‘Go, said the bird’ @ fortyfive downstairs

Exhibition-visiting Saturday continued with a visit to fortyfive downstairs for two exhibitions. The first is ‘Go, said the bird‘.

Participating artists: Marcos Guzman, Courtney Jackson [instagram], Inari Kiuru [site], Shaun Tan [website].

photograph taken with artist permission

Exhibition media:
“Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children,
Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.”
T. S. Eliot, 1935
An extract from Burnt Norton (Quartet One), Four Quartets

Go, said the bird borrows its title from a poem by T.S. Eliot. The exhibition presents the work of four artists who examine the ambiguous nature of time through images, objects and jewellery.”

photograph with artist permission

As expected, I was completely enamored with Inari’s work … in fact, this was a grouping of objects, jewellery, and photographs from the last eight years. Her large objects are stunning; her fine-line work is precise and almost afraid; the moth pieces are my favourites … but new favourites are the black brooches ‘Clay and rock turning into steel‘ (2015).

photograph with artist permission

Shaun’s large-scale paintings and Marcos’s playful jewellery provide colourful counterpoints to Inari and Courtney’s pieces; Inari’s are dark and broody; Courtney’s intricate, delicate, and fragile.

[There were quite a few visitors at the time I was there, so it wasn’t easy to get photographs of all the work; I’m not keen on publishing images with people in them … in case they should be somewhere else. Worse still though, my little camera phone was being temperamental with light, so many turned out overexposed and blurred. A random-though-related thought: I wonder if perhaps Courtney’s work could have benefited from a coloured background, even if only slightly tinted, to help it stand out (I’m no expert curator mind! just an idea)?]

photograph taken with permission

Check out the exhibition facebook page for more photographs.

Sorry, I was only able to visit this on its last day … ‘Go, said the bird‘ was part of Radiant Pavilion and was at fortyfive downstairs until 12th September 2015.

Anna Davern ‘The Golden Land of the Sunny South’ @ e.g.etal

What a delight! A completely enjoyable and engaging delight.

Anna Davern has outdone her amazing self in her latest exhibition, ‘The Golden Land of the Sunny South‘ at e.g.etal.

I’m sure regular readers have probably already visited, or witnessed the development of the work and the exhibition on various social media platforms …

photograph with gallery permission

I was just a little bummed that I couldn’t work the mechanisms myself (the gallery staff do that), but I can totally understand why that’s the case.

It’s entirely possible I squealed with delight … just a little bit. I remember someone writing somewhere (perhaps on Instagram?) that it was fantastic that ‘kittens are our evil overlords’ (that’s what my mind has put together anyway)… Elizabethan overlords at that! The ‘covert operators’, pretending to be evil kittens, were the funniest.

Almost all pieces were objects, with some sporting detachable jewellery pieces such as earrings and brooches.

What a feat. What an imagination.

Anna Davern ‘The Golden Land of the Sunny South‘ is part of Radiant Pavilion has been extended at e.g.etal until 19th September 2015.

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See also:

• 19May15: ‘Impressa‘ @ e.g.etal
• 18Aug14: ‘Transplantation‘ @ Craft
• 11Dec13: ‘Supermarket‘ @ Craft
• 26Oct10: ‘The Lost Voyage of Captain Foley and the HMS Laburnum’ @ Craft
• 22Mar10: ‘Figment‘ @ e.g.etal
• and more

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Kim Victoria Wearne ‘Orogeny’ @ Pieces of Eight

Kim Victoria Wearne continues her love affair with opals, and carving textures, in ‘Orogeny‘ at Pieces of Eight.

photograph with gallery permission

Exhibition media: “Orogeny – the geological term for the structural deformation of the earth resulting in mountains – is a collection inspired by the wondrous natural environments Kim has experienced over her past year of travel. From the arid plains of Coober Pedy to the mountain peaks of Patagonia, imaginary fantastical landscapes merge to form a collection of roughly hewn, delicately embellished jewellery. Employing her signature carved forms, intricate engravings and opulent gemstone colour palette, ‘Orogeny’ merges the geological wonders observed on this journey with her internal emotional landscapes.”

There is an opal ring in this collection that is truly stunning – however I haven’t yet been able to find an online photograph of it … will keep an eye out.

photograph taken with gallery permission

‘Orogeny‘ is part of Radiant Pavilion and is at Pieces of Eight until 11th October 2015.

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Other posts:

• 04Oct12: Kim Victoria Wearne ‘Volcanic Opulence‘ @ Pieces of Eight
• many blog roundup posts

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‘Vessel – Permeable Subject’ @ Hill of Content Bookshop

As I’m sure most readers have, I’ve been watching the social media of Radiant Pavilion ‘central’ and individual artists as the event approached. I was anticipating many of the shows, including wanting to see the objects of Melissa Cameron and Jill Hermans in ‘Vessel – Permeable Subject‘ in the window at Hill of Content Bookshop.

I especially like the connection of the materials, significantly being paper (a material I love), with their chosen site (a bookshop is full of paper). Fabulous thinking.

installation

Exhibition media: “[This] is an installation of contemporary objects and jewellery in paper and metal. Artists Melissa Cameron and Jill Hermans will explore the symbolic meanings of the term vessel through the creation of permeable objects.
Through sharing thoughts, drawings and objects, a grouping of distinctive yet interrelated artworks will emerge, themselves creating an intimate meditation on the formal contrasts and the fluid connections between the artists, their practices and the unique installation space, the Hill of Content Bookshop.”

I don’t know why it still happens, but I can sometimes be surprised by scale – how I imagine pieces from images is totally wrong! To be fair, Jill’s objects are of various sizes, but (for no real reason) I didn’t expect how large some would be.

detail

I fell a little bit in love with Jill’s pieces, especially the smallest ones … the little crucible shape reminding me of the torment and joy of melting metal. I may need to ask one to come home with me.

I must offer my sincere apologies to Melissa – it seems that I failed to capture one decent image of her works (if they weren’t out of focus they had my face in the window reflection; no-one wants that). I’m so sorry. It is solely my fault in camera operation; after visiting a bzillion exhibitions I was totally off my game.

Please be sure you all go to Melissa’s blog to see her objects, made with such care and empathy with the materials. There is so much to process, with the paper being made from military uniforms (‘combat paper‘) used to create forms that remind me of artillery casings … it’s almost heartbreaking to make connections to current world events (I feel a bit oversensitive to the news at the moment).

It’s probably obvious, I was taken with this exhibition … the subversion and twisting of the vessel, which should be able to hold something, into an object through which the contents will fall or seep.

‘Vessel – Permeable Subject‘ is in the window of Hill of Contents bookshop until 15th September 2015.