Friday, September 20, 2013

SALON DES REALITES NOUVELLES 2013 - Parc Floral de Paris - September 2013

The Salon des Realites Nouvelles is an annual exhibition of international contemporary abstract art that began in Paris in 1946.  I was invited to exhibit for the first time in 2013.  I exhibited the 'Small Round Cube' .  Artists are also invited to send another small piece of work to hopefully sell and offset costs.
The exhibition was to be held while we were visiting Greece, and so I was able to attend the opening!

kate mackay, salon des realites nouvelles, paris, sculpture, contemporary, art, abstract, round, cube
Small Round Cube, 80cm x 80cm x 80cm, acrylic on cardboard with yarn, 2012

kate mackay, salon des realites nouvelles, paris, sculpture, contemporary, art, abstract, round, cube, painting, circle, square
Small Circle Square, 18cm x 10cm, oil on board, 2013

kate mackay, salon des realites nouvelles, paris, sculpture, contemporary, art, abstract, round, cube, painting, circle, square
Small works installation
Mick & Cube.....
.....Mick, myself & Cube.....
.....Cube, myself & Barbara Halnan....
Bogumils Strojna & her work.


Friday, September 13, 2013

COLOURS OF IMPERFECTION - Symi Gallery, Symi, Greece - September 2013

Symi is a small Greek island in the Dodecanese where tiers of Neo-Classical houses line the harbour - Mick's father migrated from there to Australia in the late 1930's.  The Symi Gallery is housed in a traditional building halfway up the Kalistrata steps.  It is run by artist Ian Haycox and shows international contemporary art - we met Ian on our first visit to the island and he suggested that I have a show when we returned.

I took over a collection of small paintings and a number of cubes to construct a box work.  CLICK HERE for a video of the exhibition.

kate mackay,  symi, ian haycox, painting, art, gallery
The Symi Gallery
kate mackay,  symi, ian haycox, painting, art, gallery, sculpture, non objective, geometric abstraction
'Circle Square - Yellow, Coloured, Red, Blue' , oil on canvas, 4 pieces, 35cm x 35cm each, 2012
kate mackay,  symi, ian haycox, painting, art, gallery, sculpture, non objective, geometric abstraction
'Circle Square - Expanded', oil on canvas, 4 pieces, 40cm x 40cm each, 2013
kate mackay,  symi, ian haycox, painting, art, gallery, sculpture, non objective, geometric abstraction
'Cube Tower', acrylic on cardboard with yarn, 190cm x 54cm x 18cm, 2013
kate mackay,  symi, ian haycox, painting, art, gallery, sculpture, non objective, geometric abstraction
'Circle Painting, Red', oil on canvas, 30cm x 30cm, 2011
kate mackay,  symi, ian haycox, painting, art, gallery, sculpture, non objective, geometric abstraction
'Hanging Cube', acrylic on cardboard with yarn, 38cm x 18cm x 18cm, 2013
kate mackay,  symi, ian haycox, painting, art, gallery, sculpture, non objective, geometric abstraction
'Circle Square, White', oil on canvas, 4 pieces, 60cm x 60cm, 2013
kate mackay,  symi, ian haycox, painting, art, gallery, sculpture, non objective, geometric abstraction
Installation View

Friday, August 2, 2013

COLLECTION 4 - Articulate Upstairs, 497 Parramatta Rd, Leichhardt, Sydney - August 2-August 18, 2013

"Collection 4 is a collection of artworks that are grouped together by the simple criteria that they are predominately blue in colour (or solely contain the colour blue) and were already existent when the artists were invited to participate. The equivalence in colour allows for an opportunity to view these individual artworks collectively." Adrian Clement

The show was collated by Adrian Clement and shown in the upstairs space of Articulate in Leichhardt. Adrian had collated 3 previous collections of Blue - CLICK HERE for more photos of the show on Adrian's website or HERE for the posting on the Articulate site.

I contributed a painting - 'Blue Circle' - from 2010.

kate mackay, blue circle, oil on canvas, articulate, adrian clement, collection, painting, art, geometric, non objective
'Blue Circle', oil on canvas, 101cm x 101cm, 2010
kate mackay, blue circle, oil on canvas, articulate, adrian clement, collection, painting, art, geometric, non objective

kate mackay, blue circle, oil on canvas, articulate, adrian clement, collection, painting, art, geometric, non objective

kate mackay, blue circle, oil on canvas, articulate, adrian clement, collection, painting, art, geometric, non objective


