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

lngto..,dlftnl,o 1 rad1411.Mlt, odor, deretrin 1 urlou1 e,lrDI-ML ' Bu1a~1•1uiou1 thelc terms could well a land. Af\cr all. lipt, radiant , abirting imqca ohub-tropical life - 11 oca ao a long way towards eiplainin, what Queensland is about. II aeema appropi:iate these dlys that we should find 111ch tcrina applyi11g to the arts in Quecnaland itself, and life in the sub-tropical nonb 1encrally. Consider a reccat pocket auide which de– scribes life iD QuCIClllllnd u I "rcn~ion or the diYCl'lity of the landscape. MThcR ii mrytbinf from desert to trop1• c:al forat and away o living that fits in wnh each landscape," it states. And what is art after all but the way soci– ety loob at itself. its mirror ima~c? In its many forms, art is a lasting rtncc11on of the lnllh about us. ·Decentralisation is the name of the game in the aru now. A fact made clear by a quick glance at the Queensland Arts Council oro– gram for October. Ancient Athenian pottery in Winton and Barcaldinc; Central AUJtralian imagery at Caloundn and Reddilfe; canyon and desert collagraphs at Charlcvillc and Mitchell . . . the list is u upansivc as the terrain. Where else in the world but Queensland could boast its own Flying Art School? And the artists arc as mobile as the exhibi• tions. Painter June Stephenson is part of a growing force of artists from the far north who beat a rtgular path to Brisbane galleries. Marine debris Atherton sculptor Tom Risley is busy right now turning the Ray Hughes Gallery at Red Hill into a convincing bit of the Barrier Reef. Risley uses marine debris - bcachcombcd thonp, fngmcnts of fishnet, all the flotsam and Jetsam or the throwaway society. Up Malcny way the hills arc ringing with the nostalgic sounds of a blacksmith's forge. .'.culptor Stephen Weis and glassmakcr Peter Goff arc reviving old skills and forgotten techniques in a growing art community. or course, clean air and mountain views arc light years away from the inner city scene of the ncw-gcncn11on punk artists. Their galleries and studios, like Janelle Hurst's One Flat in George Street, arc disused warthouscs, abandoned office space and seedy flats. Abandoned by commerce, they have be· come the baltlc zone of a defiant fringe of artists wh01e work is raw-i:dged and bluntly political. These are the artists who make their state• mcnts, like Janelle, with shaved heads, poll• nuke wardrobes and discordant Recession Rock . This generation of young artists, whose biggest social expectation is unemployment, doesn't deal in straightforward visual images. They work in the multi-media OYcrlap of sight and sound where performance art takes over from pictures on a wall. Viewer endeavor This is the son et lumicr or the Video Age, usinJ tapes, slides, films, poetry and audience participation, voluntary and otherwise. To get the full effect you have to use both can and eyes and ju.st go with the now. The Institute of Modern Art in Edward Street hu exhibited this kind of art since it opened in 1975. Its current exhibition by Terry O'Malley, a senior lecturer in art 11 the University of Tasmania, is typical of the genre. As this art ist explains "Performance .. uks for cndcavor from the viewer to piece the sha11ered picture together." The risk or this fragmented appr(),lth to art is, as he acknowledges, that it leaves the art• ists open to being misunderstood or misread. But at this non-commercial level, it's a risk that young artists seem willing to take. To the purists on the art fringe the real danger i1 not rtjcction but too su=sful an assimilat ion into the mainstream. P..h,,.,. ,h, wri1ine was well and truly on PH/UP ltcon a,11,r,, N•w 1,rm •.. • p/1c• of lntern11/on1I 1t1ndlng In th• ,rt world. Art is alive and thriving throughout Queensland :·:.-=-:~ OALERIE ,,,u,111, A1cot ... I c:ourt,1rd f/11/lry•rHIIUrlnt comb/nll ,,,,,ood. the conventional wall when the new Queens– land Art Gallery was designed with a special room for kinetic and performance art! Yet another kind or ambience exists at the Galerie Baguette in the drC51-circle heart of Ascot. Marily Domcnch's leafy courtyard gallery– restaurant combines two of life's great plea– sures: art and food. Astute Sydney dirtctor Frank Watten has brought his third major show of the year up to Brisbane. At 123 Charlollc Street it's a retrospective of the work of eminent Australian sculptor Ol iffe Richmond, who died in 1977 after a long and brilliant career in Britain. Art superstars Brisbane's Philip Bacon has an interna– tional standing in the gallery world. The artisu he promoted re.id like an index of our cultural superstars: Bret Whitely, Jus– tin O' Brien. Charles Blackman. So it bodes well for the career of Brisbane artist Bria n l'o.1alt that he is having his second exhibition at the Phili p BaconGallery, New Farm. Brian has 50ld and exhibited in London and Europe and his work also hangs in the Queensland Turf Club and Parliament House in Brisbane. It's unusual for an artist to achieve this lo– cal recognition first . before the promise or foreign ramc lures him away. This positive image has attracted a host of talents to sc11lc here and add their indil'1dua l color to the local scene. Swiss potter Barbara Steiner, exhibiting at the Potters Gallery, New Farm. has estal>- lished an enviable reputation. • · John Linck, who migrated from Hungary, has become a local force in the rield of wood sculpture and his exhibition is on J\ the '· Crafts Council Gallery at the Comll!unity Art Centre. Edward Street. Sydney art ist Tony Colcing rccognists that Brisbane is an important marketplace. ' WHERE else In the world but Queensland could boast Its own Flying Art School? And the artists are as mobile as the exhibitions. ---------------- Coleing's hallmark is outrageous. irre– verent wit. It's there in his biting black-and• white, limited edition prints at the Ray Hughes Gallery, Red Hill. You can sec from th~. without knowing much about his impact al the Venice Bien• nalc or his madcap "Avago" pllcry (smallest in the Southern Hem isphere.) that he is one of that select group who put the avant into avant garde. Irregular beauty If you want to find out about the state or art and craft further south, have a look at the Jam Factory Glass show at Southport's new Australian Craft Gallery. The six artists represented show that there is a certain magical effect or color and an ir– regular beauty which can be achieved only by the hand and not the machine. The true siz.c and enthusiasm of our art ap– preciation is most evident in the biggCllt or our cultural landmarks on the south bank of the river. A11cndance rigurcs at the Queensland Art Gallery conrirm that the average member of the local public is as involved in art, and fasci– nated by what it rcflecu. as any gallery first– nigh1cr. Since the gallery opened to great fanfare in June, I982, more than a million people - th1t's at,out half the population of the suite - have trooped wide-eyed across the travcr• tine marble noors. Judging by the cons1an1 crowds, the rcnec– tion we rind there is prclly encouraging. Ju sheer scale and daring mirror one thing clearl y- art,wise Queensland is big, bcauti• fol and bursting with life! I