Double espresso - Look - Sydney Art Galleries
People who say that there is no such thing as bad art are lying. LOOK takes an objective view of the subjective world and, with a free drink in our hand, guides you through Sydney's best galleries and art exhibitions. From institutions to artist-run initiatives, installation to illustration, photography to painting, LOOK is an ongoing document of Sydney's ever engaging and growing arts culture.
Box of Birds, Marley Dawson
Working predominantly in sculpture, installation and the occasional performance, Marley Dawson constructs scenarios. I mean this in the most literal sense possible. Actual physical constructions of an interactive scenario. Over the years he's constructed a shed for the iconic Australian dad; an operable dirt-bike track for art types to duel out their differences and a rec room fully equipped with pool table, bar fridge and dartboard, but elevated out of reach.
A Field Guide: From Antlers to Islands
The I WALK THE LINE exhibition at MCA has everyone thinking about HB pencil possibilities, including the National Art School. This week NAS will showcase rarely-seen drawings from their collection, alongside props that they use in class such as taxidermy animals, antlers, replica human skulls and Papua New Guinean artifacts.
Ecstacy and Decay, Alex Vivian
The Vegemite of the arts world perhaps? Alex Vivian has as many haters as he has lovers. Depending on who you ask, Vivan's work can effect sweet satisfaction or a quick sprint to the toilet bowl. For an example please see his noise art, hypnotic, pig-snort-sampling a cappella over trance-inducing soundscapes, or his mind-addling, LSD blotter sheet cum magic eye medieval comic book collages.
Forever For Now, Michael Doolan
Comparisons between Melbourne artist Michael Doolan and a certain Mr Koons are obvious, but it's Doolan's use of materials that sets his work apart.
With a background in ceramics, he recreates cheap, mass-produced, pint-sized, moveable children's toys with traditional ceramic modelling techniques; instilling in them rarity, fragility and fixity.
Games of Consequence, Polixeni Papapetrou
Return to the spontaneity, freedom, simplicity and escapism of childhood with Polixeni Papapetrou's cinematic images of self-determined young girls at play.
With the landscape of rural Australia as a recurring backdrop - representing a space full of possibility and devoid of constraints - the artist is drawing on childhood memories of unregimented play, and the times she spent with friends outside the home discovering worlds beyond her own.
A Forest of Lines, Pierre Huyghe
Hidden amidst the first floor at the MCA, on a small patch of wall towards the back, there is a poster. Compared to the cobra-filled cotton fields and hammocked rooms of the Biennale showcase, it's a small player. Yet this petit paper alludes to something much greater.
Pierre Huyghe's poster is a calling card to a forest of sorts, one that will materialise this Wednesday on the stage, in the stalls and the circles of the Sydney Opera House.
Under Construction, Ai WeiWei
In case you haven't noticed, China is in our sights. And besides things like the Olympics, environmental degradation and Tibet, there is increasing focus on the nation's thriving contemporary art scene.
See Beijing Bubbles to learn about the capital's underground music world and next time you're passing through check out 798, an abandoned military electronics factory on the outskirts of Beijing that was converted to a hub of studios, galleries and performance spaces.
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