Re-thinking Australian Art by various artists
At a time when extraneous national polling on basic human rights issues is back in vogue, the Art Gallery of South Australia will rehang its Australian art collection, recognising the 50-year anniversary of the 1967 referendum (which awarded constitutional rights for Australia’s First Peoples). Including choice pieces of Aboriginal, conceptual and post-modern art, as well as those created during the early-feminist movement, the collection challenges preconceptions of Australian art as disconnected from a broader international landscape. This is an opportunity to experience some of the AGSA’s most prized acquisitions.
Re-thinking Australian Art opens at the Art Gallery of South Australia on September 2.
All Stars by various artists, Art Auction and Closing Night
All Stars features a line-up of 11 artists from around Australia. Spanning illustration, painting, sculpture and textile work, it’s a snapshot of the characteristically diverse approach to curation that has defined Peanut Gallery. It’s fitting that All Stars is the ARI’s curtain call. After 12 months in their Adelaide Arcade location, operators Fruzsi Kenez and Caroline Gliddon have decided not to renew their lease. They’re happily moving on to new projects at the end of September, but not before throwing a huge knees-up to say thanks to their supporters. A closing-night party and art auction (to help cover some remaining costs) will be held on September 8. The bar will be stocked by Pirate Life Brewing, and Kenez and Gliddon are also promising one last Peanut Gallery signature cocktail.
All Stars is at Peanut Gallery until September 8.
I like you; your eyes are full of language by various artists
I like you; your eyes are full of language is the third in a series of exhibitions, begun in 2011. This iteration includes work by seven artists from diverse backgrounds – painters Nic Brown and Zoe Freney, photographer and writer Lara Merrington, ceramicist Sophia Nuske, painter and illustrator Talia Wignall, jeweller Alice Potter and printmaker Lucy Potter. Six of the above participated in the group’s debut show Theirs, Yours, Mine, and/or the more recent These Things We Hold in 2014. Though the collective’s makeup has morphed slightly from show to show, its focus has remained constant. Each exhibition asks artists to reflect on how they – and by extension, we – communicate value, be it towards objects, our relationships or each other. This show looks specifically at language and the power of words.
I like you; your eyes are full of language is at Light Square Gallery until September 30.
Land Sea You Me by Che Chorley
Photographer Che Chorley’s work captures the power, intensity and breathtaking beauty of the country he traverses – by bicycle, surfboard or air. In Land Sea You Me he presents “an intimate portrait of the South Australian landscape, seascape and her people.” The project had its genesis in July 2016 when Chorley set-off from Western Australia on a cycling and camping trek along the SA coastline. He arrived in Victoria six months later with a gig’s worth of photographs, and a heap of stories. The exhibition and book launch for Land Sea You Me presents 23 images from the road hanging alongside five collaborative works Chorley created with artists he met along the way.
Land Sea You Me is at Chateau Apollo until September 10.
Roses don’t have hearts, but my eyes will find yours by Myriam Mechita
French artist Myriam Mechita is captivated by moments of transcendence; those fleeting instances where we look down on ourselves from another place. Her sculptural and drawing practice explores the sensation of ecstasy in its oldest definition – taken from the Greek words ek (meaning “outside”) and stasis (meaning “standing”). Mechita is in Adelaide completing a residency at Jam Factory. She is creating new work from the institution’s glass and ceramics studios, some of which will be on show in her exhibition, alongside a selection of large-scale drawing work.
Roses don’t have hearts, but my eyes will find yours is at Greenaway Gallery until September 24.
FRAN FEST
Feminism Renewal Art Network (FRAN) Festival launches 40 years after The Women’s Show, one of the most extensive national exhibitions of women’s art in Australian history. A celebration of “South Australia’s dynamic relationship between contemporary arts and feminism”, the festival includes exhibitions across various venues and a major arts symposium. Here are our picks from the program:
Girls by Kate Blackmore
From the housing estates of Claymore, NSW, (described by Griffith University as “the most disadvantaged community in Australia”) come true tales of survival. Blackmore worked alongside four 14-year old girls, observing and talking about their lives, and interpreting their stories through her visual media practice. Igniting a flame of self-discovery and introspection, Blackmore presents the girls at a pivotal moment in their young lives.
Girls is at ACE Open on September 8–30.
This Woman is Not a Car by Margaret Dodd
Margaret Dodd is a pioneer of the Funk Ceramics movement. Her series of sculptured Holdens from 1977 (the same year The Women’s Show took place) is almost as iconic as the Aussie car manufacturer itself. The work was created in response to the bleak prospects faced by suburban women in the ’70s, and uses aspects of humour, fetishism and fantasy. A short film, also entitled This Woman is Not a Car, will screen alongside the exhibition. Selected pieces from Dodd’s more recent collections Chosen Vessel (2008) and Holden Hypotheses (2014) are also included.
This Woman is Not a Car is at ACE Open on September 8–30.
Girl Space by various artists
Laura Gentgall creates spaces where women can gather to feel safe and welcome. For FRAN Festival, she’s taking over The Mill to host a group exhibition and events celebrating women in the arts. The show, which opens on September 8, includes work by artists Antonia Dirroia, Ban-She, Brianna Speight, Ellie Anderson, Indigo Cherry, Nina Haigh and Sascha Tan. On September 10, Girl Space turns its focus to designers and artisans, with an all-female makers market. The daytime event assembles emerging and established ceramicists, jewellers, skincare makers, visual artists and more from around Adelaide. Visual artist Jelena Vujnovic will also lead a life-drawing class on September 20.
Girl Space is at The Mill September 8–22.
I’m a Feminist But…
What does it mean to label yourself a feminist? Eleanor Scicchitano examines the complexities, contradictions and hypocrisies of adopting the term, by inviting seven artists to present their various experiences, explorations and definitions. The show features multi-disciplinary works by Meg Wilson, Olivia White, Deborah Prior, Amanda Radomi, Chantal Henley, Alex Pye and Jacqueline Bradley.
I’m A Feminist But… is at praxis ARTSPACE until September 28.
