose own 40-year career has focused on the exploration of the aesthetic achieved from the wood-fired ceramic process. Rye’s contribution to the field of ceramics is internationally recognised, and in Golden Ashes Pascoe showcases Rye’s famous wood-fire investigations alongside his most recent work. Wood-firing has distinctive consequences; ash and clay combine to create a glaze that is highly variable depending on the type of wood, the type of clay and the placement in the kiln. Every piece is unique in its distortions and flaws, its colours and aspect. Running concurrently with Golden Ashes is an exhibition which has been guest curated by contemporary Indigenous artist Clinton Nain. Featuring examples of both traditional and contemporary forms of egg carving, Carved out of Life highlights the importance and significance of a neglected medium. Emu egg carving has been practised in Australia since the late 18th century. Today it is very much a part of Indigenous culture and artistic practice, strengthening and retaining links to the past. The exhibition will feature examples of both traditional and contemporary forms of egg carving. Owen Rye: Golden Ashes and Carved out of Life: the Art of Emu Egg Carving, Craft Victoria, 17 June to 31 July. RS
