Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 10 : Record of press coverage, March 1982 - May 1984

,r The Courier-Mail 27 August l ' J~L Arts and Entertainment Mo_re claustrophobia KEITH LOOBY makes a long. it seems to me, defensive statement on the Invitation to his present exhi• bilion at Ray Hughes Gallery. It begins: wniesc· paintings were bo– gun on my recent six months' occupan• c:y of the Australian Council studio loft in New York. A period where I felt confident at tut to be influenced only by .Australian art." . Viewing the exhibition I found that Looby was influenced mainly by his own paintinp of the lut decade or so. The same limited iconography of helpless bundles or humanity and ro– bot-like totems; and the artist himself - the "Lonely", "Separate", "Brealta· way" (in reference to the titles of the paintings) - but still a bundled-up to- tem. . The colon are u unappetising as ever to fit the depressing content. But what is new is that the claustrophobic effect has been increased by heavily loaded impasto. To me this seems a desperate gesture to whip up a nagging imagination. Of course, the paintings still have their power to disturb, but believing that art is a constant challenge, discov• ery and revelation, it seems time now for Looby to recognise that a new leap into terra incognita ought ~o be risked. And let a truly Australian expression take care of itself without forcing it so consciously. * * . * AT Griffith University I viewed the ex– hibition of the unusual ceramic sculp– !ures ~y Bronwyn Kemp, craftspcrson• 1n•rcs1dencc. . Ms Kemp has given up making con• Art Review tainer pots only a little while ago to be· come more of a "s..:ulptor" t'.,an a "potter". Her composite constructions. slab– built with porccllaneous clay, resemble fantasy palaces, apartment towers and threatening machines. EV'1ry surface is decorated all over with washed-on patterns in putelly col– on and incised scribbles to rcacmble islamic walls; additions of tinsel, plastic tubes, or p_,mpon~, i~ the effect of fantasy. Nevertheless, Bronwyn Kemp hu serious concerns about the changing environment affecting.people's lives. See also her piece "On Shaky Ground", which 1how1 a Queensland home on stilts atop an insecure founda• tion. Note also the spi~y forms which often protrude aggressively from the swcet-colorcd walls. Ma Kemp hu earned he reputation as one of Australia's important artist• craftswomen. * * * AT Philip Bacon we have an exhibition by Italian painter Egidio Sca~maatia. He has not attended any art schools, but learned from Justin O'Brien in bis studio in Rome. The exhibition includes viewa from the studio of Roman churches. view • or mediaeval Italian hill towns and still lifes. Ther.: is an evident interest in archi• tectural drawing. Scardamaglia fo– cuses clor.ely. Everything has a clean edge, and colors are bright and clear. Nevertheless, a good deal of the work just looks a little too "ordinary". "Receptor", 1 imaltkolored sculpture by Bl'OIIW)'II Kemp, I Best are the still-lifes, painted in an illusionistic manner. I It is clear that in "Still Life with Pa• petbeg and Iron Wire" (oil) the inter• est lies beyond the objects themselves in the achievement of harmony out of di• verse forms and colon. - DR GERTRUDE LANGER, \ ,