HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE ME - 151 Regent Street Gallery, Sydney - 11 December-24 December 1996

151 had an exhibition in the run up to Christmas to try and sell some work - lots of artists, lots of work, everything under $100!  There was a terrific poster and I took in the paintings that I had shown under the freeway as part of Arthotline - I don't think I sold anything....

firstdraft TEN YEARS anniversary exhibition - First Draft Gallery, Sydney - 5 December-22 December 1996

1996 marked the 10th anniversay of the opening of First Draft Gallery.  The directors of the time  - Alex Gawronski, Philipa Veitch, Sarah Goffman, Elvis Richardson and Gianni Wise - organised an anniversary exhibition including as many past directors and exhibitors as they could muster.  Looking at the exhibition list I apparently put in 2 works 'Untitled x 2 1996' - that's the trouble with 'untitling' everything - you can never remember what they were!

RETURN TO SENDER, Rozelle Campus Gallery, SCA, Sydney - 13-17 November 1996

'Return to Sender' was a show of Postcard Works at the Campus Gallery at Sydney College of the Arts.  It was apparently the Inaugural Scalumni Exhibition....I don't remember what I put in....again....

FLORESSENCE - Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney - 24 October-16 November 1996

'Florrescence' was curated by Felicity Fenner.  It was shown at the Ivan Dougherty Gallery at the College of Fine Arts in Paddington in 1996, then travelled to the Newcastle Regional Gallery, Campbelltown City Gallery and Tamworth City Gallery in 1997.

"Images of flowers have over the centuries inspired artists and audience alike, their promise of immortality temporarily suspending everyday concerns imposed by the passing of time, their consideration offering a space for reflection across a range of contexts and continents.

Floressence covers the period in Australian art from the onset of modernist to the present."

Felicity Fenner, Floressence Catalogue, University of NSW, College of Fine Arts

The exhibition had work by 45 artistis including Roland Wakelin, Rupert Bunny, Max Dupain, Nora Heysen, Margaret Preston and Elizabeth Pulie - you have to be happy with that!

My contribution was 'Same Painting - Orange', which was the most 'flower-like' of my 'Same Paintings'.  The catalogue noted "...Kate Mackay is engaged in an ongoing series of floral designs, investing the modernist grid with decorative and metaphorical allusion."

'Same Painting - Orange' oil on canvas, 167cm x 167cm, 1996

OPEN - 151 Regent St Gallery, Chippendale - 6th July-21st July, 1996

'Open' was the opening exhibition at the 151 Regent St Gallery in Chippendale - that terrific building on the corner that keeps getting repainted but nobody seems to know what to do with....  It was near-derelict at the time when Rohan Stanley and friends took it on as studios and a gallery space.  

I see from the invitation that everybody was given a 1 foot square of canvas to work on - I didn't remember that - but I did find a very bad photo of the work that I put in.  It was a painting made from a circular stencil with a layer of yellow circles covered by red circles, covered by black circles - which is basically the paintings that I am making now...it has just taken me 15 years to catch up to them....

Not only did the work sell, but it also got a terrific write-up by Bruce James in the SMH - I was chuffed!...

'Open' oil on canvas, 30cm x 30cm, 1996

BY ARRANGEMENT - CBD Gallery, 62 Erskine St Sydney - 17-20 March, 1996

'By Arrangement'  was my solo show at CBD for 1996.  It was a sculptural piece consisting of arranged flower petals on a bed of sand.  This is a very old-fashioned technique that used to happen at country shows - one of the exhibits alongside the vegetables, pickles and decorated cakes - flowers, petals and leaves were arranged in patterns onto a tray of damp sand.  

I used the technique as a representation of the patterning that was happening within my paintings.  I had a stainless steel tray with legs made, and arranged petals and leaves into a repeated grid pattern.  I had to spray it with water every day to keep it alive...

'By Arrangement' flower petals, stainless steel, sand, 70cm x 70cm x 50cm, 1996

I had a postcard made of this work - I have heaps left - send me an email and you can have one....

LOOKING AT SEEING & DREAMING - Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney - 29 February-16 March, 1996

'Looking at Seeing & Dreaming' was an exhibition curated by Richard Dunn involving myself, Christopher Dean, Stephen Little and Nike Savvas.  It was also shown the following year at 'Ist Floor' in Melbourne.

I exhibited 3 of my 'Same Paintings' - Orange, Green and Purple, as well as a set of 12 cast paintings.

The catalogue with essay that Richard wrote is reproduced below. 

We also got a mention in the SMH!