Teelah George Window, 2020. Thread, linen, bronze. 131 x 120 cm. Courtesy of Neon Parc.
Here at the Guest Club our 2021 plans are already in full swing. I can’t wait to welcome you to our first in-person event for the year at the Quarantine Art Fair for some bubbles, schmoozing, and of course, plenty of art! This Fair is a unique concept which I’m really looking forward to experience in person. Each room of the Commanding Officer’s House at Point Nepean National Park, Portsea, will be occupied by one of Melbourne’s top galleries.
The galleries have generously given me a sneak peek of what’s to come, so I thought I’d share my top picks with you, our Art Collector and Art Supporter members. Note, this started off as a list of Top 5 but I just couldn’t narrow it down so it’s a Top 10! If you’d like to reserve one of these in advance or would like to preview more works, get in touch and I’d be happy to assist.
Adrienne Gaha
Cypress and Angophora, 2019
Oil on linen
91 x 71 cm
$8,000.00
Showing with Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Art
There’s something quite romantic in the weeping effect of Gaha’s oil on linen works. Traditionally, oil on linen is painted in numerous layers, built up over time so that the presence of the work is gained through this process. However, Gaha’s use of oil is quite experimental. You can see the layers creep through. The image borders between a landscape reality and some kind of dreamy fantasy. The gnarled beaches and gloomy shadows add to the mystery of the piece.
Caleb Shea
Untitled (Single Line Gradient)
Aluminium, polyurethane paint
230 x 93 x 89 cm
$15,000
Showing with LON Gallery
Like Shea, many artists have a love affair with colour gradients (these days it’s usually got something to do with the influence of digital drawing tools like Photoshop). What stands out to me about this piece is its snake-like body, reaching upwards to meet your gaze. It looks as good on the screen as it does in real life, and unlike most artworks can live well outside, as well as in.
Lakin Ogunbanwo
Not So Sorry, 2017
Inkjet print on Hahnemuhle cotton rag
126 x 87 cm, edition of 10
$5500 framed
Showing with THIS IS NO FANTASY
Have you been to the NGV’s spectacular Triennial yet? If you have, then chances are would come across this piece in the company of dozens of others from the same series, by Lakin Ogunbanwo.
Ogunbanwo is a Nigerian photographer who began shooting traditional men’s headwear as a way to preserve his culture and observe how it had trickled down through the generations. His photography is both bold and formal, combining the styles of African studio portraiture of the 60s and 70s with contemporary fashion.
Yevgeniya Baras
Untitled 2015–19
oil on canvas
40.6 x 50.8 cm
$9,500
Showing with STATION
I always enjoy looking at the dates when an artwork is made. The historical context can tell us so much.
This piece, by American artist Yevgeniya Baras, was completed over the four year period of 2015 - 2019. During this time, Baras would come back to the work, one thick layer of oil paint upon another, with collage elements added at certain points, and we can see that the work is flipped around from front to back. The work is transformed into a captivating hanging sculpture, rather than a painting per se.
Casey Jeffery
The Sense in the Nonsense, 2020
Acrylic and oil on pine
65 x 91 cm
$3,000
Showing with LON Gallery
I’m a sucker for mementos so on my list is this work by young artist Casey Jeffrey, an ode to the year that was. Jeffrey’s works tend to have an illusory aspect to them, one glance is not enough. With painstaking detail, three dimensional and two dimensional elements are played against each other. The work is part of a series created in 2020 the artist has called Isolation Paintings.
Teelah George Window, 2020
Thread, linen, bronze
131 x 120 cm
$14,000
Showing with Neon Parc
Teelah George’s beautiful embroidery work has been created stitch by stitch, layer by layer. She makes subtle variations in the stitch direction intuitively, rather than on a pre-planned basis. Pinned to the wall with it’s bronze hanging devices, the piece looks like a hanging relic, with layers of history and messages embedded within.
Howard Arkley, Untitled [A72], c. 1974-76
Synthetic polymer paint and ink on paper
31.8 x 25.3 cm (sheet)
$8,000.00 (framed)
Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Art
Full disclosure, I’ve had the privilege of doing legal work for the Arkley Estate for a couple of years now. But long before I came to work with one of my dream clients, as a born and bred Melbournian I grew up with the Arkley effect. So when the Estate brings out one of these black and white beauties from the mid-70s, I can’t help but jump with excitement. This work is a good example of Arkley’s early experiments with tone, shape and line. A piece of Australian art history, for a very decent price.
Darren Sylvester
Broken model, 2016
Digital type C print
120 x 160 cm
Ed. 3/3 + 2AP SYLVD074
$12,200 (includes framing)
Showing with Neon Parc
This is one of Darren Sylvester’s most iconic works to date (and my personal favourite). In a staged fashion runway setting, a model lays splayed across the mirrored floor post-fall. Her companion leans over, supposedly concerned, but we also notice that her eyes are still fixated on what must be the camera. Other glamazons continue to strut their stuff, as the show goes on. Important note - this is the very last edition of this image left, so make it quick!
Nell
Skate Face 2017
skateboard decks
80.0 x 254.0 cm
$25,000
Showing with STATION
This iconic Nell work was first shown at Lake Macquarie regional gallery as part of an exhibition on outdoor culture. It’s iconic because it’s classic Nell - the quirky, funny, cut-out faces, the rebellious attitude and the use of found, everyday objects. What’s interesting to me is that these decks aren’t being sold individually - it’s a group - and when you look at the elements together you notice things that you otherwise wouldn’t. The individual scuff marks, the placement of some of the decks top-up, others bottom-up, and the myriad of shapes Nell uses to evoke the expressions of the face.
Judith Van Heeren
Landscape with 2 birds and monkey 2015
oil on linen
48 x 50 cm
$8,000
Showing with Murray White Room
Judith Van Heeren’s mesmerising oil paintings have a surrealist feel to them. Light and dark are shaded to emphasise the contrast between one another. With its exotic animals this painting reminds me of the jungle scenes of French post-impressionist painter Henri Rousseu, although Heeren balances the details with the dreamy landscape to give her work a calmer feel.