SQUARE ONE - Front Room, City Rd, Chippendale - 6th August-23rd August, 2003

Between 2000 and 2003 I did not get to show very much - just the one painting in the Blue Lotus show - and it was becoming slightly discouraging.... Then Elizabeth Pulie and Jay Balbi opened their space called Front Room and invited me to show.

I called the show 'Square One' as that described how I felt about my practice at the time, as well as describing the work that I had begun making - works about squares, returning to first principles... I exhibited a combination of oil paintings, gouaches and works made from paper.

'Blue Painting Prototype' oil on canvas, 51cm x 51cm, 2003

'49 Squared' woven paper on cardboard, 49 pieces, 210cm 210cm overall, 2003 

'1-12 Squares' woven paper on cardboard, 12 pieces, 24cm x 24cm each, 2003

UNEXHIBITED WORKS - An Occasional Series

I have just found the first 'proper' painting that I made at college.  It was an exercise where we had to make the stretcher, boil up the rabbit skin glue to size it, apply layers of gesso with sanding in between...we then had to bring in 3 objects from home to paint.  I brought my kettle, some driftwood and a striped towel - I like that I chose a strong graphic element - a precursor of things to come.  The painting measured 30cm x 40cm, acrylic on canvas, 1985.

UNEXHIBITED WORKS - An Occasional Series

The interesting thing about this blog (for me) is that I find works that I had forgotton about.

These paintings were actually an exercise that I set myself at College - which is why they were never shown - but I still really like them.  We had been set an assignment where we had to go into the AGNSW and copy a painting (I chose a landscape by Douglas Dundas - I think I liked all the blocky bits... Chianti Country)  They were painted during my second year, so it would have been 1986.

I then decided to make copies of some of my favourite paintings at the time.  They were to be roughly all the same size (about A4) regardless of the size of the original. They were all done in oil and all on pieces of masonite that I found somewhere.  Here are some of my favourites....

Cezanne - I really liked the puppies....

Morandi - what's not to like...

Gorky was one of my favourites...

Each painting was to be painted in the same manner - whether it was a Matisse or a de Kooning - there was to be no self-expression or loose brush-work, just meticulous copying. When I unwrapped the works recently I found a piece of paper with a plan for hanging the paintings in an irregular grouping.  This was a method of hanging that I have used a number of times since - I hadn't realised that it started with these paintings.

my collection of modern painting...

detail

the painting layout

BLUE LOTUS - Tin Sheds Gallery, Sydney - 2001

The 'Blue Lotus' group curated a show at the old Tin Sheds Gallery at Sydney University.  As it was Blue Lotus I decided to do an Orange painting.  I used all of the pattern stencils that I had been using over the previous years in one painting.

'Orange' oil on canvas, 120cm x 70cm, 2001

THE BLUE LOTUS SECTION - Joe's, 496 King St, Newtown - opening 28 June, 2000

'The Blue Lotus Section' was a group exhibition curated by Billy Gruner at a little gallery called Joe's that existed on King  Street for a while.  It included 25 artists.

I exhibited my small paintings and castings - I know it SEEMS like I showed them a lot, but it was really only the first time in Sydney - they had been shown in Brisbane and Bundaburg, then the castings by themselves appeared at Gallery 4A earlier in the year, but it was the first time that the whole thing had been shown in Sydney.

'Abstract Object' , oil on MDF, aluminium, 30 pieces, 15 x 15cm each 

UNTITLED ARRANGEMENTS - Gallery 4A, Level 3, 53-55 Liverpool St, Sydney - 15 March-8 April 2000

My first show in 2000 was at Gallery 4A (an initiative of the Asian Australian Artists Association inc).  I exhibited a combination of flower arrangements and castings.  The flower arrangements included a third incarnation of the 'flower tray' and 9 pieces consisting of layered flower petals and leaves set in polyester resin.  The resin pieces where arranged in one line opposite an arrangement of 15 small metal castings in a grid formation.

'Untitled Arrangement' dried flowers, sand, stainless steel, 70 x 55 x 70cm, 2000

'Untitled Arrangement' detail, 2000

'Untitled Arrangement' detail, 2000

'Hydrangea', 'Crepe Myrtle', 'Fern', flower petals, polyester resin, 15 x 15cm each, 2000

'Fern', 'Chrysanthemum', 'Carnation', flower petals, polyester resin, 15 x 15cm each, 2000

'Chrysanthemum 2', 'Statice', 'Rose', flower petals, polyester resin, 15 x 15cm each, 2000

'Hydrangea', 'Crepe Myrtle', 'Fern', 'Chrysanthemum', 'Carnation', 'Chrysanthemum 2', 'Statice', 'Rose', 'Protea' flower petals, polyester resin, 15 x 15cm each, 2000

'Untitled Castings 1-15' aluminium, 15 x 15cm each, 1996

'Untitled Casting' detail

ART AS ART: COLLECTIVE 99 - Newspace Gallery, Rozelle, opening 21st December - 1999

'Art as Art' was a show curated by Billy Gruner, being the fourth 'Collective 99' show.  It was to be the last exhibition in the space for 1999, therefore the last show before the year 2000.  Each artist was to create a work that referred to Ad Reinhardt's 'Black Paintings' from the 1960's.  I think I did a painting of black circles...maybe...as usual, I can't find it...  Below is the rationale for the exhibition.