LYDIA WEGNER

Lydia Wegner, ‘Kitchen Grid’, 2019, archival inkjet, 100 x 67cm

LYDIA WEGNER has been commissioned to produce a series of new works centred on the Wright House in Warrandyte, one of Robin Boyd's iconic family homes. Curated by Pippa Milne, the exhibition Robin Boyd, a portrait of an Australian house celebrates the architecture of Robin Boyd through the medium of photography.

"Lauren Bamford and Lydia Wegner approach the subject of a Boyd house with very different lenses, bringing an energising and intensely new way of seeing this now classic architecture – which was iconoclastic in its day. Wegner brings an eye of abstraction to elicit something unexpected from the familiar architecture, while Bamford masterfully draws out the spirit and joy of a space as a living thing. This newly commissioned work, together with a fabulous swathe of vintage prints of Boyd homes, aims to show just how many ways there are to see and occupy a Boyd house," says Milne.

The exhibition continues until 14 July at the Monash Gallery of Art (MGA).

More information >

JANET LAURENCE

Janet Laurence, photographed in her studio by Jacquie Manning.

JANET LAURENCE is interviewed in this month's issue of Vogue Living, where she discusses her MCA show 'After Nature' and her past and present work.

In the article Janet delves into her formative time at an Italian art school in the 70s, her job as a flying artist with Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, and the discordance between European agricultural practices and the Australian landscape.

"[The alarming thing was that our approach] to art was the exactly same approach to farming - people just applied a European perception to the landscape. They didn’t actually look at it how it was, but they were just painting it through the eyes of a European Impressionist. So that was kind of funny and I realised that we can’t see what this place is. So, then I just decided I wanted to start exploring it a bit more and art was a great means for doing that," Laurence says.

'After Nature' continues at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia until 10 June.

Read the full article here >

JACKY REDGATE

Jacky Redgate, Untitled, 1991, cardboard, paper, 27 x 27 x 27 cm

JACKY REDGATE is showing work in the exhibition 'IN-Formalism' at the @casulapowerhouse

'IN-Formalism' witnesses the evolution of abstract non-objective art in Australia from 1968. The exhibition surveys the key generation of artists who have contributed to the ongoing language of abstract art. It presents these works alongside a wide range of artefacts in design, textiles, advertising, urban design, film and performance and reveals the influence this art-form had in our times.

The exhibition opens today and continues until 30 June.

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ANNE ZAHALKA

Anne Zahalka’s mother, Hedy (right), and friend, Prague, Czechoslovakia

Hedy Zahalka's image recreated by Alice Zahalka and Sophie Wild, 2018

ANNE ZAHALKA is exhibiting contemporary street photography alongside photographs from the mid-20th century at the Museum of Sydney's exhibition Street Photography: 1930s - 1960s.

Commercial street photographers were a familiar sight on Sydney's streets, capturing everyday people as they strode by or stopped to pose. Taken against the vibrant background of the city streets, these photographs captured candid moments in the lives of millions of people, from uniformed servicemen and women to postwar migrants exploring their new city and young couples out for a day on the town. Following a hugely successful public call-out, the exhibition draws together photos from hundreds of private family albums. This extraordinary, largely unseen record of Sydney and its people is displayed alongside contemporary photography by Zahalka, capturing people on the streets of Sydney today. 

The exhibition has been so well received that it is shortlisted for MAGNA's Best Temporary/Travelling Exhibition 2019. It continues until 21 July.

Click here to see a short video on Anne’s inspiration behind the exhibition; here for an interview with Anne; and here for exhibition details.

PETER DAVERINGTON

Peter Daverington, Space is the Place, 2019, oil and gold leaf on canvas, 198 x 152cm

Congratulations to PETER DAVERINGTON, whose work Space is the Place is a finalist for the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art, a biannual acquisitive art prize open to emerging and established artists working in any medium across Australia. The Prize is presented in association with Montsalvat Arts Centre.

The finalist exhibition opens on 30 May at the Barn Gallery Montsalvat, and runs until 21 July.

More information >

IMANTS TILLERS

Imants Tillers, All hail Greg Inglis, 2019, synthetic polymer paint and gouache on 64 canvasboards, 242 x 242 cm overall.

IMANTS TILLERS is a finalist in the 2019 Archibald Prize with his portrait of rugby league legend Greg Inglis. Congratulations Imants!

”Many artists, writers, actors and other cultural workers secretly follow sport,” says Imants Tillers. “I was recently delighted to learn that Tracey Moffatt follows the South Sydney Rabbitohs (co-owned by Russell Crowe). I have also been a supporter since 1965, when as a 15-year-old I attended the legendary grand final between South Sydney and St George. To witness Greg Inglis in full flight, equipped with a fend that could stop a freight train, is to see poetry in motion. Thou majestic!

But there is far more to Greg Inglis than being an elite Indigenous athlete. He is a hero and role model to Indigenous communities all around Australia, and a community leader of enormous influence. His great act of grace is to engage with these communities. He teaches children and adolescents how to avoid drugs, alcohol and violence and how to adapt to the many other challenges that these disadvantaged children and adolescents face. Every human being is the greatest work of art ever created. He brings hope and a sense that anyone, despite everything, can be master of their own destiny. All hail Greg Inglis!”