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

2013 ANNUAL GROUP SHOW - Factory 49, 49 Shepherd St, Marrickville - July 24-August 3, 2013

The Factory 49 Annual Group Show for 2013 had work by 49 artists - Andras Jaszberenyi, Bogumila Strojna, David Attwood, Amber Reid, Lila Alfiouni, Stephen Wickham, Susan Andrews, Beata Geyer, Clementine Barnes, Brenda Factor, Paul Raguenes, Emma Langridge, Alexandra Kennedy, Danielle Lescot, Michael Graeve, Susan Buret, Beth Kirkland, Louise Blyton, Kendal Heyes, Georgina Pollard, Daniel Argyle, Lynne Eastaway, Roland Orepuk, Chris Suttie, Peter De Lorenzo, Wendy Kelly, Caroline Phillips, Marlene Sarroff, Barbara Halnan, Nicole Ellis, Karryn Argus,Adrian Clement & Hayley Rose Hill, Sandra Curry, Jean Villeroux, Magda Cebokli, Richard Kean, Catherine Gaillard-Remontet, Rose Anne McGreevy, Elizabeth Johns, Sally Clarke, Pam Aitken, Alan Rose, Kate Deacock, Margaret Roberts, Amarie Bergman, Liz Shreeve , Chris Packer and myself.

CLICK HERE for the catalogue of the show and CLICK HERE for a video.

I exhibited a painting - 'Circle Square: Black'

'Circle Square: Black', oil on canvas, 40cm x 40cm, 2012
Installation view

Friday, June 28, 2013

ONLY JUST BEGUN - Factory 49, 49 Shepherd St, Marrickville - 29 May-8 June, 2013

'Only Just Begun' was a solo exhibition at Factory 49 of paintings and paper and cardboard works.  All of the works were derived from my paintings of squares and circles that I have been calling 'One & the Same'.  

The painting consisted of 16 panels on which the small square and circle motifs were enlarged and broken up over separate canvas; the paper work did the same thing, but was constructed from cut out coloured pieces of paper, and the cardboard works played with a range of possibilities using shape and colour.

Each work is constructed from a random layering of elements, with the panels being hung in a random (grid) arrangement - each hanging could see the pieces being arranged in a different order, yet the result would probably appear much the same...

From the catalogue -
On the surface it would seem that making paintings that only consist of circles and squares would be very limiting – seen one, you’ve seen them all.  But then you change the colours, change dimensions, play around with materials – the permutations within the boundaries are limitless – we’ve only just begun...

CLICK HERE for a copy of the Catalogue and CLICK HERE for a video of the exhibition.

'One & the Same: Expanded', oil on canvas, 16 panels, 35cm x 35cm each,  2012-13
'One & the Same: Expanded', detail
'One & the Same: Paper', cardboard, paper & pva, 64 pieces, 17cm x 17 cm each, 2012-13

'One & the Same: Cardboard Constructions', cardboard, acrylic paint & pva, 16 pieces, 35cm x 35cm each, 2011-13

'Only Just Begun', installation

Below are separate photos of the 17 'Cardboard Construction' (each 35cm x 35cm) - 16 were hung in a grid in the main space, with one hung on its own in the office project space.


 
















'Only Just Begun', Office Project Space Installation
'Flat Cube', cardboard, acrylic paint and yarn, 105cm x 105cm, 2013

'Flat Cube', detail
'One & the Sample: Sample 1', oil on board, 15cm x 15cm, 2013
'One & the Sample: Sample 2', oil on board, 15cm x 15cm, 2013

Thursday, June 27, 2013

FACTORY 49@STEPHEN McLAUGHAN GALLERY - Room 8, Level 16, 37 Swanston St, Melbourne - 22 May- 8 June, 2013

Stephen Wickham and Pam Aitken selected a group of artists from Sydney and Melbourne for a show at the Stephen McLaughlan Gallery in Melbourne.  The artists were Pam Aitken, Susan Andrews, Tim Bass, Tracey Coutts, Andrew Christofides, Kate T Deacock, Kendal Heyes, Kate Mackay, Liz Shreeve, Paul Snell and Stephen Wickham. 

I exhibited 3 'One & the Same' paintings - white, colour and black.  CLICK HERE for a video of the exhibition.

kate mackay, factory 49, stephen mclaughlan gallery, painting, geometric abstraction, non objective
'One & the Same: White, Colour, Black', oil on canvas, 45cm x 45cm each, 2013
kate mackay, factory 49, stephen mclaughlan gallery, painting, geometric abstraction, non objective
While in Melbourne I visited the Ian Potter Centre in Federation Square where they had an exhibition called 'Mix Tape 1980s'.  I started at art school in the middle of the 1980's and walking around this show was a revisiting of all the stuff that I was looking at during my time at Sydney College of the Arts.
(CLICK HERE for an ABC video of the show)
I then saw the Steig Persson and gasped! - I had completely forgotten it - I had completely forgotten that I had completely copied it, but I recognised it immediately and realised that it was absolutely crucial to the paintings that I began doing at the time.  Here is the Steig Persson and a detail of the central section that I 're-imagined'...

I copied the grid and the monochrome, and I used a stencil for the first time to produce repeated flower motifs on 2 paintings - one with white flowers on a black background and one with black flowers on a white background....thank you Mr Persson...

kate mackay, painting, 1988,

kate mackay, painting, 1988,
'Untitled: White & Black', oil and wax on canvas, 150cm x 90cm each, 1988