Stupid As a Painter

Egg is apparently good for the skin. This is why wearing it on ones face is not always such a bad thing.

Last saturday night I walked into the local pub with mayonnaise smeared over my lips. It's a long story why, but even thought the locals couldn't meet my eye, my pores haven't felt this good in ages.

Look at previous post. Read comments. Then look at the URL above. slot is a nice fun sort of space i guess
Mayhem has had lots of smart slaps from bright boys that know better. Apparently mayhem ain't bright enough, witty enough or cool enough to be in with the latest jokes made by bright boys from the stable of Devonshire Street. Readers please note that attacks on university fine art departments kind of slide off this ducks back (I DON'T STUDY THERE). Also - contemporary art speak has a lot that is obfuscating, indulgent and sloppy - and always ripe for a Duchampian going over ........ but o but, it is also such a soft target, and how enalbing is it - to go round launching obscure clever attackes on obscure clever people????? (errr..... shit, that's what I do).. Besides no amount of irony changes the fact that the irises were ugly.

I'll cease my neurotic whining coz its boring even me. I just wondered how the hell they got my internal uni email address. I think I'll change my name to Currer Bell.

In the meantime - I'll get back to art. I wandered down to sherman last week - coz I was in the area. I've forgotten what I saw in the artbox. I liked the paper jewellry in the 2/3 box and John Tonkins installalatinos reminded me of a Freaky Loops party I went to about 9years ago...........

Anyway - The reason I walked in was to see Shane Cottons paintings....... I like New Zealanders generally and he managers to defy Goethe and many many others but painting black WELL. He had large painitngs of tattoo type images on various heads and other shapes - and all in bright pacific denoting acrylics. (bluey aquas). but he used black - really flat acrylic black well. Its a rare thing. the show is over so you can't see it anyay.

They've now got mel o'callaghan doing striking contemporary figuration with hilary mas doing striking contemporary minimalism and the opening is this week....thursday i think.

I also went and had a perve at Craig waddells show at Mary Place. It was early and they gallery was empty save for pru and tru and lots of paintings. My preview comments last week - were based on his previous show at Maunsell wicks which seemed to be a bit of a rushed job of chunky Ben quilty meets Frank aurbach mixture of oozing (I mean wet) heads and tractors. Lots of energy, lots of fumes and the best cheese I've ever eaten in the southern hemisphere.

I was thinking of writing some osrt of compariative piece on sculptural painting - based on a comparison between James Rogers (a sculptor painting - space) and Waddells very scultpural use of paint........

....Fortunately reality intervened on my intellectual posing plans. In short Craig has spent more time on this show and on these paintings. To be honest - I wawn't really crazy about the tractors either. I really like a couple - especially where they were more going into the landscape - but last year it seemed that everyone was doing shows on cars, trucks, trains and it was getting hard to look at each batch as something fresh and meaningful and special........

Grounded is a nice name for a body of work that appears to be lot more so. Craig has also gotten back to his strengths as a painter - in exploring the spatial qualities of a landscape and pushing them into paint. there's ot more scraping, reworking, folding and pausing. And his done delicious marks that hint at figuration - wihtout breaking up the ground too much. the catalogue essay - is worthy of a wound rebuke from the bright boy brigade but who am I to whinge. tathra mentioned "an undercurrent of depthless prussion blue". Its a scary scary pigment - but Craig's best works in this show actually have quite a bit of it swiming around - and mercifully not drowning out everything else. Maybe such big heavy marks need a big heavy pigment - coz his boats that have a lot more consolidation than his light pink landscapes. Anyway - its a nice show, thoughtful and interesting........

I wandered past NAS and rumours have it that the men of metal have found plastic.........

There is AN IMPORTNANT SHOW NOT TO BE MISSED at Space 3. Its their last fling - and true to form they are thinking of others....... and are having a fundraiser for the Reconciliation Unity Network this wednesday 24th Aug at 6.30pm. Don't let the prospect of Peter Garrett put you off.

ON a bitchier note - the Affordable Art Oxymoron starts this week. My flatmate got 2 for 1 tickets - so we'd only have to spend $9 each (after parking fees) to enter the halllowed halls of murdoch - and wander around a bunch of commmercial art stalls with a complimentary glass of goon!!!! Yippeee!!!!! Not.

The opening night costs $40.00 Yep forty golden coins to stand around in a room full of mdf with a glass of wine and listen to Ian thorpe. they even have 'entertainment'. It might be from 2Day fm. They call it "sydney's biggest night in art". yeah right. save your cash and save your liver for the lampray next week. It's free, non commercial and at artspace - so even if you hate the art there's some great pies nearby and you get water views. If you can hold your horses there's the agnes wales gala in march.

However the Forgable Art Fair is not affordeable and certainly not art. Each week in sydney you can buy interesting art for less thatn $300 - and lots and lots of stuff for under $3,000. (and yes, much of it may even end up in the Micahae Reid investment portfolio goodguide). If you are a culture vulture and cheapskate wine freak - you can even go and see most of it for free - and grab a free glass of goon or five. Sometimes you can even have a bit of cheese too. and most galleries are easier and more plesant to get to than some scary hangar dumped in tourist land. Avoid the AAF. buy a copy of art almanac - and have your own art fair every week.