Wieneke Archive Book 4d : Artists - Australian & Other Presscuttings

7 Arts Australian Where Lawson ends, Cooney begins run MA111 MIS HENRYII Lawson has been described as "The Laureate Of Mateship" and in- deed this is how many still regard him. But while his bush ballads were popular in his life- time, it is his short stories that have sur- vived into ours. In Between The Lines (Hole In The Wall Theatre, Perth) author Marcus Cooney has used Lawsan's correspondence as a starting point for his play and says: ''The supreme compliment for me will be if nobody can recognise where Lawson ends and Cooney begins. There was no way to tackle the problem if I wanted to stay true to the man." It appears to me that Mr Cooney has succeeded brilliantly in his ambi- tion. For in this play Henry Lawson comes across as a human being, not a legend. He was a sad and lonely man whose desperate shyness apparently lay at the root of his disastrous In- ability to formulate rela- tions'hips with others. A combination of his Scandinavian h er itage (his family name was Larsen). his hard life on his father's farm, his scanty education, his parents' separation, would seem to provide the clas- sic background for his tortured later life: indeed they resulted in a broken marriage and alcoholism but produced a prodigious literary talent and a sar- donic realism that has yet to be equalled in Australian writing. His knowledge and love of Dickens' writing may have given him an eye for the eccentricity he found in the Australian bush and also have prompted him to embark upon the series of read- ings in his later years in emulation of his literary idol. And this is where Mar- cus Cooney shows us Henry Lawson: baring 'himself in the latter years of his life in the RSL hall of some Aus- tralian country town. Alexander Hay has come to Perth to present this one-man show which is eminently suited to the intimacy of the Hole 'In The Wall Theatre, and he obviously has not only sympathy but also em- pathy for Lawson. His presentation of the man has great warmth and humor and is backed by his marvellous stage presence and magnificent voice Law- QINCE no single gallery is "'capable of exhibiting all of ' r Kern paintings, ROGER Kemp ... no resting on he; laurel'. "OH, dear," says the artist, "I've lost my exhibition. On opening night everyone was running around like rabbits in this maze looking for the silly thing ..." Alice and the white rabbit chase a few more escalators, run past the Nolans and Blackmans, follow atten- dants' pointed fingers - and arrive at the National Gallery of Victoria's Roger Kemp exhibition. "Phew." says Roger Kemp, peering nt the works on the wall, as the white rabbit had peered at his watch. "we're here. But it'll probably take me a few minutes to get myself into gear." At 70 and one of Australia's great- est abstract artists, Roger Kemp says that age doesn't matter a bit. "It's getting on with the Job of doing things that matters," But giving interviews "and being made a fuss of" is very wearing on a person, he says. The "fuss" is being made because he Is probably Austra- lia's first artist to have five gallery exhibitions on show simultaneously. They are to celebrate his 70th birthday, give the public a retrospec- tive exhibition of 50 years' work and to launch a national tour of Kemp art, which is expected to travel Aus- tralia for the next 18 months at least. This tribute to the great artist, who was not given true national recognition until he was 80, has been organised by the head of Victoria's Monash University, Professor Patrick McCaughey, an art critic, historian and writer. One hundred Kemp paintings, stained glass -like works, thickly painted geometries, predominantly in white, blue and red acrylic, are being seen' this month by crowds at Picture: Ernie McLintock Uncrossed lines MELBOURNE is bursting out all over with Roger Kemp 70th birthday exhibitions. Fiona Whitlock interviews the artist and Graeme Sturgeon re- views his work (below), various galleries in Melbourne. On September 30, the paintings will travel to the Bernina Art Gal- lery, Northern Victoria and from there, throughout Australia. Winner of nine awards, amonv them the 1988 Blake Prize for Religious Art and an OBE in 1978, Roger Kemp shuffles his desert boots on the National Gallery floor and makes three starts at explaining what the Kemp celebration means to him. "I think it's a great tribute, um, sort of . . . um, I don't really know what I can talk about. It involves me, um . yes, you could say it's a great thrill, all right?" Later, a little more relaxed, he says: "I am naturally very moved and very honored by all this." He is not, he says, "good at all this per- sonal aspect thing." But when a Kemp enthusiast comes up to him the gallc.y, he opens up delight '' and talks to her about his art. "Yes, my paint- ings constantly move. When I look at one of them, it will change all the time. "I experience something when I paint and it's there, even when the experience has gone. Rather like going on a holiday, coming back and reflecting it." He's not keen on being quoted. "I read this piece which said Roger Kemp was walking around in baggy trousers. I looked down at my baggy)' you're not writing that, too. are you?" trousers and thought, 'they're not He'd really rather people didn't ask him about his painting, too, but Prefers it to come from a parson,' appreciation. But patiently he gives an outline on what was going on in which is motivated by a big order of his head as he painted: cosmic sort of thing. Ali "I am following out a big idea things, a the crosses in my paintings are ae- tually like figures choreography startins the music. They Ws .1 Growing a little idea, he continues: phonic order, where move without moth instance, it you take taonmdebil)unerplo,. m ving tor waTyhse acrboissgespoiinnt h aren't crosses at all, "It's a principle. i the creative sort ( atom revolving aeon force, which explode get her agaln." Despite 50 yeitr: every day, Kemp be no resting on hi, I miss the beat or have to start 1111 continuous evolvemf a big structural mot. The paintings do other than labels lil b' pPaicratssaondanpdarcteilleocfuiti Asked if he took laughs. Ais.nlgl 7.1 a wkndo'wth The deputy direct al Gallery, Kennel) and asks: "How Roger?" "I'm not says, moving anel had to talk on the a half hours this u, and I've been talk): I take the hint Roger Kemp is ,r` around in his de looking at his pal, Curiouser and cur orth the foot-slognOp paintings recently purchased for the Australian National Gallery, Can- line freshihe paintings nagnsd odfelltebaet e lo post-gary Ube carileat Mri(C. dated OM,/ ap. powerful sense tre.itnirtit became Increasingly fritg_ .; Mill 1,1111,4 th, structure, even t erately to ignore herra. decade (College of the Arts) Kenties