October art

A regular reminder of art I have seen…

Reko Rennie Rekospective, National Gallery of Victoria is a completely overwhelming exhibition in size, range of art from film to sculpture and paintings, colours that will blow your mind, and an uncompromising truth. Colonial settlers should find it uncomfortable.

If you’re in Naarm/Melbourne over the next couple of months go and see it. I’ll be going back.

Also at NGV, Bark Salon presents bark paintings in an academy salon hang which I found disconcerting and fascinating. Disconcerting because it’s such an obvious Western claiming, but fascinating because it was difficult to focus on one painting at a time – the hang had a very chattering effect. You were forced to stop and let the works wash over you, then take your time looking at ones that caught your eye. Another exhibition to revisit.

Finally, I’m lucky to work in a part of Naarm/Melbourne that has many small, private galleries so I often spent a restorative lunch break looking at art and discovering new artists. This week I went to see 2 new exhibitions that opened at the Australian Galleries – Danielle Creenaune’s Glimmers and August Carpenter’s hummadruz. Both monochromatic, both very textural but with quite different sensibilities.

No photos of these, I’m afraid – apart from the fact that I feel not right about taking photos in a private gallery, capturing monochromatic works is really difficult! They are spectacularly beautiful works and I encourage you to at least click through to the website, but as always the art is a thousand times better in person.

August Carpenter’s blacks are deep, warm and velvety – the works are strange and compelling, but inviting not alien. You want to keep looking, to touch and enter.

I found Danielle Creenaune’s works rather more accessible but just as intriguing in technique. I had not heard of mokulito before – a Japanese technique of using wood instead of stone to make lithographs. The wood grain adds texture and reminded me of John Wolseley’s and Dianne Fogwell’s work, although these are very different in subject matter. Very gestural, big strokes of black ink and like Carperter’s works, invite you to step into a different space and way of looking at the world.