Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Some Sydney Contemporary favourites

It seems that it took all year to get there, and on return, the Sydney Contemporary is still reverberating around in my head!

Promised to share some of my favourites from the show and here are a few.

This installation piece by Maio Motoko called  Moment by Moment Heartbeat by Heartbeat was magnificent.  Using folding screens to explore light, time and space she created many sculptures.  There were I think 4 or 5 transformations and it was wonderful to re-visit and realise how different the experience was after the re-arranging and re-creation of the work.



I was mesmerised and intrigued by the layers of detail...




Another favourite I re-visited several times was another installation piece  called 1024 full stops, by Shoofly Derz.  Two panels of copper leaned against wall, pierced with 1024 holes "full stops"; occasionally a feather...




On first viewing of this work by Tony Albert, I read it quickly from a distance and delighted in it - it seemed to reflect my preferences so well.  A second visit where I could linger and go into the detail more made me take a breath in.  Clearly my nice middle class white introverted female response was one; but the reality of the story was so much more coming form an Indigenous artist who utilises ephemera which highlights the portrayal of Aboriginal people in Australian memorabilia.  I spent a long time looking at his other works.  Stunning. Brilliant. Insightful and incisory.


 A final favourite for today - simple, quiet and remarkably familiar was this piece on handmade paper. Of Itself (More Envelopes) by Marita Hewitt. Watercolour painting of envelopes, on paper which I assume had been made by the envelopes represented on it. I may be wrong, but that made most sense to me!

I love its quiet beauty; its domestic nature and its obvious tactile appeal. Ahhhhh. Paper.




4 comments:

  1. I'm stunned by the scale of Moment by Moment ...

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    1. It was magnificent Liz - took up a lot of space but was intimate at the same time. And. So. Much. Detail. So many small and tiny pieces of fabric and paper to create each panel - mind bogglingly beautiful.

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  2. Maio Motoko's installation was such a quiet peaceful space to contemplate in the huge visual overload of the Sydney Art Fair experience, you got some great photos!!

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    1. I agree Mo - I visited it many times and each time it was a quiet oasis in amongst the glamour and the clamour. And each time it was different - I just loved that.

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