Nic Brown, Forestal

Nic Brown, Forestal

Project launch (BYO picnic): 2pm Sunday 24 February 2013

Artist talk: 2pm Saturday 16 March 2013


Venue: Adelaide Botanic Garden, Mallee Section

(beneath Moreton Bay Fig, near East Gate)

The Adelaide Botanic Garden may seem like a strange space to hold an exhibition, but for Nic Brown’s exhibition Forestal, it’s perfect. This isn’t the first time she has exhibited within the gardens, which is reflected in the ease that her work fits in with its surrounds. Unlike in a gallery space, the gardens allow an open conversation between the work and its setting. Nic’s painting and installation work echo and respond to the Moreton bay fig they sit beneath, the trees that surround and the activities that occur within the gated forest.

Nic’s ghostly panoramas speak about the history of the Australian landscape; familiar and dream like, and a little bit uneasy. They are vistas within which one could become lost. The domestic and the wild come together within the installation, as logs are stacked delicately and with precision underneath an Australian pine table. She prompts conversations between trees (and logs, and wooden tables). Some of the trees in the botanic gardens are so old, and have so many stories and memories about our history. Forestal brings all these stories into the present; a history in flux, a dream like landscape.

Images: Nic Brown, Forestal, 2013, courtesy of the artist
Text: Copyright Adele Sliuzas, originally published in the thousands
http://thethousands.com.au/adelaide/look/nic-brown-forestal  

Tony Garifalakis, Angels of the Bottomless Pit

Tony Garifalakis, Angels of the Bottomless Pit

Hugo Michel Gallery

14^th February- 6^th March

Opening, 6pm 14^th February

Looking at the shadowy areas of contemporary culture, Melbourne based artist Tony Garifalakis sees the political as the cultural. He takes on a specific visual language to describe and subvert systems of power and authority. His exhibition, Angels of the Bottomless Pit, questions our ingrained social anxieties, in particular discussing how we understand who is the good guy and who is the bad guy in contemporary culture. Garifalakis investigates the concept of the anti-christ, not as a solitary figure, but as a multiple. The exhibition presents not one but many anti-christs, in figures such as Barack Obama, the Queen and the Pope. These figures sit equally amongst those who are more often seen as the enemy, Yasser Arafat, Osama Bin Laden and Silvio Berlusconi.

Garifalakis’ portraits are subverted; an inverted crucifix slices through the centre of each image in inverted colour. The political, cultural and religious leaders are accused as anti-christ’s, following the practice of extremists like Fred Phelps. The aesthetic of the portraits threatens violence and collapse, where does the line between good and evil exist? Garifalakis uses Christian symbolism, and the technique of inverting the colours to question the fixity of our public understanding of the figures, and of good and evil, power, and extremism.

 Image: Tony Garifalakis, Anti Christs (detail), 2013 courtesy of the artist and Hugo Michell Gallery

TEXT: Copyright Adele Sliuzas, originally published on the thousands 

The Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition 2013

The Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition 2013

Drill Hall, Torrens Parade Ground, Victoria Drive

6pm Thursday 14^th Feb

The Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition has always, in my memory, been held in the Drill Hall. It is about as far away from a ‘white cube’ as you can get, though the high ceilings and cavernous space are reminiscent of industrial-building-turned-gallery (see TATE Modern). It is such a big space, because it is such a big exhibition; there are 35 artists making their debut.

The difference between institutional graduate exhibitions and the Helpmann Academy, is that the Helpmann’s exhibition is curated. The artists have been chosen from amongst 2012’s graduating students. These artists have been identified as the best, the newest, the freshest, and the most interesting. Maybe this idea of harvesting new young talent is a bit naff, but if there is a place for it, it is within this framework. What The Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition offers to the public, beyond this idea of ‘the newest and the best’, is an opportunity to see the parallels and diversity between the practices of students from the Helpmann’s different partner institutions. The variety of techniques and talents presented by the exhibiting artists is always exciting. 

Carly Snoswell and Ebony Heidenreich were both shown in the SASA gallery Project space in 2012, co curated by myself, Ursula Halpin and Madeline Reece. You can read about the exhibition and their work on Ursula's website. 

Images: top, Hailey Lane.com, Your Light Burns Clear, 2012, Giclee print, edition of 5 + ap

Middle, Carly Snoswell, Fasten, Cluster, Wrap, Scatter, 2012, plastic loop ties, dimensions variable

Bottom,  Ebony Heidenreich, Stay Connected‘ 2012, porcelain and earthenware,

TEXT: Copyright Adele Sliuzas, originally published on the thousands