Picasso in Sydney

- To wielki pokaz prac Picassa w Australii, który nigdy już nie powtórzy się – mówi Edmund Capon dyrektor Art Gallery of New South Wales. Od dziś do 25 marca przyszłego roku w tej  narodowej galerii na The Domain  czynna jest wystawa 150 bezcennych obrazów, rysunków, instalacji  i rzeźb Pablo Picasso pochodzących z  paryskiego Narodowego Muzeum Picassa.

Wystawa została zainaugurowana wczoraj na spotkaniu z mediami przez Edmunda Capona, dyrektora paryskiego muzeum i kuratora sydnejskiej wystawy, Annę Balassari  oraz  przedstawiciela głównego sponsora -  producenta samochodów Mazda.  

Prace zostały umieszczone w dziesięciu salach, pogrupowane wg  tematów wpisanych w siedem dekad  twórczości ikony arystycznej XX wieku: Hiszpania i Paryż, Oceania i Afryka, kubizm, collage i konstrukcjonizm, powrót do klasycyzmu, surealizm, miłość i wojna, II wojna światowa i wojna koreańska, radość życia oraz ostatnia dekada  do 1972 roku.

Przez najbliższe miesiące Australijczycy nie będą mieli nic cenniejszego do oglądania, bo jak mówił Picasso: „ Kiedy maluję czuję jakby wszyscy artysci z przeszłości stali za moimi plecami”.

Picasso – Masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso, Paris

Art Gallery of New South Wales

12 Nov 2011 – 25 Mar 2012

 

Love Lace - Powerhouse Museum

Jan Baker-Finch dance and Renata Buziak biochromes





Renata Buziak and Jan Baker-Finch



Archibald Prize 2011

Ben Quilty's portrait of Margaret Olley wins this year's Archibald Prize.

When Ben Quilty first asked legendary painter Margaret Olley to sit for him she said no. ‘Her lack of ego is so appealing,’ says Quilty. ‘Margaret didn’t understand why anyone would want to see a portrait of her.’

Quilty met Olley when she was a guest judge for the 2002 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, which he won. ‘She’s been a friend and great supporter of my work ever since,’ he says.

Born in Lismore in 1923, Olley was awarded the Order of Australia in 1991 for service as an artist and to the promotion of art. In 1996, she was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia.

‘She’s such an inspiration,’ says Quilty. ‘She was a feminist ahead of her time. She’s vigorously passionate about social and political issues, as well as art, and is enormously compassionate. Margaret has such an infectious attitude to both life and death. Recently, I was amazed at how many new works she had on the go. She said to me, “I’m like an old tree dying and setting forth flowers as fast as it can, while it still can.” I thought that was such a powerful metaphor.’

As for the bright palette: ‘You just need to walk into her home, which is also her studio, to see that you couldn’t use anything but striking colour. It’s full of translucent works-in-progress, beautiful drawings, sculptures and flowers, so I wanted the portrait to reflect that.’

Most of Quilty’s work to date has been about masculinity but he says, ‘Margaret has had such a powerful bearing on my career. She has asked me constantly for years to stop painting ugly skulls and paint something beautiful.’ Quilty has just finished a series of paintings of his wife.

This year, the 90th year of Archibald, there were 798 entries for Archibald, 810 for the Wynne and 633 entries for the Sulman. The Archibald and Wynne prizes are judged by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The judge for the Sulman Prize was Richard Bell.

The Archibald winner receives $50,000, the Wynne Prize winner receives $25,000 for landscape painting or figure sculpture, the Sulman Prize winner receives $20,000 for subject/genre painting and/or mural work and the Watercolour Prize (part of the Wynne Prize) winner receives $2,000.

On view
16 Apr – 26 Jun 2011
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery Road, The Domain, Sydney

Chinese warriors in Sydney

One of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, the incredible life-size terracotta warriors have captivated audiences around the world. This amazing discovery stunned the world and exploration continues to this day.

The First Emperor: China's entombed warriors
is curated by the Gallery's director, Edmund Capon.

Discovered by villagers in 1974, this vast underground army was created to protect the tomb of the first Emperor of China, Qin Shihuang (259–210 BCE) in readiness for the afterlife.

New exhibition of Art Gallery of NSW -The First Emperor: China’s entombed warriors brings to Australia over 120 rare objects, featuring ten complete terracotta warrior figures including foot soldiers, generals, kneeling bowmen and horses.

Australia was the first country outside China to see these figures in the exhibition in Sydney in early 1983. Now is second opportunity to come face to face with the guardianwarriors of China's first emperor.

Exhibition in Art Gallery of NSW:  2 Dec - 13 Mar 2011

The 2010 Dobell Prize for Drawing

It was announced today at the Art Gallery of New South Wales that Suzanne Archer is the winner of the 2010 Dobell Prize for Drawing for her work Derangement.

Suzanne Archer was awarded $25,000 for winning Australia’s most important prize for drawing. This year there were 635 entries, of which 45 are included in the exhibition.

The subject of the winning drawing is a self-portrait of the artist in her studio. At either side of the central form of her face are some of the objects she has gathered there – a desiccated kangaroo and a sculpture of a horse’s head the artist made from wood found in the nearby bush. It is part of a larger body of work that has arisen from drawings Archer made of animals at the Veterinary Science laboratories at Sydney University in 2004, as well as of skulls and bones collected near her bush studio, and from a developing awareness, arising out of her relationship with these animal remains, of her own mortality.

