Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

lIt Art Lives. Here in Sydney there is a real sense of being plugged into the big world, and the new issues. quite electrifying compared with, say, the colonial charms of Hobart. This is not to say that private obsessions, quietly worked on in a provincial situation, can't produce works of great excellence. Morris Unit; after alt was living in tile American-- prgyinces when ten years ago Ile produced "'.fit might be the greatest past-Pollock art. He was living in Washington, not New York, And it is arguable whether any- thing being made in Australia now, and made with a knowledgeable eye on New York, is in fact qualita- tively any better than the paintit rs made in Melbourne a hundred year:; ago by Eugene von Guerard, who was not keeping a knowledgeable eye on Paris, the world's art capital of the day. Yet, questions of excellence aside. newness and argument is exhilarat- ing_ for its own sake. For exameZe, Andre Emmerich. the New York dealer who provided most of the Morris Louis exhibi- tion now in Melbouri e, gave an exceptionally interesting lecture to the Contemporary Art Society in Sydney last week. For example, to inatkurate the Contemporary Art Society Gallery (which is the same premises as the Central Street Gallery of yester- year) there is a tendentious exhibi- tion called The Situation Now, chosen by Terry Smith. It contains works which oppose Andre Emmerich's taste, and it was ironic his lecture should have been delivered amongst them. art (11. daniel ji:tomj The exhibition is accompanied by all interesting catalogue, with a lot of words. Terry Sndth Interviewing the artists. But one of the best artists. Robert Hunter, has produced no words: perhaps wisely knowing that art is less corrupted on its own than when enmeshed in comment And one of the most significant young Sydney artists for a "Situa- tion now" exhibition. Ian Millie, refused to take part in tile exhibi- tion. And David Aspden, with Michael Johnson, a token color -painter among a group of conceptual artists, withdrew his painting. This lively in -fighting is as in- teresting a spectacle as the ex- hibition itself. Special plea sires are Aleksander Danko's self-psrtralts, Ian Burn - Mel Ranisder.'s six years of work, and had friends) e Hickey's Ninety White Walls, which are, in fact, blitc:: photos, on cards. in a card tile, and wrongly exhibited here, for they should be contemplat- ed while sitting at a card table. LYRICAL Gallery A's Eight 1,orn New York and the Bonython Gst'ery exhibi- tion of new plirehays for the Power Bequest both show us the opposition movement to conceptual art. Plugged into the It's . big world The movement has been called Lyrical Abstraction, or simply Beautiful Painting. It is about three years old and David Dia°, at Gallery A, has been hailed as one of its leading prac- litioners, though Alan Shields' sus- pended strips of painted canvas are the most original and witty of these exhibits. I don't think we've ever had an exhibition of up-to-the-minute art from New York, and it's a good blow in the fight between art -as - object and art -as-concept, The Americans at Gallery A are world-famous, yet the prices are $1000 to $4000. This is less than for mast Aus- tralian artists, and maybe only Sidney Nolan Is a world-famous Australia.). "TELEGRAPH" Sydney, N.S.W. If 1 Mr