Sarah Young

I saw a book about this printmaker while in Melbourne last year and since then notice cards that illustrate her prints... they always attract me.  Sarah Young is a British printmaker and these are woodblock prints.  Her imagery is often from stories-whether dreams, myths or fairy tales.  I love her prints of gardens which may also contain a fox or other creature.  I also really like the movement in the imagery, she really captures that.
The colour in some of the prints is Chine colle' which is thin coloured paper which is pasted on to the main paper before printing.
These images are so charming.  Have a look on the net for more of her artwork.

 

Abraham Palatnik

I love it when I see something which I have never seen before but have a hunch that it is a good thing, buy it, and sure enough, find out it is good.
Yesterday, I went to the Antique and Collectable fair and saw this owl.  The seller said she bought it in a box of mid century Scandinavian things.  She felt it was new because it is made of what she called acrylic.  There was a sticker on the bottom to say made in Brazil.  Those were the clues.




owl drawing on statistic sheet

As well as the owl there were 2 toucan type birds that another buyer had his hands on.  I loved the owl though, particularly how it's eyes could blink and the feathers ruffle as you move your eyes around it.
When I got home I did some research and found it was made by Abraham Palatnik , a Brazilian artist who made a whole series of creatures in the 1960s.  He was born in 1928 and was a successful artist, even showing work in the Venice Biennale .  He was known for his kinechromatic art.  The animals are made out of Lucite.
I did a couple of drawings based on the owl as is my way of investigating something.






Owl drawing on a map with cut outs

This is my owl and the others are also by Abraham Palatnik.



,

And another one

Earlwood Hill, Baywood Ave, ink on paper

Her is another drawing, similar but not quite the same as the others.

Urban landscape-that view I love

Up the Hill to Earlwood-Acrylic on canvas

This painting was done years and years ago by me.  It's a view that I used to drive nearly every day when taking my daughter to school.  I always loved the view although it was hard to concentrate on looking at it as I had to really press on the accelerator in order to maintain speed climbing up the hill.  This week I am revisiting this view using a pen.  I found some old photos which I used for reference.

Up the hill to Earlwood-Pen

Up the Hill to Earlwood #2-Pen

Joseph Beuys

Joseph Beuys

At the White Rabbit gallery there are a couple of paintings that are about Joseph Beuys coyote performance in New York years ago.  This reminded me of a seeing Beuys work in the 1980s at the National Gallery in Canberra.  I was fascinated at that time when I read the story behind the art.  Joseph Beuys is a German artist who while a member of a combat bomber in WW2 was shot down.  He told a story about being catapulted through the plane window and was found days later by nomadic Tartars.  They rubbed him in fat and wrapped him in felt in order to warm him up and treat his exposure and injuries.  That was the art work was about- fat, felt, earth and blood.

I found out recently that that didn't happen at all.  It was just a story...eyewitnesses say that Beuys was brought to a military hospital where he stayed for 3 weeks.  He had been recovered by a German search commando and there were no Tartars in the village at that time.

 

Does it matter that the event didn't happen?

I thinks that it's kind of more interesting that it didn't occur and all that art work resulted.

 

 

String Theory

 

 

 

I love these sculptures by the Tjanpi Desert weavers in the exhibition entitled "String Theory". They are human size or a little smaller and look very dramatic in the dark room where they are spot lit.  They are made out of a variety of materials including feathers, wire and string.

  This show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney brings together over 30 Aboriginal artists and artist groups from across Australia. There are paintings, prints, baskets, dolls, installations, fishing nets, fish traps, photography and more all in the theme of string.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 One of the great things about going to the Museum of Contemporary Art is the location, right at the heart of the city, at Circular Quay.  There is a café on the top floor with magnificent views.  Here are a couple of snaps taken today post BLT sandwich.

Continuation of little bowl drawings

Gouache, ink and collage

  More work using the bowl as inspiration

Collage, gouache and ink