Suzanne Archer is a senior painter, sculptor, printmaker and teacher who has lived and worked at Wedderburn in the south-west Sydney region, since the late 1980s. Born in 1945 in Surrey, England, she studied at Sutton School of Art prior to migrating to Australia in 1965. She has exhibited widely since the mid 60s, was granted residencies in New York and Paris in 1978-79 and has won numerous awards including a fellowship from the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council in 1993 and the Wynne Prize in 1994. She has been a Dobell Prize finalist three times (in 2000, 2002 and 2009).

The Dobell Prize for Drawing, initiated by the Trustees of the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation, is an acquisitive prize, first awarded in 1993.

This year's judge was Alun Leach-Jones. Alun is a Sydney painter, draughtsman, sculptor and printmaker.

Alun Leach-Jones comments: the work is expressive, darkly poetic and full of drama. There is an ambiguous narrative, alive and sinister images that are depictive, symbolic and metaphoric. The subject of drawing is drawing itself. Suzanne Archer’s winning work clearly shows her awareness of this profound aspect of the art of drawing - regardless of its apparent subject matter.

Picassos and Chinesse warriors coming to Sydney

Yesterday in Art Gallery of NSW

Premier of NSW, Kristina Keneally and Arts Minister Virginia Judge announced yesterday during a media call at Art Gallery of NSW, inaugural the Sydney International Art Series, which will bring major exhibitions from around the world to Sydney, including China's famous Terracotta Warriors and a collection of Picasso paintings, as part of a new annual event.

Ten of the life-size warriors and horses, buried more than 2,000 years ago near the city of Xian in northern China, will be on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from December to March.

The exhibition will be the first in the Sydney International Art Series, launched today by Events New South Wales, the Art Gallery of NSW and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Also on display at the gallery will be the largest-ever collection of Picassos to come to Australia.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, meanwhile, will host a retrospective of work by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz.



Premier Kristina Keneally says the new event will draw thousands of tourists to Sydney bringing $20 million a year for the NSW economy.

Art Gallery of NSW director Edmund Capon says the Picasso exhibition will likely be the biggest show the gallery has ever hosted. 



Edmund Capon,
 Director of Art Gallery NSW

 

Premier Kristina Keneally
 during announcement

 















Art & About Sydney *2

Dressed up  and flamboyantly decorated some of Sydney's iconic statues are putting on their finery for Art & About Festival.

Prince Albert The Good

Captain Cook

Queen Victoria

Art & About Sydney

Art & About Sydney is Australa's foremost outdoor public art festival, bringing contemporary art to city streets, laneways and public spaces. It is vibrant celebration of our city's creative spirit.

This year, the event is focusing on Sydney itself, with much of the work explorin and questioning what it means to live in this exiting and eclectic city.

One of interesting events of this festival is photographic exibition in Hyde Park. The park provides stunning backdrop for large-scale images reflecting Sydney's unique character and diversity. The exibition shows us the many sides of the city through the eyes of 22 most exciting photographers.

Dean Sewell, Sydney Dust Storm

James Hill, The Five Ways Theatre

Tom Williams, The Osman Family - Southerly Storm Approaching Brighton Beach

Paris Spellson, Bondi Beach Local

20.Kaldor Public Art Project

Od ponad 40 lat Kaldor Public Art Projects tworzą zapierające dech w piersiach artystyczne prezentacje w otwartych przestrzeniach Australii. W projektach tych uczestniczą międzynarodowi artyści, począwszy od słynnego Christo i jego opakowania fragmentu wybrzeża australijskiego, instalacji nazwanej „Wrapped Coast” po instalację Jeffa Koons’a - gigantycznego pudla z kwiatów „Puppy”, ustawionego przed budynkiem Museum of Contemporary Arts na Circular Quay w Sydney.

20. Kaldor Public Art Project w Sydney Park jest jedyną australijską prezentacją dwutygodniowych łowów dźwiękowych Amerykanina Stephena Vitiello w rejonie Kimberley w Zachodniej Australii. Nagrywając stamtąd dźwięki australijskiej przyrody, Vitiello stworzył unikalny mix artystyczny p.n. „ The Sound of Red Earth”.
Vitiello już w przeszłości zaslynął w prezentowaniu dźwiękowych instalacji w muzeach i w otwartych przestrzeniach. Nagrywa on niezwykle precyzyjnie odgłosy cywilizacji i przyrody, tworzac z nich dźwiękowe krajobrazy.



W pomieszczeniach starej cegielni w Sydney Park, w dzielnicy St.Peters do 12 wrzesnia można posłuchac - spacerujac po autentycznej czerwonej ziemi, czarnych kamieniach i pustynnym piasku - niezwykle precyzyjnie, wielokanałowo odtworzonej natury australijskiego outbacku: wiatru, wody i fauny. Wystarczy zamknąc oczy i poczuc sie na chwile w świecie odległym setki a może tysiące kilkometrów od cywilizacji.


Artist Stephen Vitilleo in Sydney's Brickworks