Galloping through the galleries (Part3)

Wayde Owen, "Coming and Going" Harrison Galleries.

Image: Wayde Owen, "Memory & Growth", Oil on canvas 100 x 80cm

This young artist won the 2005 Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship, was a finalist in the Churchie Emerging Artist Award in 2006 and 2008, in the Metro Art Award in 2007, and has spent time as a guest of AGNSW at the Cite des Arts International in Paris. Aside from that, he's been very energetic, exhibiting in numerous high quality group exhibitions (Ray Hughes Gallery, Gold Coast City Art Gallery) and fathering a child, the subject of one of my favourite paintings in his new show ("Son of God").

The work is a change for Owen, painting now in oil colour instead of black and white acrylic or presenting an illustrative line -and the wonderful surprise is, he's turned out to be a beautiful colourist. His execution is painterly, the images strong and memorable (AND strange: I want to buy "Over the Under, (John Marsden)") and his prices more than reasonable for an artist who assuredly is dedicated and has a strong vision and equally strong future. He appears to have combined the personal story telling of his friend Alan Jones with the wackiness and line of Adam Cullen, in a personal , exciting style which explores the possibility of paint. His drawings are equally compelling - the mute effort at communication of his signature quails in "Memory drawing #1" is poignant and gets under your skin.

Go see the show, and, better, buy a painting.

Alan Jones "Crime and Punishment" Legge Gallery

Went to the opening of this really good show by my friend Alan, in the salubrious (not) suburb of Redfern ....(even better that the parking fairy was with me coz I parked virtually outside the gallery!) I haven't been to an opening at Legge before and was pleasantly surprised by the space and lighting (I seem to remember that it was smaller at my last visit??)

Anyway, I enjoyed Alan's work immensely, and admire that he is brave enough to think of a concept and go for it, adjusting the execution according to the needs of the subject rather than his "known" style. This show extends his previous exploration of the immediate family (memorable painting of his brother etc having first brought him to my attention, before meeting him some 5 years later) to that of his convict ancestor, Robert, who was tried and on death row for the murder of a local aborigine. He received a reprieve at the last minute, and we're glad he did (otherwise the gorgeous Alan wouldn't be here!)

The portraits of Robert, the aborigine (complete with scratches-he was apparently dragged through a fire and then killed) and sundry other main characters in this saga were sculpted in charicature, made of material and placed on backing boards, rather like hunting trophies, lined with representations of wallpaper (either available in the time of the incident or reminiscent of those in the family home Alan Grew up in).

A large, ripper of a painting shows Robert the convict flattened against a realistically depicted River scape, which refers to the land that he later settled at Windsor. I love the way Alan has let go with the paint - thick, luscious white strokes, probably placed in part by fingers, with dobs of blue representing convict attire, and exploding with grey lines of tubed paint in a halo around him. These lines carry through to the other paintings in the show, which are a departure for Alan, being rather geometric, executed in line only and, consequently, apparently abstract.

At first I couldn't see the connection to the Exhibition title and other work, until I stood back and realised the pattern made the words "I hate today" and "Death Tomorrow" (obviously projecting Robert's thoughts). These thoughts are also written in chalk on large blackboards, framed identically forming panels which include the Union Jack and a number of intriguingly repeated muscats (the murder weapon?). Again, it was great to see an artist so obviuosly enjoying paint, communicating well with his audience, and having heaps of fun (and I don't mean with the wine, which he rarely touches!)

If you haven't ventured to Redfern, take the trip - this show is really worth seeing. On until August 15