Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

"TELEGRAPH" Sydney, N.S.W 44 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, FEBRUARY 2, 1964 The Week in Art by Daniel Thomas Hot and unnecessary r. THE new season is already three weeks old at some Sydney galleries. Melbourne on the other tire support, then In a hand has not yet Inter- back to front process the rupted midsummer with a monochrome backgrounds single exhibition and one are painted on top of it, wiihes Sydney would do leaving the principal forms the same. windowed behind. Finally Until about March the some miracle plastic, just beach will seem much slightly milky, gives the more interesting than art. whole a glossy enamelled Moreover, to have to visit surface. At 12 to 85 town for the exhibitions guineas (except the ambi- offered so far would cause tious canecuttersi these more resentment than unpretending decorator's pleasure, so unnecessary pieces were no more ex - have they been, pensive than they Should Probably the best was beHe also showed etchings, the exhibition with which lithographs and linocuts, the Macquarie opened the evidently made in Spain, season. Leonas Urbanas is for unlike the gay paint- s young painter of Baltic ings they did recall the origin whose large loose dark experiences of Goya abstract forms floating In or Picasso. space are apparently sur- realist dream images of mental states on the fron- tier of the subconscious. The brown "Truth" had a moody conviction. and a greater pictorial unity than the more colorful ones; but the exhibition was a credit- able enough performance for a young artist. The Contemporary Chin- ese Painters at the Do- minion were a repeat showing of last year's oil paintings from Formosa- traditional calligraphy and landscape converting itself gracefully and naturally into abstract expression- Anton Murre showed more sandstone carvings Jaime del Pozo at Barry like those we saw before Stern's was a Spaniard Christmas plus a couple in who has spent a year or so white marble and a couple in Australia. We inspired in wood. All were heads hkn to one picture of and torsos, some recalling "Canecutters," but nearly ancient Greece, or Mexico all the others were pleas- or India. But these seem- antly decorative ed affectionate references whose technique is more to the great traditions Interesting than their for- rather than plagiarism. In mat invention. Vivid dyes mass Murre's was revealed perhaps are scumbled and as a personal, sensuous marbleised over the en- and gentle art. Prices 8 to 4 75 guineas. Currently at the Mac- quarie are lots of water- colors by the Brisbane painter Joy Roggenkamp at prices from 25 guineas to 50 guineas. The first Sydney one-man show fol- lows her Trustees' Water- color Prize in the Wynne Competition a year ago. The work is very plecsant boldly and winter, ,usly handled as watercol e usu- ally requires, but notable for the firm pictorial struc- ture less common In Eng- Barry Stern followed del Pozo with a two -man show of a painter and a sculp- tor. Pixie O'Harris had delicately ralnbowed en- amels in all sorts of styles for her dreams and fan- tasies, too uncertain pic- torially to cast the fairy spell the subjects . might contain as literature. Current shows lish watercolor than in this post-Cezanne manner. The color is delicate and the tone rather on the low side, perhaps dulled by some varnish (for these watercolors are framed without glass), or perhaps whitepaper is deliberately avoided, for there is one snow scene on white paper, while the un- sparkling ones are all land- scapes round Brisbane. And in my experience Bris- bane is exactly like this- overcast, moistly shimmer- ing, never sparkling nor sunny. Or maybe there Is no special landscape inter- pretation; maybe it's just easier to reach a tonal unity by killing the white. At the Dominion Galler- ies Mario Telese is holding his first one-man show. He is a Neapolitan who has lived in Australia since 1957. During his earlier years here he seems to have painted many nudes and female portraits. The pic- tures with recent dates are mostly abstracts with sandy colors and textures, a few being compartmented like a Peter Foldes. Some of these have Australians titles. However, it still seems more like Naples, with its frescoed churches, stuccoed walls and dusty provincial architecture, all with delicate chalky ochres and rose colors rather un- common in Australia. Pictures like "Elements" would make good abstract decoration, but one senses more involvement with such subjects as "Two Women," and on the whole this is another unnecessary exhibition by a talent that hasn't, yet settled what it wants to do. Three years ago the city art gallery at Mildura held, the largest exhibition of Australian sculpture ever collected. It hes been de- cided to make this a regu- lar triennial competition and, since it is the only huge and well -organised sculpture exhibition in the country, it deserves every support. Entries for this year's prize close at Mildura by March 1, for a large illus- trated catalogue will again be prepared like that for 1981, which remains the only comprehensive publi- cation in existence on Aus- tralian sculpture, Sculptures from New South Wales and Queens- land will be preselected by Mr. Hal Missingham, Director of the Art Gal- lery of New South Wales. in Sydney on March 18-18. Those selected will be given free transport to Madura, where they will be exhibited for four weeks from April 18. There will be prizes of f400 and £100 for large and small sculp- tures respectively, and a further £600 will be avail- able for purchase for the Mildura College. Anything completed be- fore April, 1981, is not eligible, and there is a limit of three works in each section. Particulars and entry forms can be obtained by writing to the Director. Art Gallery, Cureton Ave- nue, Mildura, Victoria.