November 17, 2007
· Filed under australian, gallery, painting
just last week i had the fantastic opportunity to visit Pro Hart’s Gallery in Broken Hill and i can safely say it was an incredible experience.
I never knew just how many artistic hats that this fabulous man would wear! sometimes he had a Picasso style, other times he reminded me a little of Russel Drysdale and so much more… i stood in front of the dragonfly on the carpet and touched his famous painted Rolls Royce. It was so great! i would recommend it to anyone who has the chance to see it GO! An awesome example of Australian art.
June 3, 2007
· Filed under australian, impressionism, landscape, painting
During the mid-nineteenth century in
Australia, artists such as Glover and Von Guerard somewhat distorted the Australian landscape through their European perspective. This style was reminiscent of the lush, green, picturesque scenery of
Europe, and often misrepresented the stark, scrubby and earthy features of the Australian bush. For example, Glover would paint his trees Gum-Trees with curved wavy and things like gum-trees were painted with smooth wavy branches when in actual fact the branches are fairly strait and angular. However, we must take note that these painting were often sold on the European market, so it was necessary for the artwork to remain in keeping with the European style. It wasn’t until the coming of artists like Conder, McCubbin and Sutherland who introduced a far rougher, looser and earthier style of painting that the true essence of the Australian Bush was finally depicted. They painted quickly using colour to capture the light and heat of the landscape and their paintings were often lighter and/or brighter compared to the darker European ones.
April 24, 2007
· Filed under australian, exhibitions, mixed mediums
well, you may know that every year, the best works of art by victorian vce students are put into a massive exposition at the NGV. they call it ‘top arts’…. i saw it today (24.4.07) and it was incredible….
no seriously, the work that these kids of only years 11 and twelve can produce!? just amazing,
there was a range of mediums, textiles, paintings, photography, mixed media, a splash of film and pencil. some were photographic, some were abstract, some were surreal. but they were all incredible in their own way,
there was on in particular, by a boy at my school, who painted an older man who worked at the queen victoria market. from a distance i assumed that this massive image was an interesting photograph, capturing the inner person of ‘alex’ (the man). as i got closer however, i realised it was in fact a massive oil painting. just spectacular.
i did notice how much creativity and innovation had gone into these works. more so than the artists of today it seems, i could be wrong, maybe it’s just our new generation, maybe it’s just because it has come from a younger, fresher mind… who knows…
thats all i can really say….. it was a most interesting and enjoyable exhibition… go see it if you can….
over and out, =P
April 21, 2007
· Filed under australian, exhibitions, painting
today, (22.4.07) i saw the australian impressionists exhibition at NGV. just spectactular.
it focused on the late 1800′ds works of:
- Frederick McCubbin
- Charles Conder
- Arthur Streeton
- Tom Roberts
- and Jane Sutherland
there was a combination of landscapes and portraits, and a whole section devoted to the ‘9 by 5’s’ a large collection by the artists that were painted onto cigar box lids….. interesting story behined that…
there were many landscapes painted around heidleberg and port phillip bay, as the above artists set up camps around there solely for the purpose of painting their days away. while they were living at these camps, if they were short of canvas they would paint on the off-cuts cigar box lids, seeing as one of the artists’ freinds, Louis Abrahams, had a connection with a cigar box lid manufacturer. (that’s the interesting story by the way)
at this exhibition, i was luck enough to see many of australia’s finest iconic paintings, and even luckier, i’ll be going again on tuesday (24.4.07)! so i will report back anything new i find ASAP
cheers, till next time,
