Artistic pursuits are aplenty in Sydney, but it can be daunting to know where to start. There’s a smorgasbord of big institutions, public installations, experimental events, ticketed experiences, private collections and everything in between. Here’s a guide to what’s around, so you can decide what…
We’ve all heard of Duchamp and can pull him instantly into conversation with the utterance of one word: urinal. But did you know that before he became ubiquitous in art history for his ready-made objects, he was a highly skilled painter? And whilst he created…
Since it opened in 2011, I haven’t stopped hearing about how I just had to go to the Museum of Old and New Art (aka MONA) in Tasmania, like it was the best thing since #bubbletea. I felt like I was the last person who hadn’t yet…
Barely a speck on the map of Japan, Naoshima is an island town in the Seto Inland Sea. Quite the opposite of the vibrancy, speed and crowds of Japan’s more well-known cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, Naoshima is a quiet, somewhat remote destination. It’s…
Young, playful, dapper Warhol. Worldly, fashionable, commercial adman. In the 1950s, Andy Warhol’s formative years as a commercial illustrator resulted in a plethora of chic, witty and elegant illustrations, advertisements, fragrance displays and magazine covers. Adman: Warhol before pop at the Art Gallery of NSW…
Eloise Maree Crossman, like her images, is both soft and sharp. Often dressed in vintage cloths, and always with rosy cheeks, Eloise herself is somewhat of a dreamy figure of an era past yet our conversations are always filled with blatantly honest criticism and punctuated…
Kate Banazi’s compositions are oftentimes energetic: forms twisting; waves bending like audio signals; circles that look like they’ve been ricocheted around the picture plane. Perhaps this energy comes from Kate herself, who is infectiously humorous and most commonly found with a big smile on her face. I spoke with Kate in…
Aggressively optimistic, 110% is at your service. Consisting of three members – Kieran Bryant, Beth Dillon and Lachlan Herd – the interdisciplinary collective creates performative, sculptural and installation artworks that respond to the triumphs and challenges of being a 21st century artist. In anticipation of their upcoming work Holiday Feelings,…
In the manner that most people keep up with television shows, I keep up with podcasts. How I Got Into Podcasts At the end of 2013, deeply starved for entertainment, I clicked on the ‘Podcast’ app that comes pre-installed on all iPhones with the expectation that…
A few months ago, I interviewed the textile artist Bee Bowen about her practice and, in particular, her use of natural dyes (including vegetables, leaves and beetles). The foraging process is key to Bee’s work; the flora that she finds in surrounding areas often dictate the works that she…
Last week, I photographed a few things at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia for POPSUGAR. These are a few of my favourite shots! You can see more here, here and here.
Layers of pastel pinks, gummy yellows, liquorice black and gleaming white make up Marty Cordoba’s most recent work Skin and Strata. The sculptures appear as gooey mounds from afar but are in fact compressed structures of confectionary and toothpaste, pressured together like metamorphic rocks. The sculptures alert your senses; some…
Sometimes cheeky, always thoughtful; the works of contemporary jewellery artist Melinda Young are a reflection of a lifelong affinity with creating. An organic extension of her approach to life at large, Melinda’s works consist of a balance between theoretical research and contemplation with bursts of wicked humour.…
“It’s not always pink ribbons and charity runs. Breast cancer is often glamourised and commercialised.” – Vanessa T (October 15, 1981- February 23, 2014) Upon viewing the first photograph of David Jay’s The SCAR Project, a portrait of a young girl named Leah P standing aside a large…
Silk and wool are Bee Bowen‘s blank canvas, flowers and leaves her palette. Whilst having learnt various dyeing techniques in India and Japan, it is Bee’s use of local, Australian flora that create the distinctive patterns and colours of her textiles. The leaves and flowers picked by Bee leave detailed…
Su-An Ng’s films are powerful in their refined style. But extensive sketches, research, planning, and hands-on experimentation are all part of her artistic process. Working with a combination of animation techniques including digital, hand drawn, stop motion and 3D animation, Su-An’s films have a tactile characteristic that…
A little while ago Lucinda and I visited designer Kaylene Milner at her studio, for a feature published in Curium magazine. It was a treat to get a behind the scenes look at Kaylene’s design process – definitely one to watch! These photos didn’t make it into the magazine, so I thought…
Kieran Butler is an artist and fellow COFA honours student. Working within the field of post-photography, Kieran is currently investigating notions of vision by exploring the perception of colour. Sculpture, installation, and video are also used in Kieran’s practice to create works that question the nature of the photographic…
This semester I took a course about Writing for Art and Design, which culminated in the publishing of an issue of Artwrite. Artwrite is a magazine that has been produced by COFA students since 1992, and focuses on the exploration, discussion and critique of art. I had the…
Remember when we shot this? So excited to see the final result in Issue 6 of Haunt Mag, Rebel Without A Cause! Check out the issue here.
Vivid: A Festival of Light, Music and Ideas 24th May – 10 June
Anyone heading into the Sydney city from the east or vice versa will pass McLeod’s Antiques. At the corner of South Dowling street, the shop of curiosities sits at a main intersection – thousands of people must see its window displays filled with elaborate vases…
I got my photo on. Sofie got her styling on. Sarah got the lipliner on. Ellen got the nailz on. Talz (@ Moda) got her model on. We all got our ghetto on.
On my way wandering through the city executing a Situationist Dérive. It is a practice involving drifting through the streets, lanes, staircases, and whatever other locations you may end up in (including the casino, the fish markets, and private suburbs) until all forms of preoccupations melt…
