even though i’ve been trying to spend less time out, i’ve seen a stack of top shows lately – it seems to be that time of the year in melbourne – where the galleries of the city are heaving with cool stuff.
anna schwarz – marco fusinato
marco fusinato is one of my favourite artists – he wrangles research into sound and behaviour of sound like it ain’t no thang. this work, double infinitives, is more about silence and resistance than any of his other works and while i was hoping for some dirty sound works, these paintings had such an amazing classical presence that i quickly forgot my initial disappointment.
images of rioters around the world – captured in stasis, without the din of civil disobedience as a soundtrack. perhaps it’s my über trad art education pushing its way to the surface, but it seemed that the poses fusinato chose for the figures harked back to classical poses of greek and roman statues/paintings – the ultimate stance as a citizen of the politic. there is this amazing one from the athens riots, with a huge brute of a man, shirtless, his face covered in a cloth and his jeans so low that his pubic hair is showing. his shoulders back and legs positioned so that he replicates a centaur-like figure, with denim and jeans instead of trotters and hooves. it was quite an arresting image. so to speak.
mr tulk – pocket guide
part of State of Design, this little show in the cabinet at Mr Tulks is all about the lovely pocket. in all its forms. it’s such a beautiful premise that I wish it was enlarged into a more accessible space, more conducive to object exhibition. curated by the marvelous miss muddle from milly sleeping, there were pockets and pouches of all sizes and a cute little add-on to all the other stuff that was going on at the time.
this is not a design market design market
in the new ‘oh-my-god-it’s-amazing’ venue: the factory, in latrobe st, this market was a really great vibe. a good combination of grit and finesse – excellently crafted pieces, eloquent ideas, thoughtful solutions and the occasional random plastic water fountain. just to keep everyone on their toes. although still pretty hip, it didn’t seem too full of the nouveau riche and there was still enough sense of wonderment and delight to keep this cynic feeling good about markets 🙂
sarah scout presents
as i’ve mentioned previously, i’m quite excited about the opening of this new gallery space in melbourne. it’s focused largely on a commercial outlet for works of a primarily conceptual nature and has some great artists involved. it opened on the 20th of july and has work by kate daw featuring at the moment. i’m eagerly awaiting the next run of shows and will be supporting it as best i can. you should get down there and check it out. it’s above von haus on crossley lane. opposite pellegrinis.
1000£ Bend – cloud 19
ooh – new space in town. i heard about this through the state of design murmurs that rumbled about in july and was dragged there by my friend linda. such a great space – every slacker’s dream place; cafe with cheap simple food in the front (couches, music, blackboards, etc). gallery space from a converted auto workshop out the back. gold star. i especially liked the scandanavian wallpaper and some of the hanging works (name? ermmmm…). anyways, looking forward to seeing more interesting stuff happening there. seems like a great space to have ‘happenings’ or performances, or something.
counihan gallery – surveying the field.
this is a group show, featuring some awesome contemporary artists from the area. my favourite works are by sam jinks, sam leech and owen leong. ok, so owen is a friend, but his white noise and milk ring videos from 2007 are amazing. i saw them at mori the first time around and was completely taken by them. so sensual, haunting and those alien eyes. oh. lord. and the sound work that accompanies the performances is spot on. glitch technoscape which highlights the lush corporeal. nice.