PROP III - an ARTHOTLINE Project, Clovelly Headland, Sydney - 1995

This was my third ARTHOLINE event.  The work was a 7.5m length of semi-transparent fabric onto which I had stencilled the overlapping decorative imagery that I had been using in a number of my works.  The 'banner' was tied onto a white concrete 'geographical marker' that sits on the edge of the Clovelly headland.   This was a spot where I often walked the Zephyr dog...

PROP III, acrylic paint on polyester fabric, 750cm x 35cm, 1995

the Zephyr dog

ARTHOTLINE 0055 29334 at Performance Space - 199 Cleveland St, Redfern - July 5-22, 1995

The ARTHOTLINE group had an exhibition and Book Launch at the Performance Space in July 1995, where the artists that had exhibited in various non-art spaces around Sydney got to show together in one space.  I had called my previous ARTHOTLINE works 'PROP I, II and III', so this was 'PROP IV'.  It was a number of small gouaches on coloured paper - the designs were actually the centre of the stencil designs that I had used for my previous ARTHOTLINE Prop exhibition as well as in a number of other works in various media.  Each of my PROP works had been site specific, so these were made to fit within the archway space of the gallery.

SAME AGAIN - CBD Gallery, 62 Erskine St Sydney - 19 to 22 April 1995

'Same Again' was my second exhibition at CBD Gallery.  It carried on from my show of the previous year called  'Same Paintings'.  It consisted of 3 paintings - 'Red', 'Yellow' and 'Blue' - with each painting being constructed using the same stencils re-configured in different ways.  

Below is the flyer for the month's worth of shows at CBD as well as my individual flyer. 

'Same Painting - Red', oil on canvas, 167cm x 167cm, 1994

'Same Painting - Yellow', oil on canvas, 167cm x 167cm, 1994

'Same Painting - Blue', oil on canvas, 167cm x 167cm, 1995

FUNDRAISERS 1995

I found a couple of flyers for fundraisers that I was involved in at the time - one for CBD Gallery, and one for Pendulum -  great lists of artists!

FORCE OF HABIT - Pendulum, Redfern, November 12 to December 11, 1994

Pendulum was a wonderful space in a warehouse in Redfern run by Mishka Borowski.  I did a work in which I stencilled patterns directly onto the walls in gouache.  I used the 4 patterns that I had used in the 4 'Detail' paintings in 'Memos', using one pattern on each wall and a different colour for each pattern.  The name, 'Force of Habit' referred to the repetitous nature of the process.

It also got me my first mention in the paper - by Felicity Fenner in the SMH!  The review looked at exhibitions by Jackie Redgate, Robert Pulie, Christopher Dean, Helga Groves and myself, in galleries as diverse as Sherman, Selenium, Pendulum and Kunst - imagine anything like that appearing in the Herald today....

The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday, November 18, 1994, pge.14

NO ABSOLUTES - Helga Groves, Kate Mackay, Julie Savage - Tin Sheds Gallery, Sydney - 20 August to 10 September, 1994

Myself, Helga Groves and Julie Savage organised an exhibition at the Tin Sheds Gallery at Sydney University.  This was in the days when the Tin Sheds were still in a tin shed.  

I exhibited 35 of the small paintings that I had been calling 'Same Paintings'.  These works were all made from the same stencil patterns that were layered on top of each other, except that each work used a different colour combination.  I had originally meant these paintings to be all brightly colored - they were oil on canvas versions of the works on paper that I had exhibited under the roadway as part of the Art Hotline exhibitions.  The only trouble was that when I completed them I didn't like them - I found the colour combinations too discordant.  Here is an image of some of the works when they were initially finished...

The funny thing is that I really like them now and wish that I had been brave enough to leave them like that.  Instead I covered each canvas with an almost black/slightly metallic wash - which of course knocked them all back so that they worked perfectly together - what a cop out....

'Same Paintings' oil on canvas, 35cm x 35cm each, 1993

But the good thing that came from them was that removing the colour meant that the texture of the pieces was emphasized.  The use of oil paint with stencils  leaves raised edges on the patterning.  I realised that I could get these works cast in metal so that only the texture of the pattern created by the paint remains (although they also have an added random decorative element where as the poured metal cools it leaves burnt swirled patterns).  

'Same Again' cast aluminium, 35cm x 35cm, 1994

'Same Paintings' & 'Same Again' installation view, Tin Sheds Gallery, 1994

STATIC - Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne - 30 April to 29 May 1994

'Static' was an exhibition at the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art curated by Ben Curnow as part of Melbourne's 1994 'Next Wave Festival'.  It included Sandra Bridie, Vicente Butron, Sophie Coombs, Julian Dashper, Marco Fusinato, Stephen Little, Patrick Pound and myself.

'Static' brings together eight emerging artists who explore the relationship of art to the world, particularly through addressing issues of presentation and context' - Ben Curnow (Static Catalogue)

I exhibited the painted wooden brackets that I had originally placed under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  I placed them high up on the wall so that they appeared to be supporting the ceiling - one at each end of the exhibition space.

Here is my page from the exhibition catalogue.