Try Try Again! How do judges decide?

Didn't make it into the Paddington Art Prize. :((

But as these things often happen, I received a newsletter (Blackheath Art Society Aug-Oct 2011) in the mail in which Anthony Bond, Director of Curatorial Services at the Art Gallery of NEw South Wales, was interviewed by Christine Townend regarding his choices in Art Prizes (among other things). He states that for him, "it is important to consider the context". In other words, if judging in an area where the "prevailing themes are landscape or configuration, you need to take that into account (and) encourage the best possible practice in that area, rather than automatically giving the prize to the most adventurous.....What interests me is the degree of honesty and observation that an artist brings to the work."

He later goes on to say that " in every case, I'm looking for an honesty, a directness and keenness of observation. Often the works that seek to be more contemporary end up being over technical or just plain flashy: they simply don't ring true".

Well, I don't consider mine flashy or technical, but then again, Tony Bond wasn't the judge. Perhaps he ought to have been!

Image: Gabrielle Jones, "Tree Movement (Blackheath)" 122 x 122cm Oil on Canvas. Perhaps  should have entered this one?

So...what do you think makes a worthy prize winner? What considerations would you take into account if you were the judge? How do you pick up and go on after "Art  Prize Failure"?

Joanna Logue -King St Gallery

Image: Joanna Logue, Essington Field III, 2010; Oil on Linen 122cm x 183cm

I must own up to the fact that Joanna is one of my "Besties", but even so, this is a cracker of a landscape show. Her soulful work is quite well known on the art scene, having won a number of art prizes including the Country Energy and People's Choice Paddington Art prizes.

This show takes it one step further (or should I say, away) as many of the works are of landscapes viewed through the frosty windows which are part of living in the Oberon High Country, rather than directly immersed in the environment. And she has moved more towards abstraction - which obviously appeals to me - in her execution of rough, intuitive brush strokes which give, for a second time, on closer inspection (the first being the overall, dream like quality of her work viewed from afar).

Take a look - it's on till 26th June.

And then there was Jason...

Image: Jason Benjamin, Shelter" 2010, Oil on Linen, 120 x 120cm

Jason Benjamin at Michael Reid Gallery in Elizabeth Bay.

Landscape painting - the next version

Image: Peter Daverington, "Arcadia' 153 x 213cm Oil and Enamel on Canvas

Peter Daverington at Boutwell Draper Gallery in Redfern was the "stand out" visit on my quest to find interesting landscape painting (it's not an oxymoron to me! I do it, too)

Although emotionally extremely cool - well, what do you expect from an exhibition entitled "Cool Mountain" - the execution was of such quality it was gobsmacking. There is an institutional sized work (330cm x 440cm) on wood that I figure must have required a hydraulic lift to paint. Yet the precision of painted floating platforms, reflecting back into an invisible glass layer cutting through the picture plane at a 90degree angle, was amazing. Not a nervous line to be seen anywhere.

These works explore (according to the online information) "the cultural shift in perception of our natural landscape from the 19th century Romantic point of view to the resource hungry era of 21st century global economics". The artist uses digital manipulation of photographic material and renders the result in the old fashioned media of paint. The pictures incorporate architectural forms in an otherwise Romantic aesthetic, which is most often subsequently coated in an apparently resin-like finish reminiscent of a surfboard. That's quite a lot of fusing of genres and some heavy use of art history and strong conceptual ideas - all still pretty accessible to the slightly informed and interested viewer.

Whilst admiring the skill and conceptual elements of this exhibition, and easily able to envisage his work hung in the Museum of Contemporary Art let alone the 2011 Wynne Prize, I was still feeling unsatisfied in my quest for replenishment.

On the one hand, I feel like a dinosaur working in a painterly, intuitive mode, making very human mistakes and taking (often unproductive) risks; whilst on the other, I think this is what "ART" is about. The "human-ness" of the act, the investment of time and energy without knowing or controlling the outcome, and the willingness to find "the other" that cannot come from the logical application of media, the understanding between artist and viewer of the individual viewpoint that results - creativity without explanation or manifesto...

But I'm raving now. Go see it - let me know what you think. Is this the way of the future? Are expressionist painters dinosaurs??

New Studio New work

Have moved into my new studio last week. What a major task that is! Waiting for paintings to dry so I could move them meant I couldn't paint for at least a week, packing up and sorting the accretion of junk and visual stimulus I impulsively collect...but it's all been worth it.

It's amazing what being able to hear the cicadas in the evening will do for the soul, and walking past the gardenias and lemon verbena in the morning just sets the day up nicely.

I have been having fun and the work has kicked in in earnest...I have managed to complete (I think) two paintings (left) that have hung on my previous studio wall for months. Mind you, they are quite a departure from my usual work, but it's liberating to play and experiment, and I am quite happy with the, especially the simpler one.

