Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 8 : Pressclippings, 1977-1981

I am almost a camera NOW it's Mono Lisa at i•he clothes-line SANDRA McGRATH reviews the Illusion and Reality exhibi– tion at the Art Gallery ot NSW. 'SOME men's Illusions are other men's realities,' quip– ped Elwyn Lynn as he opened Illusion and Reality, the latest American - Inspired exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney. John Btrlnpr 011ranlaed the lhow M a dlaplay cue ror tne most recent or art 1tyl111 to emerp Crom America - photo-reallam or new reallam. Before 1101ns Into aome or the e~– hlbltton•• aapecta, 1'11 do a commer• clal. Oo see the ahow and take th•J family, Technically, aome or It's raaclnatlnll, lt'a humoroua. and It loolla fresh and escltlnl, There are 42 artlata: most are American, but a few Canadlana , Euror,1:ana and Auatrallana have been added to 11lve the eshlbltlon a more lntematlonal race. But It Is the ,·:.m~rlcan art11t1 <moat or whom will " be unfamiliar to the 1eneral public> who run awa:, with the lhow, Richard Eal\!a, Richard McClollJI, Phlllp Pearlateln, Duane Hamon, Ben Bdlonaelt, Ralph Oolnp, Don Eddy, Audre7 Flaclt and Robert Cott1n11ham all seem to be tryln11 to outdo each other In showlna orr their remarkablll IC not daalln1 technical akllll,\ liluslon haa b.lln at the heart 01 Western art. To make an obJect, a person. a landscape look aa real aa poulblo hu been the artlat's objective until 1\!Cent times. To perfect the II· lllllon of reality, artlala acquired akllls auch u perapecllve anti foreahorten– lna, the use of ll1ht and lhade to produce fieahly triumphs, and the ac– curate 1W1derln1 of wood, fabric, marble and 111au. The claallcal hero of lllll&lonlam waa Leonardo da Vinci. When Leon• ardo flnt exhibited the Mona Ltaa, It waa her "realneaa" that awed the people who saw It. Vlslton went away swearlna they COUid actually - a pulse beatlns at the baal of her neck or that they could even see her breathlnll, Duane Hanson's three-dlmenslonat IIIIMlsed rtaure of a pre1nant suburban woman holdln11 a 1aunar7 baaket, with pink curlers, gnarled hands and upawept i;la&&es, ls a sis– terly companion to the Mona LIM, 11nd Is cre1111ns the same kind or 1tartled admiration from the people who L'.'e her In the 11aller~. Tako-away food chatna, drUll•Storc counters, blllboarda, can, trucks, and lhop wlndowa bu1111n1 With food, clothes, and antiques, are the 1ubJect1 that attract the e)'l? or the new rtM• lists and thematically relate them to the pop arttat. Palnt1n11 directly rrom ph0Lo1rapna or ualns photoirraphlc an11les and techniques, these artists are teyln1 tu lntl!rpret the world reallstlcally with• out lnJect1n1 an7 emotional or sub• Jectlve overtones. As Tom Blackwell writes about Howdy, a compositionally complicated picture or a car an111ea Into the kerb of a drur store, Ila wtndow reflectlDII p&as1n11 tramc: "What lntereala me aa a palntl!r tH the look and ambience or the modem 1''Drld - a)'Dthetlc plutlc Junk anti all. Beln1 raised on TV, movtes and the media my work tllflects this sen• slblllty." Blackwell, alon11 wlthEatea and Oollll,S records the kind or tmaaea that a Sydneyalder tnowa only too well tr he drlvea alonr l-arra• matta Road. Whlh! we try to 11111ore thla facet or life, theae artlala rtnd In Its reallt7 beautiful and painterly tmaaes: lar11e refiectln1 11laaa windows which make tntereat1111 aurface planes, 11leam1n11 silvery chrome, coot deep lines and an1les and letterlns that act u a colorful chorua. Audre7 flack, one of the rew women artlsla In the exhibition, sees her 1'.lllow reallat (llllnten aa preaent• 1n11 a world dominated by male lma1ea auch as cars and motor cycles. Her lar1e stilt-life Oamblen' Cabinet, u cluttered aa a Dutch 17th century atlll•llfe, acla aa a count'l!ri.tance to the mechanical and architectural lmap-makln11 or Eatea and O01n11s. But In the end, tn aplte or all the photo11raphlc references which to tll'e caaual observer could loolr: aa If the artists are onl:, wlt1eaal7 reproduclr.11 photosrapha, the truth la that the New Reallsla are u selective In chooalnr the particular photoaraph from which to work aa Constable ever waa In decldlns from which an11le he WOUid paint 8allsbury Cathedral. The exhibition closes on Sunday, Auaust 14. t • ·, ' ,>,;~,/,;:~, ·~ ; , { WOMAN With Lou;idry Basket, by Duane Hanson Mono Lisa of the loundrc-mot?