The trouble is, I used acrylic in stead of enamel paint over oil paint in the brown painting, because I didn't read the label and put them with the wrong set...think anyone will notice? Know if I can get away with it??? I need to stretch these canvases, as I stapled them to the wall when the money wasn't flowing.... Might cause them to crack. Oh well, the beauty of painting is in the process, isn't it??

Spanish Residency

Image: Gabrielle Jones, Play of Light III, Oil on Canvas, 101cm x 101cm

I have just received a letter advising me I have been selected for a one month residency in Mojacar Spain at Valparaiso Foundation. I have yet to finalise when I am going, but since I cancelled a trip to Barcelona last year (due to inadequate funds) I am wrapped! I will probably go to London first and see all those galleries and Museums I have only read about, then see some more of Spain before getting down to working in this lovely environment. The interchange with other International artists is something I am also really looking forward to.

OH...the life of a painter!

How are your affirmations going???

Ten (well nine, actually) reasons to buy art in Anti Consumerism times

Image: Gabrielle Jones, Verge, 2008 Oil on Canvas 122x152cm

Some thoughts to get you past some objections your clients might have to buying your art - or just to motivate you to get out there!

1. During difficult economic times, art is more important than ever to bolster the human spirit. It makes you feel good in otherwise awful times, and repays you many times over. It fills an emotional gap and balances the stress and technology in our lives.

2. The support of art buyers, both financial and in the form of creative encouragement, has long lasting effects for our society by encouraging the creative spirit at its most vulnerable.

3. As an alternative to buying "stuff" which is obsolete quickly (think the latest computer games or phones) art has a long shelf life - at best, it can be a treasure for generations to come -and is thus, anti consumerist.

4. Buying art from local artists supports the livelihood of some of the lowest paid, but necessary workers in our society. Artists have a real face - you can see where your money goes and even meet the recipient.

5. If the times require thoughtful purchases, then art's your man (so to speak) - you are connected with the production, it's relevant to society beyond just brightening up a wall, and is not the victim of fashion (at it's best).

6. When the world around you is in a mess, people invest more deeply in their families. The home is the centre of that, and who wants a nest without art on the walls? Nurture the family with good art.

7. People who are employed are finding many things cheaper - travel, real estate, clothes etc. Those better off are willing to share their wealth with individuals they admire or choose to help, in those people and things they have had a personal interaction with. Spending their money more thoughtfully means they have a deeper commitment to others.

8. Australia is the "Lucky Country" - and never more so than now, with our relatively easy escape from the worst of the GFC. As a nation, we don't like "going without", or taking things too seriously, for long. Be there with great work when the tide changes, as it surely will. Use the time to create just for yourself and you may end up truly finding your life's work and its reason, and the quality will show and be rewarded

9. If you really want to live -spend the rest of your life -with a work of art, then you will buy it. Many people are haunted by the work they walked away from because they couldn't afford it right there and then, or hesitated to buy it for whatever reason. Make sure your clients don't have need to be haunted, by making sure the quality of your work produces a life long experience for your client.

10. Any other thoughts???? Post your comments here

Suey McEnally at Depot II Gallery, Danks St

"Lux" is the latest show by the artist's artist, Suey McEnally, an interestingly shy, "real-thing" artistic type who bangs away on paper stapled to her studio wall, with condoms filled with oil paint, dissolved in a double boiler using Sennelier Oil Pastels. The result is a series of remarkable, translucent landscapes which, in the words of another artist friend, Polly Joannou, are "quite magical". Somehow, they make themselves into a shimmer of marks, light and colour that dissolve into the heat of an Australian paddock or the frosty fronds of a pine tree on an icy morning.

Sharing in the Studio complex with Suey should send you for the ear phones - you know, the old fashioned ones which not only keep your music in, but shut the outside noises off), but the sound of Suey working actually creates an energy in the Balmain 1+2 complex that inspires other artists. And not only other artists - Suey has a nearly perfect sales record, which means she sells nearly every work she manages to whip into submission in her laborious, 5-7 layer process. For an artist who does not promote herself, she manages to have her work regularly on show -she has been invited to a number of prestigious charity events; shown in galleries interstate -often by invitation from other artists; as well as landing spots in top-of-the-line art prizes such as the Blake, Wynne, Sulman Refuses, Paddington and Dobell.

There is not one dud in this show, which caused a few arguments as to our "favourites" - you could pick any one, really. All prices are reasonable, too.

A special mention to the artist and gallery Director, Peter Francis Lawrence and his long term partner for having the strength to put their money where their mouths are and support artists they believe in, by developing the SMART (Sydney Metropolitan Art) Gallery initiative which selects a limited number of artists for exhibition at the Danks St Depot Galleries.

On till October 18th -Image: Suey McEnally, In the Light of the Resurretion, 2007 Oil Pastel 120 x 200cm